Issue displaying DNGs in macos monterey

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Issue displaying DNGs in macos monterey

Follow up of the issue reported here https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253319108

when I import DNG files coming from my Leica M (a supported device for that format). The colours are smeared and the saturation is off. Exactly as described in the discussion linked above.

I use preview and photos and both are affected.

I first noticed the problem when I entered edit mode on my iphone a while back (before monterey was released) and now the issue crept in macos!

I have reported the issue to apple support, and the bug got escalated to the engineering team...

I don't use lightroom so it's a major issue for me! Anyone else experiencing this?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.1

Posted on Feb 1, 2022 11:06 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 2, 2022 8:28 AM in response to bounav

I'm not entirely sure but probably it's the same. Adobe DNG converter refers to lossy compression. BTW, I remember that Lightroom (V6.14) did not display a colour cast using the same lossy DNG file. I believe that I reported the issue to Apple at the time (probably about 2 years ago).

- Pie Lover

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Answer 2

bounav Author

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8 points

Feb 5, 2022 4:56 AM in response to VikingOSX

Good to hear it works for you on the previous version of macos (v11.2) @VikingOSX.

I found a DNG file on kenrockwell.com's review of the Leica M type 240, downloaded and it has the same issues my DNG files have.

For good measure I created a new user in safe mode in macos, then signed in that user and tried to open the same files with the same result.

I also tried opening the file with Pixelmator and because like Preview and Photos it relies on macos libraries to read the file it has the same issues.

On my iPhone I noticed that if I look at old RAW images synced to my icloud, they look OK until I enter the Edit mode and then the image gets corrupted exactly like it does in macos.

From all my testing i'd say it's got to be a framework issue in macos (and ios)!

Here's my example from my previous post without the serial number.

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Answer 3

bounav Author

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8 points

Feb 2, 2022 8:20 AM in response to bounav

Here is a screenshot illustrating the issue.

On the top right hand side you can see how the image has a weird "glows" around saturated areas. At the same time the colours are undersaturated.

The window behind the Preview app is a remote desktop session to another mac running macos sierra and the image loads perfectly.

[Image Edited by Moderator to Remove Serial Number]

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Answer 4

Feb 2, 2022 5:50 AM in response to bounav

You may want to check if your DNG files are using lossy compression. I remember an issue with display of such files having a strong colour cast when displayed using Preview with an earlier version of macOS (Catalina?). After discovering that problem, I virtually stopped using the DNG format for archiving photos (however, I suspect that lossless compression with DNGs is fine).

- Pie Lover

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Answer 5

bounav Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 2, 2022 8:04 AM in response to BlueberryLover

Hello Pie Lover,

Are you referring to the option to compress the DNG files in the camera's settings? If so, I tried with DNG files that have that option turned on and also off with the same results.

Thanks,

Ben

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Answer 6

Feb 5, 2022 5:55 AM in response to bounav

If you haven't already, I suggest that you update to macOS 12.2. Photography is a subjective pursuit, and I have no explanation for the loss of sharpness or color saturation between your images unless it is a calibration issue on an external display, or as you have noted, a change to the Leica camera RAW support, whether deliberate or accidental.

The same Leica M11 image that I previously mentioned on Big Sur, also appears sharp and with normal color on either my 2020 M1 mini with 32-inch LG 4K HDR display or on my 2021 16-in MacBook Pro M1 Pro (v12.2). I viewed these images in Preview, Photos, and Affinity Photo v1.10.4. I leave the HDR setting off as it washes out colors, but not sharpness.

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Answer 7

Feb 5, 2022 6:03 AM in response to VikingOSX

Since my experience will lossy DNGs on the Mac, I lost faith in Apple's implementation and haven't used the DNG format since Catalina. At that time, there were definitely differences between a DNG display in Preview (for example) and the identical image displayed in Lightroom. The DNG image in Preview had a distinct colour cast.

More recently, I've been using HEIC HDR images (captured in my camera). I haven't noticed any of the earlier (DNG) issues when displayed in Preview. As a side note, my version (V6.14) of Lightroom cannot import HEIC images directly so I typically convert images to TIFF for editing. I delete the (large) TIFF files once I'm finished my edits.

- Pie Lover

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