14" & 16" MacBook Pro Liquid Retina XDR Preset - Reference Modes Explained!

[@ArtIsRight]

Update 21 August 2023 There's a new guide that covers this process with Calibrite Profilier and Calibrite Display Pro HL or Display Plus HL. Watch it here kzbin.info/www/bejne/hn2lamahbrqMjcU

[@guillandanthony711]

This is the phrase I wanted to hear: " They have calibrated this display extremely well from the factory". Only you make these very important videos to explain the new Mini LED in detail. Thank you!

[@ArtIsRight]

Thanks!

[@stephenrowson4828]

Having just moved to a new M1 Max MacBook Pro with an Eizo external display - the content on your channel ticks all the boxes! Thank you

[@ArtIsRight]

Great to hear!

[@huggeebear]

Thank you for your work in educating the laypeople like me, you’re an amazing resource Art 👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿

[@ArtIsRight]

My pleasure 😊

[@InesCordial]

Thanks for detailed and precise explanation!

[@ArtIsRight]

You are welcome!

[@Der_Marc]

Really helpful, thank you very much.

[@ArtIsRight]

You're welcome!

[@christiancortes7365]

This was sooooo helpful! FOLLOWED.

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you!

[@VincentTse]

great recap of reference modes, now i'm using L80 photography mode when i'm editing my photos and i'm very pleased with the results. really hope apple will introduce these settings to their iPads as well.

[@ArtIsRight]

That would be nice!

[@jaimeduncan6167]

First comment!!! Great video as always, very informative without being boring.

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you!

[@kuau714]

Another great vide Art. question I have the Apple Pro Display XDR attached to my MacStudio and was wondering for photography would you just use the Photography preset and adjust the luminance and call it good or would you recalibrate using Calibrite software

[@ArtIsRight]

Follow this guide kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKKpkIaHjNtrrpI

[@avallejo]

Great video…

[@ArtIsRight]

Thanks!

[@moritzmeyns9285]

hi @ArtIsRight great video! which reference mode would you recommend for 4k non-HDR color grading in davinci resolve? Prores files with rec.709, display is the macbook 14inch m1 pro. thanks!

[@ArtIsRight]

HDTV, I think. REC 709, D65, BT1886 Gamma :D

[@RalfWeyer]

Great video 👍. Do these laptops support Adobe RGB?

[@brightboxstudio]

Display P3 gives you most of Adobe RGB, and is still a big improvement over sRGB. If you compare the coverage of Adobe RGB and Display P3 in Apple ColorSync Utility, they’re very similar in shape and volume. Most of their colors overlap; each covers over 90% of the other. If you work with Adobe RGB images on these Apple XDR displays, select or create a Reference Mode preset based on P3; this will let you see roughly as many colors beyond sRGB as an Adobe RGB display would. Although the actual color coverage will be slightly different.

[@ArtIsRight]

Not quite, there's overlap about 84% but Adobe RGB is the larger gamut of the 2. Volume and shape between P3 and Adobe RGB is not quite the same, like I said the 84% over laptop. I would use my guide for the reference mode and fine tune calibration to get the most from these displays.

[@gottnk]

what a great video, very helpful !! which mode would you recommend for photography editing but for websites, insta and blogs only with no prints : L80 photography mode or sRGB ( which is L80 aswell btw )?

[@ArtIsRight]

I would use P3 L80, and knowing this concept kzbin.info/www/bejne/faaUn6R7m52psMk

[@lanac2750]

Thank you very much for such informative content! I was looking into purchasing this laptop for photo editing with the goal to print images. Would these screens be accurate enough for that? And what settings would they need? Would the manufacturer settings be enough? It's all so tricky when you are just starting out.

[@ArtIsRight]

I would look at this playlist for your answers kzbin.info/aero/PLjlr8rlxl_q5jBT6sp5aUrTfctBJ4U43J if there's something that you still like to know or have questions about you can ask them by starting a new thread. Also to answer the questions about printing watch this. There's a section that talks specifically about any Apple Display vs printing. Tldr it can work but not optimal for photo printing.

[@lanac2750]

@@ArtIsRight Thank you!

[@c8kz1n]

Awesome video!!! @ArtIsRight have you noticed any ghosting on your screen? i've been using mine for about a week and i'm noticing a lot.

[@ArtIsRight]

I haven't seen anything like that. I hear that some do see it.

[@davida6297]

When using the P3 display settings when colorgrading for rec709 video on the Macbook pro 16. Would I need to set export settings on Color space tag to P3 and gamma tag to sRGB so I don't get any sort of gamma shifts? Also, great content!!!!

[@ArtIsRight]

That depends on where your footage is going. REC 709 gamma is 2.4 it is closer to BT1886 than sRGB. sRGB is closer to 2.2

[@JohnAmaro_Official]

Hi Arti i hope you are doing well.So i bought the 13" m1 macbook pro. I didnt know that the display has a difference before i bought it,as i am djing so i was planning to use it mostly for djing. But i was wondering is the 13" good for editing photos? I just found out that it only has a million colors while the imac has like a billion. What do u think can i use it for editing photos as well or ? :)

[@ArtIsRight]

you'll be fine, you won't really notice the variations much.

[@JohnAmaro_Official]

@@ArtIsRight the only thing that bothers me with macs in general..its brightness level in genersl.. if apple made the display to show how many nits ehrn changing the level up or down for example,instead of those dots we get. that would be perfect for photographers and graphic designers

[@ArtIsRight]

Apple and other dispels company, but there are many factor that can effect this and the complication that it add during the manufacturing and all of this cost money, so I can see why even if they can, they might not do it.

[@clay_photography]

Great video please I need to calibrate my laptop M1 Pro 2021 how can you help me please

[@ArtIsRight]

You need a HL device and watch this guide kzbin.info/www/bejne/hn2lamahbrqMjcU

[@CalebHigginbotham]

I don't go for color accuracy most of the time. I like vivid presets like Apple RGB.

[@ArtIsRight]

cheers

[@MarcRogoff]

Great info about this display - Thankyou. Just wondering if you could cover a video on calibrating an attached benq monitor to this machine. I tried using palette master and an i1 and it keeps failing despite the latest version. I still find it very confusing using the benq monitor settings to alter luminance if I use i1 software. A vid going through the benq menus would be great to explain how one can calibrate using other calibration software if palette master fails.

[@ArtIsRight]

Guide like other Mac, nothing special about this one... watch this kzbin.info/www/bejne/bqPNg6J_mpVgo9E and this kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnfIfHiFbd95nbc What SW display model do you have? PME version? Check from my latter video and make sure that SW and PME are compatible. Also seems like this is a new machine for you, did you set it up as new or did you restore setting from system migration or time machine back up? Also did you do this already kzbin.info/www/bejne/i2exgJR6npd3h5I and disable HDR?

[@MarcRogoff]

@@ArtIsRight thanks Art, will look at the vids - I have the sw217c. I did make all the adjustments before calibrating and yes it’s a new MacBook Pro m1 16”

[@ArtIsRight]

i1software does not alter brightness especially if you use PME. Either way watch those. And if you have any questions start a new comment thread.

[@karelinstudio]

i followed all your instructions but I keep getting different color between my Mac Pro 16 and my 270C the monitor look more green how can I fix this and have them look the same colors?

[@ArtIsRight]

This instruction is not for color matching. Watch this kzbin.info/www/bejne/i4LWZaxoa7-Igq8 and this kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKm3f4ahrcyJhpo

[@warawau]

Hi Art, thanks for your advice, its great all over the channel. I was wondering if i plug an MacBook ProM1 Max with XDR to the Studio Display (Standard Glass), which setting will work best? Do i have to set or use the same custom settings for the notebook and for the display. Is there going to be differences on what i see, if i start editing photography on the Macbook and then continue/finish the job plugging it to the Studio Display? Hope you can help me with this. Thanks!

[@ArtIsRight]

Yes you have to do the custom setting for both. And even thought they are the same setting you are going to see variation, it is just the nature of the LCD panel.

[@warawau]

@@ArtIsRight would it happen the same if i use a BenQ display ?

[@ArtIsRight]

BenQ displays uses a different method

[@alcamorim]

Hi! Thank you for your videos! I wanted to ask you a question. I got a 16 inch MacBook Pro m1 and the Liquid Retina display does not allow me to use Apple RGB anymore. Is there a way to have that? I miss the vibrant colors of that profile. Thank you so much!

[@ArtIsRight]

These display can only show 80-84% Adobe RGB because they are calibrated with P3 from the factory. You won't get Adobe RGB at 99% or greater with these display. Color vibrancy on displays does not necessary correlates to gamut coverage.

[@alcamorim]

@@ArtIsRight Thank you so very much for your assistance. Keep up the good work with your channel. Best regards!

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you!

[@ArrudaFelipe]

I've bought these 16" XDR MBP because a display for HDR authoring is even more expensive with the same quality. Plus, I Get a new MBP in the process =)

[@ArtIsRight]

:)

[@prapanchulapinyo757]

At 13.42 which ever set gamut to P3 or sRGB and gamut pretty much the same as you say? Really? I mean then what is the point on choosing that? I've test it myself I've just experience this laptop from my client and try to calibrate it. And your information is fantastic to me. But this confuse me, so put gamut setting it should limit/cap the gamut isn't it? Otherwise if it same what the point of setting this anyway?

[@ArtIsRight]

It is not the same, the software that I used to test can't do a good job determining the gamut output of these displays. It is a limitation of any consumer software atm, smarter people are working an update to this. So in general yes the firmware should go in and limit the gamut output. I would fine tune calibration but not necessary calibrate it yet.

[@kjehorn]

Hi Art. Thanks for your very informative videos. I have just bought a MBP 14" and BenQ sw270c. You have helped me a lot to set them up for photography editing. I have a question about making a custom preset on the Mac. I want to make a custom preset with P3 color space and luminance of 80 nits and white point of 5800K. The Mac asks for koordinates (x,y) for setting this up. I have coordinates for D50 and D65. Can I just take an average between them? Thanks!

[@ArtIsRight]

It is not as simple as averaging them. I would do a search on line to get the x, y coordinate for that color temp

[@kjehorn]

Ok. Thanks!

[@albertchandra-gw1zr]

iam using this mac pro m1 pro 16 inch but i've got some problem about the display. the problem is while i've done my editting videos the colors from macbook display is oversaturated. i know that because iam preview the difference color from my iphone 11,12,and also 13. maybe i need help about callibration settings for mac m1 pro 16 inch because it so annoying i must go back to adjust the color again, preview again from my iphone, it so wasting my time for sending result to my clients

[@ArtIsRight]

I hear you but doing things based on your phone is one of the worse thing that you can do. That is a can of worm that you open up and will never close. Plus there's no way of telling if your customer iPhone displays is going to looks like yours or not. They could have True Tone, night mode, etc turned on. I don't advise doing it this way.

[@MsPernickety]

What "Sceen type" should I select when I use the Calibrite Pro with a iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2019). I can't find this info anywhere. Would appreciate it if you could let me know.

[@ArtIsRight]

GB-LED

[@tejagudise]

hello guys, for photography this is fine but when I edit videos in this preset the videos seem jaggy like 24 frames per second, which one should I use for video editing guys, please help

[@ArtIsRight]

You would do the same but for video. There's another setting for refresh rate. You can set it to Pro Motion which is 120 variable or just cap your display at 24Hz the control is in the display setting. This has nothing to do with the color reference mode.

[@howardcubell8398]

Thanks, Art, for another very informative video. My question relates to the selection of the available Color Gamuts when you create a Custom Preset for photo editing. The Apple XDR Pro Display actually covers close to 100% of the Adobe RGB color space, as well as close to 100% of the P-3 color space. As you have noted, these color spaces are similar but not identical. I have always calibrated my NEC Spectraview monitors using Adobe RGB as the target but selected Native as the Gamut. With the XDR, is it possible to select Adobe RGB as the Color Gamut in the Custom Preset? Or, am I mixing things up here and selecting P3 as the Color Gamut is the same as selecting Native in the Spectraview software? If that's correct, how do I get the XDR display to be configured to target 100% of Adobe RGB instead of P3?

[@ArtIsRight]

A couple of things, based on testing Pro Display XDR is about 96-97% Adobe RGB not quite 100% but close enough. The issues with Pro Display XDR and this Liquid Retina XDR is that Adobe RGB is not available as reference or preset, meaning that Apple didn't calibrate it with Adobe RGB or did calibrate but didn't include the reference mode with the display. And with all software calibrated display, which both of these are, you can't choose a color gamut that the display color mode, preset, or reference mode does not have. There's no gamut translation in software calibration. Also for these panel with the reference mode, there's really no native. The closest that you are going to get to native on these panel is P3, to which the coverage is about 86% Adobe RGB or there about because you are forced to calibrate the display in P3. There's really no other way around this, there may be theoretical panel test that puts the display into testing mode but that does not translate to daily use.

[@howardcubell8398]

@@ArtIsRight Thank you, Art. However, if testing shows that the XDR Pro Display "covers" 96%-97% of the Adobe RGB Color Space but using the P3 reference mode only gets you to 86%, why does the testing show 96%-97%? There seems to be a disconnect.

[@ArtIsRight]

I understand that, testing is just using the panel as is, but you can't do that in macOS necessary because the reference mode will put the display into one of the P3 or less color mode. The way how Apple has design the display, it is useless to try and use the display in a color mode that Apple has not put in from the factory, because under macOS usage you are forced to use the reference mode. And with software calibrated display there's no gamut translation. Meaning that if Adobe RGB was not calibrated from the factory as a reference mode, you can't choose it and if you can't choose it, you can't calibrate it. Apple Reference mode acts as a pseudo hardware calibrated display in some aspect, but also as a limitation as well compared to hardware calibrated display. So sure test using CalMan for instance may show a high coverage, but you can't translate that into real usage in macOS.

[@honey4xi]

7:37 It's difficut to set at 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, or 100% (Max) brightness on the Brightness Bar since Apple does not make the numbers along the bar.

[@ArtIsRight]

ok... if you are using it that way with these displays and what I covered in the video, you are missing the point. That is why they have reference mode. Percentage are irrelevant if you don't know the exact nit value to use in pro workflow.

[@honey4xi]

@@ArtIsRight The numbers help us the references. Without it, we're guessing where the hell is. It is the same issues for the sound bar on Macs and iTunes. Every pro devices (4K TV system, Pro Karaoke system,...) I own always have the numbers for references, except Apple devices and many Apple apps.

[@ArtIsRight]

ok

[@NicolasGomez97]

Can you make a video on how to calibrate the display using e.g. xrite idisplay pro? Even if it's well calibrated out of the factory, don't displays have to be recalibrated on some recurring period?

[@ALwinDigital]

you can look at his videos where he shows how to fine tune and calibrate using a i1 Display. But the thing is the CCProfiler software by X-Rite/Calibrite need some updating (though they run on M1 chips already).

[@ArtIsRight]

Ditto to @ALwinDigital hopefully soon...

[@ALwinDigital]

@@ArtIsRight I tried with the most recent version which came out a few weeks ago, still the same. Waiting to for the next version.

[@ArtIsRight]

I'm with you.

[@getmarked]

Do these reference modes mean that I dont have to use rec709-A in Davinci resolve anymore? I can just put my screen into bt1886 2.4 gamma and be able to match viewer with export without needing that infamous rec709-A?

[@ArtIsRight]

BT1886 is the gamma like 2.4 and they are both really close. REC 709 is still the gamut and you still need that.

[@getmarked]

@@ArtIsRight i mean. In order not to have gamma shift while exporting video from davinci resolve or premiere. One has to apply compensating rec709A. Because apparently macos is running on 1.96 gamma or what. Nevermind. So now I can use reference preset for my video editing right? Wish I have this preset on my non xdr macbook pro.

[@ArtIsRight]

Yes you can, as far as Mac using 1.96, I think that might still persist. It does not effect me much, and I have not found that it was an issue when I was doing my work.

[@DodoKing187]

also what exactly does the "apply system gamma boost" option mean? Isnt the field above it to specify that I want 2.2 gamma, why would I have to put this in the system gamma boost as well? I'm confused, is it advised to check the system gamma boost box and manually put in the 2.2 or does it not matter? I also was thinking maybe I can "Fine Tune" the Display to the D55 values and then I'll have D55 whitepoint on all of the presets even the Apple bulit in Presets so I can still adjust brightness, is that correct? because I care a lot about the whitepoint but I'm in situations where I need to adjust the brightness real quick and switching between my 10 custom presets ranging from 100 luminance to 250 is getting a bit annoying especially working infront of clients. xD

[@ArtIsRight]

This is a good link to start with support.apple.com/en-us/HT210435 it is apple support article that will send you to other links that will answer your questions.

[@jremeka]

I tried changing my display with color sync software when I choose a diffrent profile my screen just went black, I cannot see anything for me to even reset to factory settings. Please help, what do I do?

[@ArtIsRight]

you mean change the profile with color sync? It could be a defective profile. You can hook up external display or do a PRAM and SMC reset, that might help.

[@jremeka]

@@ArtIsRight Thank youu. I connected to an external display via HDMI and set the color profile back to factory settings. Could not do a PRAM or SMC because it is an M1 pro and I couldn't find anything on that online.

[@ArtIsRight]

👍🏼

[@ALwinDigital]

The starting point for HDR mastering display is the Flanders Scientific which costs just above $20,000.00. No need to spend $40,000.00 on a Sony. The previous FSI model went up to 3000 nit peak brightness, the current one goes up to 5000 nit. There is a misunderstanding about HDR in your explanation, or how you describe it. HDR is not necessarily about brightness. Yes, brightness is involved, but HDR also involves contrast ratio. The mini-LED back light technology is trying to achieve how OLED displays have control over the brightness of individual pixels, but instead of individual pixels the mini-LED back light uses dimming zones to control the brightness of pixel zones. This achieves much higher contrast ratios than traditional back light technology for LED/LCD displays. For HDR, screens with mini-LED back lights that implement Full Array Local Dimming allows the screen to achieve contrast ratios that are 100,000:1 or more, while standard screens have contrast ratios of 1000:1 or just slightly higher. With this high contrast ratio, the screen can display scenes with a wider range of differences or stops between blacks and highlights. This allows more details in both bright and dark portions of an image to be displayed, compared to SDR which may average or just bunch together the bright or dark portions of an image where the minute differences between the brightness or blacks/shadows are minuscule. HDR capable displays also allows for a wider array of more colors.

[@ArtIsRight]

👍🏼 Keeping it simple and give it this more of an over view treatment for the normal folks but thank you for the additional information. :D

[@DodoKing187]

I think it's ridiculous that I cant choose D55 in the custom preset as color temperature. Is there any way I can easily obtain this? because I dont have a colormeter and I dont know how to measure the whitepoint for D55 so I can set that in the x and y coordinates. Is there a chart on the internet telling me which x and y coordinates D55 has? xD

[@ArtIsRight]

Yes you can, you just have to look up the x and y white point for D55 - choose custom and put that number in. You don't need a colorimeter for and having one would not help you either, just google the value.

[@piksnapper]

Sorry if this is a Nube question but why was the screen blown out when you viewed the HDR content, isn't the screen supposed to display this correctly? As in not in REC 709.

[@alvinc314]

i have the same thought as i noticed too. if we edit on liquid retina, then it would go over exposed on regular phone users screen as well?

[@ALwinDigital]

the screen blown out also depends on how the footage was actually filmed. Maybe the camera was deliberately over exposed blowing out the highlights. If that's the case not even a $20000 HDR reference monitor can show what the sensor of the camera was not able to capture. HDR is not necessarily about being able to see brighter highlights or making the image brighter. It's about being able to see finer differences or finer levels of changes in shadows and highlights. A digital camera with a sensor that can only capture 7 stops of dynamic range vs a camera capable of capturing 15 stops of dynamic range, when properly exposed, both cameras can capture the same scene and nether will have overblown highlights. But the 15stop sensor will capture more minuscule changes in levels of shadows and highlights while for the 7 stop sensor it will only capture significant changes in levels.

[@alvinc314]

On the original version it wasnt, so i dont think that was the intent.

[@piksnapper]

@@ALwinDigital HDR footage from the iPone looks like that when brought into Final Cut so I was assuming the MBP would display it correctly without switching to Rec 709 profile.

[@ALwinDigital]

HDR capability of a display is not dependent only on how many nits of brightness it is capable of producing, it also depends on the contrast ratio. When you find $1000 or less computer monitors that claim to support HDR and look at the specs and see that they are only 300cd/m2 or 300nit or something brightness and 1000:1 only contrast ratio, they are not really capable of showing you HDR.

[@YanxiMeng-pl1nv]

I have a trouble. In photograph mode and xdr 1600nit mode, SDR uses gamma 2.2. However, the effect of the two is quite different when looking at photos with rich details in the shadows. The dark part of photograph mode is raised. with more details.

[@ArtIsRight]

That is why you don't use XDR mode for photo work.

[@YanxiMeng-pl1nv]

@@ArtIsRight Which parameter is the difference caused by it? As far as I can see, the photos rendered in XDR mode are consistent with the iPad iPhone. It seems more correct to use XDR mode if you think about keeping in line with the audience.

[@ArtIsRight]

Right if your audience uses all iPad and iPhone then sure, but what about other computer displays and other phones? The goal of color management is never to try and match other device. You'll fail every time because each device would look different and emit light differently. Best to just use the standard that work for your workflow and go with that. If it happens to be XDR to match iPhone, iPad, sure. But that is a can of worm in itself.

[@YanxiMeng-pl1nv]

@@ArtIsRight Thanks for the tip. Do you know which parameter is responsible for the very different appearance of the two modes?

[@ArtIsRight]

Human vision and perception is responsible for that :D

[@RydvanskyAndrew]

I hate that feature. When I set a custom preset up, I can't change the brightness on my keyboard. WHY??? I want to lock the tone of color but not brightness.

[@ArtIsRight]

It is by design. Custom mode should never change in brightness, pro display set up luminance remained fixed this is normal as it should be. Apple default mode will work otherwise.

[@wademorales]

Great video! I look forward to seeing more on this topic. I just went to update CC Studio and saw this in the release notes. Looks like there is no way to calibrate XDR displays at this time using Calibrate/Xrite devices and software. Here are the release notes Known Issues Display profiling is not currently supported on Apple MacBooks that use the Liquid Retina XDR display. Table-based display profiles (including ICCMax Compatible profiles) do not work correctly on M1 Macs and have been disabled. This feature will be restored when Apple restores support for table-based display profiles on M1 Macs. Monitor calibration is not supported when multiple displays are in mirror mode. ccStudio does not support the calibration of displays connected via AirPlay. If you encounter any problems connecting to your measurement device, please disconnect and reconnect the device to restore the connection.

[@ArtIsRight]

Thank you. I am aware that calibration on it is not possible yet. Hopefully soon.

[@mrfroopy]

You really can't in good faith tell people to do HDR grading on that monitor and expect results that are in any way usable in a professional environment. For right now, to deliver you have to use a true HDR broadcast monitor. Its just the way it is.

[@ArtIsRight]

It is a step in the right direction. People on the high end who makes money doing this for a living would have some way to access the proper HDR mastering displays. This is a poor man HDR display that can may be can be used as such. I may have over stated the fact about XDR but the point remains, this more than any other displays company have done to bring HDR to the main stream in a way that people can truly appreciate and be inspire to get a better HDR display. I am not referring to board cast or pro level hollywood in this video, it may not have been clear but for KZbin and video producer when send HDR out to clients, this is one of those good enough. So I'm with you.