Colour profile problems with Mac Big Sur and RAW images.

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Name
Adrian
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I have colour profile problem I am having trouble solving. I think I am basically correct in saying that RAW files have no colour profile associated to them but the usual jpg embedded in them will have the profile that was set on the camera, I'm happy to be corrected if I am wrong. Having said that I recently bought a Macbook Air running Big Sur and I have hit a problem I am having trouble fixing or understanding, I'm not sure if it's just my Macbook or if its a bug in Big Sur. What seems to be happening is any RAW file (I can only check Canon and Olympus) is given a colour profile that is called Display P3. RAW files colour profiles usually comes up as undefined when properties are checked on other systems. It would appear that any file that doesn't have a colour profile and shows as undefined gets this Display P3 profile automatically on my MacBook. It causes the RAW images to look totally oversaturated to the point where much detail is lost or to display the wrong colours altogether. It's impossible to judge which files are worth processing further. This profile affects the files in Apples Preview and in Olympus Workspace as well as Canons Digital Photo Professional, Raw Therapee and Darktable. JPGs appear correctly in all programmes.

I have loaded the same files into my usual Linux box (OpenSuse Tumbleweed with KDE Plasma desktop) and they are perfect in all ways and display as expected.

So my question is simply is my Macbook having problems and have I done something daft or does it happen to others as well.
 
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not exactly related to your problem Adrian but on my Imac running High Sierra(this is my problem I think) all my CR2 Canon files when inputed to photos turn magenta.they are fine in DPP and LR so its apples raw processing engine in High Sierra, cant upgrade it as mac too old but waiting for the new one to arrive.
I dont suppose this helps you does it?
 
Technically, most RAW files will be in ProPhotoRGB colour space, and not a single monitor can even approach that. P3 is a nice wide colour space that your mac uses and that's pretty good. Decent apps like LR and PS will know how to deal with it. I believe Preview is also capable of it. Some apps need extra configuring (GIMP) and some are just hopeless (Windows 10 picture viewer). Some apps will use inbuilt thumbnail for preview and that can mess things up if your camera settings were something rather exciting. I set mine to super neutral low contrast thing and that way I at least get somewhat believable histogram in camera.
If Preview still doesn't work properly on your system it is best to talk to apple and report it as a bug. It should be still well within warranty.
 
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