P: Photoshop 27.8 & later Rendering Artifacts, Exposed Previews and Color Banding

btw: this video explain the issue perfect: 

Colors are displayed incorrectly in Photoshop, while the same files appear correct in Camera Raw.

The only workaround I have found is to disable GPU acceleration under Performance settings. Unfortunately, that is not an acceptable long-term solution, as it significantly impacts functionality and performance. As a result, I have had to revert to Photoshop 27.7.

My system consists of an Intel-based PC, an NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti, and Windows 11 with the latest updates installed.

From discussions in the community, it appears that many users are experiencing the same problem and are therefore unable to upgrade beyond version 27.7.

What I find particularly frustrating is the tendency in some Photoshop forum discussions to minimize or even deny the existence of the issue or mix this issue up come other color issue reported in v27.10. However, for those of us affected, the problem is very real. Accurate color representation is one of the most fundamental requirements of Photoshop, so this is not a minor inconvenience.

I would greatly appreciate this issue receiving urgent attention. Versions 27.8, 27.9, and 27.10 have all been released without a fix, and from my testing the problem also appears to be present in the 27.11 and 27.12 beta versions.

Please investigate and resolve this issue as soon as possible.

Do we have an update on the colour/contrast shift for both latest versions of PS and Beta?  Latest PS still shows the same shift when an image has been loaded.  There are other bug reports for the same issue, but no information available as to the status of this?

I was hoping that the issue with incorrect colors in Photoshop 27.8 and later versions would have been resolved in the latest release, but unfortunately that is still not the case.

At the moment, the only workarounds are either to remain on version 27.7 or to disable the Graphics Processor. Disabling GPU acceleration is not a realistic long-term solution, as it significantly impacts performance and usability.

Could you please provide an update on when this issue is expected to be fixed?

I am currently staying on version 27.7. However, I would very much like to upgrade and take advantage of the new features available in the latest Photoshop releases.

My issue might be unrelated to the original one but still …

Adobe Photoshop 27.10.0 on Mac OS 14.6.1 displays hard edge in a cyan/green gradient, see screenshots. 

The Technology Previews settings seem to have no effect, only disabling GPU usage remedies it. 

noticeable banding in (light) cyan/green region

The channels are unaffected

edit: the web-compression seems to rob the images of their significance … hopefully this screenshot of the red channel of the screenshot can illustrate: 

Updated to 27.10.0 and it seems like this issue is not resolved.

RGB以外のモードで壊滅的なバンディングが現われるバグも修正されたように見えますが、これはバグとして把握し、修正した、という認識でしょうか？

それともなんだか知らない間についでに治ったのでしょうか？

大変に重大な問題ですから、公式として明確に「修正した」と言って欲しいのですが。

お返事を待ちます。

Summary

When I convert a 16-bit Adobe RGB (1998) document to Lab Color in Photoshop, highly saturated colors appear slightly duller/desaturated. The issue disappears completely when “Use Graphics Processor” is disabled in Photoshop. This appears to be a GPU/Metal preview issue rather than a change caused by the color conversion itself.

System information

• Computer: 16-inch MacBook Pro with Apple M1 Pro

• macOS: 26.6.2, build 25G83

• Photoshop: 27.9.1

• Graphics processor: Apple M1 Pro

• Document: 16 bits/channel, Adobe RGB (1998), one rasterized pixel layer

• External display: calibrated Eizo ColorEdge CG, connected via USB-C to DisplayPort

• The issue is also visible on the MacBook Pro’s internal display

• Proof Colors is disabled

Steps to reproduce

1. Create or open a 16-bit Adobe RGB (1998) document containing a single rasterized pixel layer.

2. Add saturated test patches with these RGB values:

   • 255, 90, 0

   • 0, 255, 90

   • 0, 90, 255

3. Include a normal photographic image without extremely saturated colors in the same document.

4. Ensure that View > Proof Colors is disabled.

5. Convert the document to Lab Color using Image > Mode > Lab Color.

6. Observe the saturated test patches.

7. Convert the document back to Adobe RGB (1998).

8. Repeat the test after disabling “Use Graphics Processor” in Photoshop’s Performance settings and restarting Photoshop.

Expected result

The color-managed appearance should remain essentially unchanged when converting from Adobe RGB (1998) to Lab, apart from negligible conversion precision differences.

The approximate Lab values of the test colors are:

• RGB 255, 90, 0: Lab 68, 74, 81

• RGB 0, 255, 90: Lab 84, -123, 62

• RGB 0, 90, 255: Lab 42, 29, -93

These colors are within Photoshop’s Lab encoding range.

Actual result

With “Use Graphics Processor” enabled, all three saturated test patches appear slightly duller or less saturated after conversion to Lab. The photographic background, which contains less saturated colors, appears almost unchanged.

When the document is converted back to Adobe RGB, the test patches appear vivid again.

The problem disappears completely when “Use Graphics Processor” is disabled and Photoshop is restarted.

Additional troubleshooting

• Photoshop and macOS are fully updated.

• The problem occurs on both the calibrated external Eizo display and the MacBook Pro’s internal display.

• The external display connection is therefore unlikely to be the cause.

• Disabling only OpenCL, GPU Compositing, and Anti-Alias Guides and Paths does not resolve the issue.

• The 30 Bit Display option is greyed out.

• Converting the same Adobe RGB document to ProPhoto RGB does not produce a visible change.

• Proof Colors is not enabled.

Impact

This makes GPU preview unreliable for color-critical Lab work. Disabling the graphics processor restores correct appearance, but reduces performance and disables or limits GPU-dependent Photoshop features.

Please investigate whether Photoshop’s GPU/Metal canvas renderer applies a different or incorrect display-color transform to Lab documents on Apple Silicon.

I can provide a small PSD test file, screen photographs, and Photoshop System Info if needed.

There are problems in RGB as well. I have attached my example. Both “no GPU” versions look correct. With-GPU in CMYK is obviously riddled with bands, but note the band of saturation in the with-GPU RGB version. Harder to notice but it’s a problem!
 

And even more interesting: the bug fix for that has been available in Photoshop 27.9.1. “Fine”…

But with my system still being at 27.9.0, Creative Cloud showed no updates available at all. (Why?)

Stumped by this (the only way I knew about 27.9 was seeing it posted about elsewhere), I went to the Photoshop app screen in Creative Cloud; did an Install; and that executed and brought me to 27.9.1. All fixed properly now.

The question is: why didn’t Creative Cloud show that 27.9.1 was available as an update? That’s a bug in the part of the system that checks revisions.