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dbremmer Author

Level 1

4 points

New IMac 24-inch M1 with OS Ventura 13.2.1 Fuzzy looking display in Photos App.

I configured my new iMac 24-inch, M1,2021 OS 13.2.1 with an external Thunderbolt SSD (2TB capacity) for the photos database.

My database is quite large (1/3 TB) and I do NOT use iCloud storage for photos.

Now when editing my pictures after a new camera load (full raw format images), the Photos app (Version 8.0 531.0.100)) is nearly unusable due to a fuzziness in display. The fuzzy display that I am referring to is the single large image display that you obtain by double-clicking on a thumbnail from the Photos gallery display.

If I export these same pictures as high quality JPEG and display in the preview app, they display tack sharp.

I am comparing images on the computer screen of approximately the same physical size.

The Photos for Mac app would fool me into rejecting and deleting the pictures, believing that they had a focus problem.

Is this problem possibly related to the fact that I am using an external hard drive for my Photos library?

Is there a work-around?

Possibly the single expanded image display in Photos is using the same limited pixel set from small thumbnail image display?

That would be a bad software bug!

Thank You.

iMac 24″, macOS 13.2

Posted on Mar 29, 2023 5:32 PM

Top-ranking reply

Richard.Taylor

Level 6

10,386 points

Posted on Mar 31, 2023 8:47 AM

Have you tried these things?

Restart the computer (of course)
Rebuild your Photos Library--close Photos and re-launch by option-command-clicking the app icon.
Make a new user and see if the same problem recurs with it
Use another library if you have one, or make a small test Library with a few pictures in it and see if the same thing happens.
Re-start in Safe Mode. This bypasses certain potentially disruptive processes. Safe Mode is different for different computers, so see this:

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

The idea is to find out if the problem is with the Library, with your account, or with caches and login items, and stuff like that. One of these steps may fix the problem, but their failure to work is also diagnostic.

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New IMac 24-inch M1 with OS Ventura 13.2.1 Fuzzy looking display in Photos App.

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