iPad Pro iPad Pro Blooming discussion [merged]

[jimmy_uk]

Wow, not good. While others are downplaying what can be seen - let's hope Apple find a way to have better control on dimming zones. I suspect they are aware and it is a limitation of the technology right now (software, battery life, zone controller).

 

[GregJohn]

I just noticed it being quite bad on the settings screen (checking for update) that I hadn’t noticed before.
it’s just giant areas lit up - the over 2500 dimming zones should not look like this… it’s weird but… not much we can do I suppose… I do love this new iPad

 

[slplss]

looks like that if you use a phone camera but unless you have the eyes of an owl your not seeing that like that pic.

Do you have the new ipad? I do and I noticed the blooming right away. And yes it looks exactly like that.

It actually looks exactly like that IRL. I wasn’t able to notice it in first occasions, but the transitions between pure black /LEDs off zones and zones set to 1% brightness is perfectly visible in some scenarios when in complete darkness.

I’d suggest everyone with XDR to go to Timer (on Dark Mode) and watch the zones around the left and right bubbles. Doesn’t matter if you’re on 1% or 100% brightness, you should be able to see the zones, just give your eyes enough time to adjust. I saw the zones the least when on half of brightness, this was because my eyes adjusted best to the natural blooming any light produces so the whole image looked homogeneous.

On similar note…
Post in thread '12.9 2021 owners - returning device for blooming and/or edge shadowing?'
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...g-and-or-edge-shadowing.2297465/post-29948391

And yes, I agrese the zones appear bigger than they should be, like 2-4 times bigger. Is this a bug or normal behaviour? Because I couldn’t notice it in the first days, and I use the iPad the same. It should work 100% well in Apple Apps at least, like Notes or Timer, and around the pointer. Would be nice it could be fixed by update. But again, this is a non-issue in 99% time I use the device, as I said in the post above.

 

[GuruZac]

Yeah, mine doesn't do any crap like this. If I turn it up to full brightness in a dark room I can see it sometimes, but it's not this bad, and I tried something interesting. I masked off the area where the bright parts are, and I see less bloom. It's so bright it's like it makes bloom in your eyes and in cameras, kinda like a lens flare. It's so bright it's lighting up the air between your iPad and eyes as it spreads out and you can see that, kinda like the beam of a flashlight in a dark place. But having seen some of these posts on here, I think there is definitely something up. I do professional design work and photography. I understand how light works and I have an irritatingly high bar for displays and details like this and it just doesn't bother me. Makes me think there are defective units and/or software issues that are lighting up too many surrounding zones or something. Perhaps the algorithm is off and it only presents itself in certain situations? Apple does so much tweaking and tinkering with their displays to make them look amazing that I wouldn't be surprised if that complexity introduces more bugs sometimes.

That makes the most sense to me, especially with how bright this new display looks.

 

[lorsl]

If you want to check blooming, you really should test this in a completely dark room. Also, if you set the brightness just a little bit above minimum, you can see this giant blooming area like the OP has shown us.

It's freaking weird. This is 100% a software issue. Apple need to tweak their local dimming algorithm.

 

[DRDR]

The blooming effect is also very apparent when doing facetime, independant from brightness level: green dot, home bar, area around preview, above and below the video.

I think, that I found the - at the moment - smallest possible backlit zone and it is quite large.

Of course the effect is pronounced due to camera settings. But is absolutely visible with the naked eye.

But I am pretty sure, that the areas can be optimized: The areas above und below the facetime area is way too large. The preview backlight area is also too large.

It looks like the at the moment smallest possible backlit area is the area in the right top corner around the green camera indicator dot. This area is probably way larger than one dimming zone:

If I count correctly there are 10 zones horizontally and maybe 13 zones vertically.

It is probably the usual Apple problem: Due to compartementized secrecy not everything could be optimized in time.

 

[Wils_sliW]

Yeah, mine doesn't do any crap like this. If I turn it up to full brightness in a dark room I can see it sometimes, but it's not this bad, and I tried something interesting. I masked off the area where the bright parts are, and I see less bloom. It's so bright it's like it makes bloom in your eyes and in cameras, kinda like a lens flare. It's so bright it's lighting up the air between your iPad and eyes as it spreads out and you can see that, kinda like the beam of a flashlight in a dark place. But having seen some of these posts on here, I think there is definitely something up. I do professional design work and photography. I understand how light works and I have an irritatingly high bar for displays and details like this and it just doesn't bother me. Makes me think there are defective units and/or software issues that are lighting up too many surrounding zones or something. Perhaps the algorithm is off and it only presents itself in certain situations? Apple does so much tweaking and tinkering with their displays to make them look amazing that I wouldn't be surprised if that complexity introduces more bugs sometimes.

Actuallythe issue is in dark room with lo brightness
With full brightness there is no issue
I’m seeing this "blooming" every night on bed watching movies

 

[jimmy_uk]

The blooming effect is also very apparent when doing facetime, independant from brightness level: green dot, home bar, area around preview, above and below the video.

I think, that I found the - at the moment - smallest possible backlit zone and it is quite large.

View attachment 1787007

Of course the effect is pronounced due to camera settings. But is absolutely visible with the naked eye.

But I am pretty sure, that the areas can be optimized: The areas above und below the facetime area is way too large. The preview backlight area is also too large.

It looks like the at the moment smallest possible backlit area is the area in the right top corner around the green camera indicator dot. This area is probably way larger than one dimming zone:

View attachment 1787028

If I count correctly there are 10 zones horizontally and maybe 13 zones vertically.

It is probably the usual Apple problem: Due to compartementized secrecy not everything could be optimized in time.

Ifixit have teared down the 12.9 so hopefully we will see photos soon of the grid of leds.

 

[xAnthony]

The blooming effect is also very apparent when doing facetime, independant from brightness level: green dot, home bar, area around preview, above and below the video.

I think, that I found the - at the moment - smallest possible backlit zone and it is quite large.

View attachment 1787007

Of course the effect is pronounced due to camera settings. But is absolutely visible with the naked eye.

But I am pretty sure, that the areas can be optimized: The areas above und below the facetime area is way too large. The preview backlight area is also too large.

It looks like the at the moment smallest possible backlit area is the area in the right top corner around the green camera indicator dot. This area is probably way larger than one dimming zone:

View attachment 1787028

If I count correctly there are 10 zones horizontally and maybe 13 zones vertically.

It is probably the usual Apple problem: Due to compartementized secrecy not everything could be optimized in time.

I notice this exact issue throughout many of the default applications in the late evening, and for me it's with lower brightness levels when I notice it most. You can clearly see the like-black boxes that appear around icons, versus when the display is completely off in other areas. Hopefully this can be fixed via software updates.

Edit: Based on the zones in the attached image, it definitely seems like this can be tweaked significantly...

 

[ejin222]

I don't actively try to look out for blooming on my iPad Pro, but I'm not going to lie... There are moments where, on a completely black screen, I will see a fairly large 1" by 1" darkish blue/purple square around where my pointer is (using MK) surrounding a sea of black background. It'll show up for half a second and then, as the program is loading, will go away by the time the rest of the graphics come on. It doesn't bother me at all, but does make me also think if it is software related somehow (I'm not technically inclined to give a better reason).
I do see these hiccups happen every now and then where my previous 2018 12.9" never did that. But when the program or graphics or video loads, I rarely think about blooming or care about it at all if it does happen.
At the end of the day, if you WANT to find wrong in anything, you always will.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

The blooming effect is also very apparent when doing facetime, independant from brightness level: green dot, home bar, area around preview, above and below the video.

I think, that I found the - at the moment - smallest possible backlit zone and it is quite large.

Try covering the bright areas and that should make it a lot easier on your camera.

 

[Rafterman]

I am just not seeing any of this. In normal use situations, there is little to no blooming for me. And I underline normal use. I don't sit in a completely dark room. My iPhone can bloom in a dark room.

 

[Bea220]

What is bloomiNg how cam I tell/

I haven't read ALL of the posts in this thread as there is a lot of talk I don't understand.


Can someone tell me if there is any blooming on my iPad comparison photo to my MBP?

 

[Eso]

I haven't read ALL of the posts in this thread as there is a lot of talk I don't understand.


Can someone tell me if there is any blooming on my iPad comparison photo to my MBP?

What in god’s name is going on with that keyboard?!

 

[Bea220]

What in god’s name is going on with that keyboard?!

Ahaha… after I posted this I realized I should have taken that warped “keyboard skin” off of the MBP. Ha! Yeah, I learned not to use these things on any future computers/laptops.

But is there blooming on the iPP? Is it that fuzziness around the whites, is that blooming?

 

[milgauss88]

Ahaha… after I posted this I realized I should have taken that warped “keyboard skin” off of the MBP. Ha! Yeah, I learned not to use these things on any future computers/laptops.

But is there blooming on the iPP? Is it that fuzziness around the whites, is that blooming?

Yes, it’s that glow around the whites. It’s more noticeable against black backgrounds, especially if using the iPad in a very dark environment. I don’t see it being a problem in general day to day use. TBH all this discussion about the screen shadow and blooming isn’t an issue for me. It’s still the best screen the iPad has ever had!

 

[Bea220]

Yes, it’s that glow around the whites. It’s more noticeable against black backgrounds, especially if using the iPad in a very dark environment. I don’t see it being a problem in general day to day use. TBH all this discussion about the screen shadow and blooming isn’t an issue for me. It’s still the best screen the iPad has ever had!

Thank you. I figured that’s what it is but it isn’t enough to make it an issue for me. I can live with it. I mean, just look at my old retina burned MBP…. I can DEAL with this beautiful new screen and the fact that it isn’t perfect.

I was sitting at a restaurant the other day and I noticed they used small iPad’s (or tablets - I couldn’t see the make) and the contrast on that sucker was AWFUL.

Still a huge upgrade. It’s interesting to compare the whites from my iPhone 12 Pro to this screen. Definitely more yellow on the phone for sure.

 

[Moyapilot]

I really don't think this is software based. This kind of stuff (backlight control) is usually baked into a hardware chip. You may be able to do firmware updates to it, but its very low level stuff. Not something an IpadOS update is going to fix. Just IMO from working in the Computer tech field for many years.

I think this will be addressed in a hardware update, or in the next version. I think the real culprit could be the hardware manufacturer of the MiniLED. They didn't design a precise enough algorithm or simply the display chip couldn't handle it.

And no, this is not a lens flare or light pollution effect, so covering up the bright image isn't going to make the blooming go away. These screens have no gap, they are laminated right onto the LCD.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

I haven't read ALL of the posts in this thread as there is a lot of talk I don't understand.


Can someone tell me if there is any blooming on my iPad comparison photo to my MBP?

Not sure about the iPad, BUT there’s definitely some blooming going on in the area of the picture that I marked. I think that’s even WORSE than the iPad screen examples I’ve seen.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

And no, this is not a lens flare or light pollution effect, so covering up the bright image isn't going to make the blooming go away. These screens have no gap, they are laminated right onto the LCD.

Has anyone done that yet? ‘Cause that’s what I’ve been looking for.

 

[milgauss88]

I really don't think this is software based. This kind of stuff (backlight control) is usually baked into a hardware chip. You may be able to do firmware updates to it, but its very low level stuff. Not something an IpadOS update is going to fix. Just IMO from working in the Computer tech field for many years.

I think this will be addressed in a hardware update, or in the next version. I think the real culprit could be the hardware manufacturer of the MiniLED. They didn't design a precise enough algorithm or simply the display chip couldn't handle it.

And no, this is not a lens flare or light pollution effect, so covering up the bright image isn't going to make the blooming go away. These screens have no gap, they are laminated right onto the LCD.

Agree. It will definitely require a firmware update to make any improvement to the control of the dimming zones. I don't know if Apple includes firmware updates in their updates. I do believe firmware updates can improve on reducing the blooming effect as I have experienced this with firmware updates on my TV.

 

[DRDR]

Edit: Based on the zones in the attached image, it definitely seems like this can be tweaked significantly...

On the Apple image there seem to be around 40 zones horizontally.

 

[DRDR]

I really don't think this is software based. This kind of stuff (backlight control) is usually baked into a hardware chip. You may be able to do firmware updates to it, but its very low level stuff. Not something an IpadOS update is going to fix. Just IMO from working in the Computer tech field for many years.

I think this will be addressed in a hardware update, or in the next version. I think the real culprit could be the hardware manufacturer of the MiniLED. They didn't design a precise enough algorithm or simply the display chip couldn't handle it.

And no, this is not a lens flare or light pollution effect, so covering up the bright image isn't going to make the blooming go away. These screens have no gap, they are laminated right onto the LCD.

Apple told us, that the M1 chip is doing the backlight control like running two gpu.

 

[one more]

I just noticed it being quite bad on the settings screen (checking for update) that I hadn’t noticed before.
it’s just giant areas lit up - the over 2500 dimming zones should not look like this… it’s weird but… not much we can do I suppose… I do love this new iPad

I cannot see anything wrong on your image? 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[A_Flying_Panda]

So for my understanding the Mini-LED technology let the device control the brightness or even full switch off for each and every single local dimming zone. The ipad pros have 10,000 mini LED and 2500 zones. Which means each zone is incredibly small, about the size of a rice (see ifixit tear down video).

the blooming appears when there is both bright and dark on the same dimming zone. if that is the case, the blooming would only be 1 dimming zone wide at its maximum. But this is not what we are seeing. From the pictures online and my own experience, the blooming is a much much thicker ring around the bright object, which means the dimming zones that are displaying completely black pictures are also lit up.

Maybe there is a software problem? Or can anyone explain the technology reason behind it for me?