Display setting instability on MacBook Pro M3 Pro

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Level 1

12 points

Display setting instability on MacBook Pro M3 Pro

I have an M3 Pro MacBook Pro running OS 15.7.1. I use Adobe Lightroom Classic and Photoshop for photo editing etc and have my display setting at Apple XDR (P3-1600 nits) in order to view HDR photos in these apps. I am finding that all of a sudden HDR photos lose their full dynamic range and take on weird colours, especially in the skies. When I look at my display settings they still show that I am using P3-1600 nits but, in order to view the photos correctly in full HDR I have to reset the display setting to something else, then revert back to P3-1600 nits. It seems that this display setting (and the P3-600 nits) is not stable on my MacBook.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Display settings not stable

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 15.7

Posted on Oct 3, 2025 10:44 AM

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Answer 1

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mikejac21 Author

Level 1

12 points

Oct 4, 2025 10:10 AM in response to MartinR

I'm on the latest versions of Lightroom Classic and Photoshop and my settings are as you show. I have been advised that "There is a MacOS bug where sometimes headroom goes to zero. Changing the brightness several notches (or to another XDR preset and back) tends to resolve it without restarting the computer. That is exactly what I am experiencing.

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Answer 2

MartinR

Level 7

24,137 points

Oct 4, 2025 9:12 AM in response to mikejac21

If you are using only the built-in display on your MBPro, Apple XDR (P3-1600 nits) is the default and it should be stable. Do you have any external display connected?

What versions of LR Classic & Photoshop are you using?

Check your Photoshop settings ...

Performance:

Technology previews:

.

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Answer 3

mikejac21 Author

Level 1

12 points

Oct 6, 2025 11:21 AM in response to MartinR

No, I am not shooting bracketed images and merging them in Lightroom. Now that we have displays, such as on our smartphones, TVs and my MacBook Pro, that support HDR I am simply using my RAW images and editing them in Lightroom in the HDR mode. They display perfectly as such until the glitch occurs, when I have to reset my display to Apple XDR (1600 nits) or Apple Display (600 nits), at which point my HDR images display perfectly.

It was Greg Benz (an expert on HDR) who told me on this bug, which he has reported to Apple.

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Answer 4

MartinR

Level 7

24,137 points

Oct 4, 2025 11:28 AM in response to mikejac21

mikejac21 wrote:

I'm on the latest versions of Lightroom Classic and Photoshop and my settings are as you show. I have been advised that "There is a MacOS bug where sometimes headroom goes to zero. Changing the brightness several notches (or to another XDR preset and back) tends to resolve it without restarting the computer. That is exactly what I am experiencing.

Source of the "advice?"

Also, I wanted to ask what is the source/nature of the HDR images you have this problem with? Is it all HDR images, only certain ones, or random? Were they images you HDR merged using Photoshop? I do HDR photography, use Photoshop & CaptureOne and have never encountered this problem.

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Answer 5

MartinR

Level 7

24,137 points

Oct 9, 2025 10:39 AM in response to mikejac21

Following up.

I read most of Greg Benz's material about HDR (main page & linked material). Interesting, informative. But I did not find any statements about a bug in macOS. He did reference a suspected bug in certain browsers and a warning about icc profiles and Better Display Pro on macOS but no mention of a macOS bug. Could you provide a direct link to the info he gave you about the suspected bug?

I have an M4 Pro MBPro, 48GB RAM, Sequoia 15.4, Photoshop 26.8.1, LR Classic 14.4 ... with all the requisite HDR settings enabled ... and have not had any display stability problems (or any other problems of any kind) nor have I been able to replicate the problem you described. What version(s) of PS & LR are you using? How much RAM is in your MBPro?

What camera & RAW format are your images? What is the typical size of your RAW images and do you have more than 1 open at a time?

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Answer 6

mikejac21 Author

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12 points

Oct 5, 2025 2:22 AM in response to MartinR

The problem occurs with all HDR images, but they are direct from the RAW images using the HDR setting in Lightroom, and not merged to HDR. I am going to wait for the .1 release of OS Tahoe before updating from Sequoia and will see then if I still have the problem.

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Answer 7

MartinR

Level 7

24,137 points

Oct 5, 2025 7:30 AM in response to mikejac21

mikejac21 wrote:

I am going to wait for the .1 release of OS Tahoe before updating from Sequoia and will see then if I still have the problem.

OK, if that's what you want to do.

Regarding your HDR images, it sounds like you are shooting bracketed images and then in LR doing an HDR merge. But you said the problem was with images not merged to HDR, so they wouldn't actually be HDR images. Or are you doing single-shot HDR images in a camera that supports that mode? What camera are you using?

And where did you find the advice "There is a MacOS bug where sometimes headroom goes to zero?"

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