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images color changing on external monitor and MBP

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
February 1, 2021
8 replies
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Hi Everybody,

I was initially suffering on a flickering issue, your may refer to this thread for more information:https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop/ps-flickering-on-external-monitor/m-p/11788533?page=2

Now I changed the cable but the issue seems only partially solved, so here is a recap:

I use a MBP 16" with i7 6 core processor, AMD Radeon Pro 5300M 4 GB and 16 GB of RAM; I have and external monitor Benq GW2480-B coonected over a cable by Belkin, USB-C to DisplayPort. All my workflow is on the Benq monitor since it's bigger and I consider it's colours to be more reliable compared to the integrated Apple scrren. When I start postproducing as picture I start doing it on LrC, when I end up general intervenctions I as LrC to continue modifying it in PS. As soon as I do so, I see completely altered colours (let's say saturation is higher). Strange thing is, when I use Camera Raw filter, liquify filter or Luminar 4 plug in the pictures is shown with correct colors. Yesterday for the first time I noticed the and exported picture had altered colourse and even LrC was showing for a second altered colours right before I swapped pictures, when I cange overvew from a file to another. My files are raw .arw by a Sony A7iii.
Any idea?

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer NB, colourmanagement

The 2 applications may be using different display screen profiles, Photoshop seems to pick up the display profile from the screen it opens on. Lightroom too perhaps?

Dragging windows between screens on mac used to switch the display profile reliably, but that seems to be no longer the case (for quite a while now). Who knows whether Apple or Adobe messed that up.

A solution that’s worked for me in the past is to make sure the imaging application opens on the screen you want to use it on. If it doesn’t drag it there, quit it and reopen, now it should.

One user here for whom that did not work, set both screens to his master display profile (the benQ in your case perhaps) that fixed it but of course the MacBook screen is now inaccurate. so it's only a workaround 'til Adobe can fix this issue.

Are you calibrating and profiling the benQ and confident about its appearance? A lot of users have trouble with the Palette Master SW. basICColor display 6 has given good usable calibrations on benQ screens for my clients who have tried it. So there's a solution: https://www.colourmanagement.net/products/basiccolor/basiccolor-display-software/

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net :: adobe forum volunteer
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management
[please only use the blue reply button at the top of the page, this maintains the original thread title and chronological order of posts]

NB, colourmanagement

Community Expert

I wonder if this is predominantly an issue on M1 chip macs and dual displays?

It seems that Apple have 'changed' the display sensing/ display description on those Macs to show displays as "unknown", internally rather than by name.

I was speaking to the developer of basICColor display 6 software about this today and he came across the issue, for which he has had to develop a workaround. Of course it's been reported to Apple but as their "issue with LUT type ICC profiles" has been around since OSX 10.12 and much reported, maybe a fix will not happen anytime soon.

If anyone would like to test display 6 on their mac which is showing this issue it would be great to have feedback: https://www.colourmanagement.net/products/basiccolor/basiccolor-display-software/

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net :: adobe forum volunteer
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management

tomekbu

Participating Frequently

@Andrea5C80

There are lots users suffering from this problem. I have opened a thread at Adobe Photoshop Family with lots of examples. At the first post I store a summary there - what have been found/tested so far, as well as links to other threads - including yours - I do encourage to put there also your case:

https://feedback.photoshop.com/conversations/photoshop/unresolved-photoshop-2210-critical-problem-wi...

NB, colourmanagement

Community Expert

Andrea, Have you tried resetting Photoshop?

Resetting Photoshop preferences:
Resetting restores Photoshop's internal preferences which are saved when Photoshop closes.

If they become corrupt then various issues can occur.

Here's some info on how to do that:

https://t.co/ulJI7cGn1G
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html

You may want to backup your settings beforehand:
https://t.co/4dX7gkr36D
https://helpx.adobe.com/in/photoshop/using/preset-migration.html

It may even be time to reinstall Photoshop.

Use the Adobe CC cleaner tool to remove all traces first.
Uninstall photoshop BUT make sure to choose the option “Yes, remove app preference”.

Once that process finishes, start the installation process and look into the “Advanced Options”. Uncheck “Import previous settings and preferences” and choose to “Remove old versions”.

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2405286

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net :: adobe forum volunteer
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management
[please only use the blue reply button at the top of the page, this maintains the original thread title and chronological order of posts]

A

Andrea5C80Author

Known Participant

Hello NB, thanks for your contribution. No, I did not try to reset PS but honnestly I doubt this would solve since I already did a clean (internet recovery mode) reinstall of Mac OS and this brought a fresh instal of PS with it. I also tried to use the Adobe cleaner as suggested from the Adobe support chat, but nothing has changed.

A

Andrea5C80Author

Known Participant

Dear Neil, thank you again for your help.

Concerning the following suggestion:

Did you try this: "One user here for whom that did not work, set both screens to his master display profile (the benQ in your case, perhaps) that fixed it for them, but, of course, the MacBook screen is now inaccurate. So it's only a workaround 'til Adobe can fix this issue."

No, did not try it out yet, because, being very honnest, I don't understand crecretly what steps I need to do and how it may impact on my MBP screen.

For sure I will report the bug to the link you gave me.

Concering this: The current display screen profile is very unlikely to be the cause of your issue - I can't imagine how it could be the cause - but, to rule that out you could temporarily select the AdobeRGB profile as the benQ display profile - the colours will probably be out, but does it stop the switching you are seeing? I have some problems here as well, as above... what are the steps to take? What is the impact on MBP screen?

Concerning calibration of my screen: I don't doubt this is very important, but I don't think this is necessary... yet. My aims at the moment don't require such a precise color management, I am only a passionate amateur photographer. I was palanning to invest on a calibration tool and related SW once my photography level would be higher, as much as I would consider switching to a bigger, better screen. Furthermore, at the moment I doubt calibrating the screen could be a solution (correct me if I am wrong): Issue is not that, for example, I see the same image with different colours on the 2 screens, or when I print. Issue is that I see the same picture on the same screen with different colours on the same screen and, furthermore, they all belong to Adobe.
Again, thanks for your precious contributions, I hope you can help me further with this troubleshooting.

D

d-hob

Participating Frequently

Hi Andrea5C80,

I'm having some related problems that cropped up in the last month. I'm wondering if a bug got introduced in latest version of Photoshop? Here is my post:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop/inconsistent-color-display-on-external-monitors-photoshop-v-22-1-1-and-bridge-v-11-0-1-mac/m-p/11808668

And here's a copy of that post:

I'm having serious color management issues in Photoshop v 22.1.1 on a MacBook Pro. Specifically, when working on a color image on an external monitor, the colors of the image will suddenly and unexpectedly shift. Also, colors will be inconsistent within the app. For example, the image I'm working on will appear one way, yet in a sub-window – like the Navigator – the color will appear differently. By far and away the easiest way to replicate the problem is to simply open a color image on an external monitor and then just resize Photoshop's window within the screen. Suddenly the colors will jump. Adobe Bridge 11.0.1 also exhibits inconsistent color handling, showing one set of colors in thumbnails and another in the Preview pane.

I have tested this problem and replicated it on two laptops - both older 15" MacBook Pros (one Retina 2012, one Retina 2013) with Nvidia GPUs, both with 16GB RAM. I have replicated the problem on both Mojave and Catalina. I have replicated the problem across two different high end color critical external monitors, one an NEC PA272W, the other a brand new Dell UP3017 (both connected via miniDP). I have replicated the problem both with and without color management (it occurs even after doing a factory reset on the monitors and deleting all monitor icc files). I replicated the problem using an external SSD that I loaded a fresh install of Catalina on and on which I only otherwise installed the latest versions of Photoshop and Bridge (I booted off this external SSD via Thunderbolt 1).

A

Andrea5C80Author

Known Participant

Dear d-hob, many thanks for your intervention, it feels nice not feeling completely alone on this issue. So far I did not find any other related thread.

You seem to have by far more experience than I do and also have investigate with both more HW and SW combinations. Just a couple of questions:
1. can we somehow make sure we are suffering the same issue? Did you check the link I posted with videos on Youtube reproducing my issue? You youd do the same maybe?
2. After all this troubleshooting, did you end up thinking it's a bug that Adobe or Apple (or both together need to solve?)

NB, colourmanagement

Community Expert

Hi Andrea5C8

I am sorry my idea did not work out

Did you try this: "One user here for whom that did not work, set both screens to his master display profile (the benQ in your case, perhaps) that fixed it for them, but, of course, the MacBook screen is now inaccurate. So it's only a workaround 'til Adobe can fix this issue."

This is a very hard to understand issue and, plainly, it's a pain to live with.

I suggest you report it as a bug here

https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/categories/photoshop_family_photoshop

The current display screen profile is very unlikely to be the cause of your issue - I can't imagine how it could be the cause - but, to rule that out you could temporarily select the AdobeRGB profile as the benQ display profile - the colours will probably be out, but does it stop the switching you are seeing?

:: CALIBRATION & PROFILING OF YOUR SYSTEM::

IF you are doing any serious imaging work and would like to see continuity of appearance between your system and others, such as a print service - or even your own printer - then your main working display really does need to be calibrated & profiled.

For that you'll need a sensor such as the X-Rite i1display pro (better than Spyder).

Also you'll need good software, benQ do include the problematic Palette Master, with which a lot of users have serious issues trying to calibrate their screens.

In this case, I highly recommend basICColor display v6 calibration & profiling software

more here https://www.colourmanagement.net/products/basiccolor/basiccolor-display-software/

With any calibration you need to be sure that the achieved result is accurate, my belief is that the only way to achieve that is by using an unequivocal reference, a physical reference item. For this I use http://www.colourmanagement.net/products/icc-profile-verification-kit

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net :: adobe forum volunteer
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management
[please only use the blue reply button at the top of the page, this maintains the original thread title and chronological order of posts]

A

Andrea5C80Author

Known Participant

Here is another video showing the issue whenever I zoom in or zoom out on PS. I tried to move PS to the main (integrated monitor) and it's not giving the issue, when I move it back to the Benq it's also not giving the issue anymore.

https://youtu.be/AsSsqEzVWNk

H

hb813

Participant

Oh wow! This is the exact same problem I'm having! I thought I was going crazy thanks for posting this. I just purchased a terrific second monitor for my new Macbook Pro M1 laptop cause I'm a retoucher and need the colors to be on point. I even got a Displayport cable so I'm getting the best results and then this happened! I thought it was the new monitor that was messed up. Honestly since I got this new computer it's been nothing but a nightmare getting Adobe apps to work with it. Their Beta version is supposed to work with the M1 chip but that's a complete lie! I can't even get photoshop to work without randomly quitting on me, unless I'm using an older version. It's a shame that Adobe and Apple didn't come together to make things more in sync, instead lots of people are finding other substitutes for Photoshop because the endless issues of incompatibility is insane. Did you find a solution? Thanks!

A

Andrea5C80Author

Known Participant

Dear NB, I tried the firt workaround you proposed: I opened the file from LrC directly on the Benq by moving my Dock on the Benq and start and proceed all the workflow from the Benq only: K.O.
I never did calibrate any of my monitors, I don't own a spider o similars.
I made a video though, I think this helps better understanding the issue (it's a rec of the Benq only): Colors from LrC are ok, as soon move the process to PS K.O.. But from PS, if I retrieve wheater liquify filter or Camera Raw, or even Luminar 4 as plug in, ti shows back the LrC original colors.

Can this help further? Any idea? https://youtu.be/al-_DB-k5ck

NB, colourmanagement

Correct answer

Community Expert

The 2 applications may be using different display screen profiles, Photoshop seems to pick up the display profile from the screen it opens on. Lightroom too perhaps?

Dragging windows between screens on mac used to switch the display profile reliably, but that seems to be no longer the case (for quite a while now). Who knows whether Apple or Adobe messed that up.

A solution that’s worked for me in the past is to make sure the imaging application opens on the screen you want to use it on. If it doesn’t drag it there, quit it and reopen, now it should.

One user here for whom that did not work, set both screens to his master display profile (the benQ in your case perhaps) that fixed it but of course the MacBook screen is now inaccurate. so it's only a workaround 'til Adobe can fix this issue.

Are you calibrating and profiling the benQ and confident about its appearance? A lot of users have trouble with the Palette Master SW. basICColor display 6 has given good usable calibrations on benQ screens for my clients who have tried it. So there's a solution: https://www.colourmanagement.net/products/basiccolor/basiccolor-display-software/

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net :: adobe forum volunteer
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management
[please only use the blue reply button at the top of the page, this maintains the original thread title and chronological order of posts]

A

Andrea5C80Author

Known Participant

Hello NB and thank you su much for your kind answer. Unfortunately, I am now at work (Photography is mainly a hobby for me) and I probably won't have time to make proper attempts of your workarounds before the weekend, but as for my first impressions your anwer seems quite logic and reliable. That said, you for sure will receive my feedback as soon as I have time to dedicate myself again to this issue. Thanks again for the moment!

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