Display Calibration Questions and Issues.

[snerkler]

Hi,

I've just received my 16" M1 MBP and am having issues calibrating the screen. I know they're supposed to be calibrated from factory but I'm not convinced it's as accurate as I'd like. Actually that's not quite true but I'll come to this in a minute.

Out of the box I feel that the Apple XDR Display (P3-1600 nits) crushes blacks a touch, and also the hue is very slightly towards the greener side. I've tried calibrating using x-rite i1Display Pro but it gives terrible results, with very heavy hues, therefore I'm not sure it's completely compatible with the M1 chip and/or Monterey.

In the display options the Photography (P3-D65) is spot on imo, however there's one big issue with this, it does not let you adjust brightness. Now I know that for accurate developing and reproduction you want a set luminance level and probably why it's locked at a specific level, but at the end of the day laptops move around and are not always in the perfect light and so at times you need to adjust the brightness. Also, according to my x-rite calibrator it's measuring 135 lumens rather than 120.

Is there a way to either get the Apple XDR Display profile to match the Photography profile, or unlock the brightness level on the Photography profile enabling you to manually adjust the brightness?

Also, on my old Macbook Pro when I saved the .icc profiles created by the X-Rite calibration they would appear alongside the inbuilt profiles in the list but they don't on my new machine, any idea where they go and how to swap between them?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Digital_Sousaphone]

Hi,

I've just received my 16" M1 MBP and am having issues calibrating the screen. I know they're supposed to be calibrated from factory but I'm not convinced it's as accurate as I'd like. Actually that's not quite true but I'll come to this in a minute.

Out of the box I feel that the Apple XDR Display (P3-1600 nits) crushes blacks a touch, and also the hue is very slightly towards the greener side. I've tried calibrating using x-rite i1Display Pro but it gives terrible results, with very heavy hues, therefore I'm not sure it's completely compatible with the M1 chip and/or Monterey.

In the display options the Photography (P3-D65) is spot on imo, however there's one big issue with this, it does not let you adjust brightness. Now I know that for accurate developing and reproduction you want a set luminance level and probably why it's locked at a specific level, but at the end of the day laptops move around and are not always in the perfect light and so at times you need to adjust the brightness. Also, according to my x-rite calibrator it's measuring 135 lumens rather than 120.

Is there a way to either get the Apple XDR Display profile to match the Photography profile, or unlock the brightness level on the Photography profile enabling you to manually adjust the brightness?

Also, on my old Macbook Pro when I saved the .icc profiles created by the X-Rite calibration they would appear alongside the inbuilt profiles in the list but they don't on my new machine, any idea where they go and how to swap between them?

Any help would be appreciated.

LED backlighting may require a new calibration device if the one you have is too old or doesn't have an update. They put out a document on calibrating the screens though. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212851

 

[snerkler]

LED backlighting may require a new calibration device if the one you have is too old or doesn't have an update. They put out a document on calibrating the screens though. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212851

Thanks, unfortunately that requires a spectroradiometer which I don’t have. I contacted x-rite and they said that my device is compatible but I don’t think it is, at least not fully so need to get back to them.

It’s a shame you can’t just contact Apple as I’d ask them why brightness level adjustment is blocked on the different profiles and whether there’s a way to unlock it. It doesn’t actually make sense it’s locked as you can customise the luminance and save it as a different profile, which I have done for different luminance values but it’s a right fudge of a workaround to change the brightness as it means going into the display settings to choose the brightness I want every time.

 

[Digital_Sousaphone]

Thanks, unfortunately that requires a spectroradiometer which I don’t have. I contacted x-rite and they said that my device is compatible but I don’t think it is, at least not fully so need to get back to them.

It’s a shame you can’t just contact Apple as I’d ask them why brightness level adjustment is blocked on the different profiles and whether there’s a way to unlock it. It doesn’t actually make sense it’s locked as you can customise the luminance and save it as a different profile, which I have done for different luminance values but it’s a right fudge of a workaround to change the brightness as it means going into the display settings to choose the brightness I want every time.

You may be able to find a calibration device for rent locally or find somebody to do it as a service.

 

[snerkler]

You may be able to find a calibration device for rent locally or find somebody to do it as a service.

Thanks, that’s definitely an option.

 

[marstan]

I am not clear on the value of a single calibration if you are moving your laptop around in different lighting conditions. You would really need different calibrations tailored to the different conditions - pretty cumbersome I would think especially since you can't seem to access different calibration files. Also I am guessing you are not doing a hardware calibration so a software only one would be much inferior. And even a software calibration is only as good as the calibration software being used. What are you using?

BTW, every monitor (NEC, EIZO) I have had that does hardware calibration locks down the brightness and other settings after a calibration so not an unusual move by Apple.

 

[Digital_Sousaphone]

I am not clear on the value of a single calibration if you are moving your laptop around in different lighting conditions. You would really need different calibrations tailored to the different conditions - pretty cumbersome I would think especially since you can't seem to access different calibration files. Also I am guessing you are not doing a hardware calibration so a software only one would be much inferior. And even a software calibration is only as good as the calibration software being used. What are you using?

BTW, every monitor (NEC, EIZO) I have had that does hardware calibration locks down the brightness and other settings after a calibration so not an unusual move by Apple.

Maybe read the initial post before typing a bunch of unhelpful tripe. The op clearly states they feel the blacks aren't to their liking and they see a greenish tint to the screen. All reasons why you would want to calibrate a laptop monitor.

 

[snerkler]

I am not clear on the value of a single calibration if you are moving your laptop around in different lighting conditions. You would really need different calibrations tailored to the different conditions - pretty cumbersome I would think especially since you can't seem to access different calibration files. Also I am guessing you are not doing a hardware calibration so a software only one would be much inferior. And even a software calibration is only as good as the calibration software being used. What are you using?

BTW, every monitor (NEC, EIZO) I have had that does hardware calibration locks down the brightness and other settings after a calibration so not an unusual move by Apple.

Granted different environments will make the screen look different but I have my ‘default’ place of working where conditions are good and fairly ‘standard’, I set my screens up according to this. That being said you can often tell if something’s ‘off’ even outside of the ideal conditions. Also, I like to calibrate my different monitors as close to each other as possible that way there’s consistency in my workflow as well as printing.

Lastly the MacBook is not just used for photography.

 

[tb-mbp-max]

Have you tried fine tuning the photography profile?

If you have some luminance values this might achieve what you want.

I'll have a go with my Spyder later and see.

 

[snerkler]

Have you tried fine tuning the photography profile?

If you have some luminance values this might achieve what you want.

I'll have a go with my Spyder later and see.

Thanks for trying to help. The trouble I've found is that if I try to 'customise' any of the profiles the saved ones don't have the ability to change the brightness levels. I've not actually tried the way that you have shown as I don't know what the x and y values are, only luminance. What's strange is that the XDR display and Photography profiles both show the same x and y values yet the XDR profile definitely has a hint (and I mean a hint) of a green tinge compared to the Photography profile.

 

[jcscol]

I'm not sure if it will make a difference, but are you using the latest version of (what was) XRite's Profiler software, now Calibrite ccProfiler (v1.0.1 is the latest)? Download from Calibrite

 

[snerkler]

I'm not sure if it will make a difference, but are you using the latest version of (what was) XRite's Profiler software, now Calibrite ccProfiler (v1.0.1 is the latest)? Download from Calibrite

Yes I am thanks.

 

[tb-mbp-max]

I'm just watching this at the moment to enrich my knowledge on it, might be worth taking a look if you are planning to calibrate etc...

 

[snerkler]

I'm just watching this at the moment to enrich my knowledge on it, might be worth taking a look if you are planning to calibrate etc...

Thanks I’ll watch this tomorrow as a quick skim through looks like it has the same calibrator as mine at one bit.

 

[Ironalchemy]

FYI, I did try calibrating with the SpyderX software and colorimeter this week. The calibration failed with a software error but did scramble my profile. I had to manually remove the profile it created. I contacted tech support at Datacolor and they acknowledged that their system is not compatible with the XDR displays.

 

[snerkler]

FYI, I did try calibrating with the SpyderX software and colorimeter this week. The calibration failed with a software error but did scramble my profile. I had to manually remove the profile it created. I contacted tech support at Datacolor and they acknowledged that their system is not compatible with the XDR displays.

Thanks, they got back to me the other day and said the same actually despite them initially saying that it would work.

 

[dypeterc]

Thanks, they got back to me the other day and said the same actually despite them initially saying that it would work.

Give this thread a read. It uses ColorSync like the old days which is hidden and buried away.

Can't calibrate new XDR MacBook Pro display - missing 'Color' button, calibration option.

So I just received my 14" M1 Max MacBook Pro and the first thing I like to do when I get a new Mac is to calibrate the display (they all skew very green to my eyes with the default factory color profile). But, I do not see an option for this as I do on my other Macs. I am not sure if this is due...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[JohnHerzog]

Applications > Utilities > ColorSync Utility > Displays > Color LCD > Color Profile (Menu Button) > Other

But my Color Profiles haven't been applying

 

[JohnHerzog]

Oh. I got it to work with 500 nit for the P3 you like

 

[snerkler]

Give this thread a read. It uses ColorSync like the old days which is hidden and buried away.

Can't calibrate new XDR MacBook Pro display - missing 'Color' button, calibration option.

So I just received my 14" M1 Max MacBook Pro and the first thing I like to do when I get a new Mac is to calibrate the display (they all skew very green to my eyes with the default factory color profile). But, I do not see an option for this as I do on my other Macs. I am not sure if this is due...

forums.macrumors.com

Thanks, but the developers are working on it as their software doesn't work properly yet so I'll wait until they get back to me once they sorted it. In the meantime the photography profile is perfect, just a shame you can't change the brightness using the function keys, but my workaround is OK for now ??

 

[dypeterc]

Have you tried fine tuning the photography profile?

If you have some luminance values this might achieve what you want.

I'll have a go with my Spyder later and see.

Crazy that the Photograhy profile has better dynamic range than the default profile