Photo on Mac M2 changes continuously the color profile

[Gianni Becattini]

I have a new MacBook Pro M2, where I transferred all from my previous Mac i7. I opened a photo and... oh, it's overexposed! The image was absolutely clear. After few seconds the display turned to normal colors. Every about ten seconds, it switches from clear to normal and vice versa, making Photo totally unusable. 

I tried to get screenshots of this behaviour but they are always normal (or better: the screen changes to normal when I capture it).

The problem is relative only to the edited image, all the screen (menus etc.) remains always normal.

Very grateful for any help, I am completely stuck now. Thanks

 

[Lee_T]

Hi Gianni, 

Try disabling the True Tone and automatic brightness settings on your mac's preferences to see if this helps.

Lee

 

 

[Gianni Becattini]

Tried, no change.

Other info: Photo: 1.10.5

Mac: 12.5.1, M2 16Gb RAM

Thanks for your help. 

[Gianni Becattini]

Other info: the problem seems to be present in Photo and in Publisher. I did not see it in Designer.

[Lee_T]

Could you try disabling the hardware acceleration in Preferences > Performance to see if that has any effect?

Lee

[Gianni Becattini]

I already tried with no success. But if I disable hw acceleration and set OpenGL instead of Metal, colors remain stable and correct.

I tried also a lot of combinations of the other parameters with no success. With Metal, there is no combination working.

[Lee_T]

Would it be possible to record the behaviour off screen so we can try and replicate the issue?

Lee

[Gianni Becattini]

Sure! I will prepare a short video. It seems independent from the image, however I now load my test sample. I add that the problem is the same on the MacBook internal screen or on an external monitor.

[Gianni Becattini]

Here is the video. The MacBook Pro M2 is brand new. I installed in it only the Affinity suite and Microsoft Word. No special programs, extensions, or whatever else.

 

 

 

 

[Gianni Becattini]

The video doesn't seem to work. I add an iCloud link: https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/0b04pYbEtKP68tD8_VGWR738g#IMG_3121

 

[Lee_T]

On 8/19/2022 at 2:07 PM, Gianni Becattini said:

Other info: the problem seems to be present in Photo and in Publisher. I did not see it in Designer.

Do you see this in Designer if you switch to the pixel persona?

[Gianni Becattini]

Hi, an interesting new. Today I tried in Designer, as you suggested. No problem. So I did some tests: the problem seems to be vanished!

But I am an old software developer, so I don't believe in miracles. Test and test again: the result is very strange:

• the problem "seems" no longer present;
• I downloaded my own image from this forum (obtaining the file IMG_3098.jpeg.7caa218f86529d58aea8165246b342b1.jpeg); no problem at all.
• I went back to my original photo (file IMG_3098.jpeg) and... the problem is there again!

So, it seems that the problem is in the file itself. Maybe something related to the color profile?

I attach the file with the problem, in zip format, to avoid that the forum software could in some way modify it.

IMG_3098.jpeg.zip

[Gianni Becattini]

Another info: I have many photos with this problem. All of them where taken with an iPhone 13 pro and then exported by Photo in a jpeg file.

[thomaso]

On 8/22/2022 at 7:29 PM, Gianni Becattini said:

So, it seems that the problem is in the file itself. Maybe something related to the color profile?

I attach the file with the problem, in zip format,

Here on a mac I don't experience a flickering with your zipped .jpg. Also, I can't imagine a colour profile causing a flickering respectively any change over time.

If you assume that the problem on your screen is caused by the profile, then it would disappear if you changed the profile once you opened the file in Affinity, right?

[Gianni Becattini]

Yes, you got it!

The problem arise only with the "Apple wide color sharing profile".

[thomaso]

In the attached .zip I exported your JPG with lower resolution while maintaining its "Apple wide colour sharing profile". – Does it flicker on your screen?

IMG_3098_export.jpg.zip

If not: What if you export or save yours – does it flicker if you reopen it?

[Gianni Becattini]

Even with this, the problem remains present and unchanged

[Gianni Becattini]

If I save in Affinity format, the problem is still there when I reload it.

[thomaso]

Indeed strange how sticky the issue occurs on your mac while LeeThorpe and me can't reproduce it. So it appears to be triggered by a specific hardware / macOS version or setup.

Does it occur with each installed graphic card on your mac? [I can choose not to switch automatically in both macOS system preferences (energy) + Affinity (performance)]

Do you get the flickering if you boot in Safe Mode (hold shift until the start sound)? Aside the fact that it runs slower then maybe the limited amount of loaded system relevant software may shed some light on a possible culprit.

I could not research any post or article in the internet for "Apple wide color sharing profile", which let me assume it is an issue related to your specific mac, respectively its software like e.g. any system relevant non-Apple / third party tool. To detect whether there is anything installed (does not need to be an app with UI but could be just a hidden daemon or system extension) you could run EtreCheck. It reads only & reports a sorted list of installed system affecting software, with notes for possible issues.

[Gianni Becattini]

First of all: thanks for all the help you are giving me. I appreciate it very much.

• Installed graphic card: the energy menu (called "battery" now) has no choice for the video card (or I could not find it); in Affinity Performance menu, you can choose only Metal for hardware acceleration. As I said, no problem with OpenGL (but w/o hw accell).
• Safe mode: no change;
• EtreCheck: no major problems, minor problems not related to video (see attach)
• Exporting from Photo in other formats: tiff and png has the same problem, HEIC has not, but only because it uses P3 color profile. Resetting to Apple wide sharing, the problem arises as well.
• Other photos: there are photos in the same format that have no this problem.
• XnView: it has no problems (but maybe it does not use Metal hw accell)
• Adobe Photoshop: it has no problems but uses OpenGL with hw accel and not Metal
• Adobe Photoshop elements: no problem but it says there is an error with the video driver (see attach)

I am scared going to Apple for this problem, they normally refuse any analisys when a third party product is involved. 

Thanks again

[thomaso]

A culprit for this issue seems hard to detect since various apps don't show it, or report another issue (Photoshop Elements). It seems in particular strange that Affinity Designer does not show the issue whereas APub + APh do. – How about the Designer Persona in APub?

3 hours ago, Gianni Becattini said:

Other photos: there are photos in the same format that have no this problem.

Were those taken by the identical hardware / software, means same iPhone / camera app?
Can you upload (.zip) an image with this "Apple wide color sharing profile" profile which does not cause the issue for you?

2 hours ago, Gianni Becattini said:

• Installed graphic card: the energy menu (called "battery" now) has no choice for the video card (or I could not find it); in Affinity Performance menu, you can choose only Metal for hardware acceleration. As I said, no problem with OpenGL (but w/o hw accell).
• XnView: it has no problems (but maybe it does not use Metal hw accell)

GPU: I don't know about your M2 macbook pro, – would its Apple processor possibly not have this option?

So just in case, what I mean / get on my old macbookpro: If this checkbox is unticked then always the faster (secondary / "discret") GPU gets used. If it is off, then the "integrated" only. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202053

Also Affinity shows this option to me – whereas here the checkbox works vice versa: an unticked checkbox prevents the use of the "discret" GPU.

XnView: To me XnView does not use the "discret" GPU but the "integrated" only, whereas Affinity can show both states, depending on my setting above. How to check which gets used: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202053

[thomaso]

Your thread is titled as "Photo on Mac M2 changes continuously the color profile". – Is this indeed a change of the profile, means, do you see a change in the profile menu while the image appearance changes on screen?

(you can edit the title if wanted, maybe mentioning "Apple wide color sharing profile" as causing some flickering on M2 mac. Might make it easier for other's with a similar issue, respectively this new mac hardware)

[Gianni Becattini]

A small discover:

• all the photos have been token with the same iPhone 13 Pro;
• the photos that have not the problem have a different color profile: sRGB IEC61966-2.1. Maybe that the iPhone has some logic to assign different color profiles according the photo itself (probably according the lens in use).
• if I change the color profile to the Apple wide color sharing profile, the problem immediately arises.

On the other points:

• Designer Persona: same problem
• Der Automatiche Wechsel der Grafikmodi is not present with this Mac and neither in my other MacBook Pro (Intel i7).
• In my Aph, I can check Hardware acceleration only if I set Display (Metal). Use only integrated GPU has no apparent effect.
• title of this thread: you are right, I will modify it.

I wish to say that the problem is however not so heavy. I can, as a workaround:

• change the color profile of the photo;
• disable hw acceleration. Even in this way, zooming and panning remain extremely fast.

I should like to test the problem on my wife's MacBook Air M1, so that understanding if the problem is in my hardware. But she has a different Apple ID  and I don't know how to install Affinity without buying it again.

Thanks

[Gianni Becattini]

I am not able to change the topic title

[walt.farrell]

6 minutes ago, Gianni Becattini said:

I am not able to change the topic title

There are two methods you could try, if you haven't:

1. Click the "..." icon on the first post, and choose Edit. Then update the title field on that post, and click Edit Post to save it. Or (easier):
2. On a desktop web browser, click and hold on the topic title until it becomes editable. Make your change, and press Enter.