Macbook Pro 'preset' display option and calibrated displays

[SRPcashie]

Hi Everyone,

I am writing about the macbook pro 'preset' options for it's display.  I absolutely need color accuracy on my display and calibrate my monitor regularly.  But now I found this 'preset' option under display on the new macbook pro (M2 Max).

It definitely shifts the color a bit warmer when you enable it rather than having the default Apple xdr display option on. 

Is the 'photo' option worth having on?  Or does is this preset like a filter?  If that's the case should it be on while you calibrate just to marry the color profile to the preset?

Any insight would be great.

Thanks

OS Ventura 13.5.1

PS 24.7.0

LR 12.5

[Conrad_C]

Short answer, for a new 14/16" MacBook Pro (Liquid Retina XDR display):

• If your photography is general purpose, mostly delivered on screen (websites, video, social media), the Apple XDR Display (P3-1600 nits) preset is OK. It uses the full gamut and luminance range of the display.
• If your photography is tightly tied to sRGB SDR workflows, then choose Internet & Web (sRGB). 
• If your photography is tightly tied to print, it’s highly recommended that you create your own custom Reference Mode preset using the Photography (P3-D65) or Design & Print (P3-D50) preset as the starting point, but adjusted for whatever your color requirements are.  For example, you’ll probably want to leave the color gamut at P3 (full hardware gamut of the display), but customize the White Point if needed (D65 or D50?), disable Enable HDR Content, and clamp the Maximum Luminance to a value that won’t make prints too dark, such as 110 nits. 

Sure, you can just choose Photography (P3-D65), as long as you agree with how it’s set up. But its luminance limit is 160 nits, and some (including me) think that’s too high for print. Other photographers prefer D50 as the display white point, so they’ll customize it for that reason.

Longer answer:

The new Reference Mode presets are a major advance in macOS display color. They were created to properly handle the new high brightness, HDR-capable displays that Apple now makes, like the Liquid Retina XDR display in the 14/16" MacBook Pro. The old system of simply using a profile was no longer good enough. The new Reference Mode preset system works a lot more like the calibration presets that the better non-Apple pro desktop displays have had for years.

I absolutely need color accuracy on my display and calibrate my monitor regularly.

By @SRPcashie

How are you doing that? If you are doing it with the same equipment and software you have used for many years, designed for traditional displays, it may not be doing it properly for the Liquid Retina XDR.

Some new devices such as the Calibrite (formerly X-Rite) Display Plus HL and Display Pro HL are properly designed to work with Liquid Retina XDR displays. The ArtIsRight channel on YouTube is a good source of info for calibrating Mac displays, and he recently came out with some videos about Liquid Retina XDR displays and Reference Modes, and (below) a video describing the proper procedure for calibrating the Liquid Retina XDR display with a compatible color device. And this really is calibrating, not just the old-style profiling that traditional Mac displays were limited to.

As with non-Apple pro displays:

• The Reference Modes constrain the factory calibration to your requirements, and the presets let you easily switch between different calibration settings, which is very handy when switching between workflows (e.g print, vs watching an HDR movie, vs creating website graphics). 
• If the factory calibration is suspect, you update the calibration, not the profile. 
• The profile no longer has to do the heavy lifting, so it’s mostly relegated to telling the OS what the current Reference Mode specs are, and the profile is automatically updated to reflect the current Reference Mode. 

This is why old-style calibration does not really work with these displays.

[SRPcashie]

Wow.  

That was way more complicated than I expected.  Mostly because when I deliver to clients I KNOW they will use these images for web/social media, but I suspect further on down the road they can easily be used for other things.  But I would no longer be attached to those images.  Sometimes on the fly, they are used for newspapers and other quick turnaround print.  But everything is delivered in srgb.

I currently calibrate with the Calibrite Color checker display pro and I believe I use d65.  But I am about to go on a business trip where I need to work on the laptop and have accurate colors.  What would you recommend? 

[NB, colourmanagement]

@SRPcashie "What would you recommend? " very carefully read Conrad's comprehensive reply and use a compatible calibrator to adjust as he suggested if need be. Watch the video too

My friends at basICColor who make the excellent basICColor display software had to do a lot of work to come up with a good calibration method for these new type Mac screens.

You can download a free demo version witu a comprehensive manual

- IF you wish to move away from the supplied presets, it does indeed get complicated.

Unfortunately, no one can give you a simple "do this" tip I'm afraid. My only valid tip right now its to not edit appearance of final images on the macbook untilyou know you can trust it, then, when you get back, take the images onto your existing system which has  presumably been successful. 

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

[Conrad_C]

What would you recommend? 

By @SRPcashie

Given that you said “I absolutely need color accuracy on my display and calibrate my monitor regularly,” that implies that there are specific target settings you calibrate to in the tool that you use. What are those settings? Because that would be exactly what you would specify in your Reference Mode preset.

For example, most calibration/profiling software applications offer the same options for calibration target settings: White point, gamma, luminance. What are the settings in your current software that give you the color that works for your clients?