Do I lose my factory display calibration if I erase my Mac?

[seek3r]

Despite my reluctance to enter this specific wasp nest...

Calibration is the process of adjusting a monitor’s display settings (brightness, contrast, color temperature, and RGB levels) to meet a specific standard or ideal condition. The goal is to ensure that the monitor reproduces colors consistently and accurately, setting a baseline for color fidelity.

Profiling is the process of creating a color profile for the monitor after it has been calibrated. This profile maps the monitor’s specific color characteristics to a standardized color space (like sRGB or Adobe RGB). The profile is saved as an ICC (International Color Consortium) file and is used by the operating system and color-managed applications to translate colors correctly. Profiling doesn’t change the monitor settings but ensures that software compensates for the display’s unique characteristics.

The profiles that you read from the monitor are those of the specific target the monitor has been calibrated to, within the required tolerance.
You can measure a monitor response and save the measurements as profile.

If you reset a mac you delete all the profiles. There's no way, as far as I know, to touch the factory monitor calibration of a mac, you can only apply a specific profile to it.

This is the answer.

The default icc is designed to look the same on all machines because it’s loaded *on top* of the calibration. Mr Fox in this thread is confusing the default icc being blown away (which of course it is, along with everything else on the drive) and the monitor’s calibration

 

[t0rqx]

Can you call Apple and ask them?

Believe me they wont know the answer.

 

[mikethebigo]

Believe me they wont know the answer.

That was exactly what I thought too 😂

 

[ricojagustin]

They told me the only way to restore calibration is to buy a new MacBook Pro. They offered me $400 for my M2 Max MacBook Pro as compensation.

 

[nathansz]

This is the answer.

The default icc is designed to look the same on all machines because it’s loaded *on top* of the calibration. Mr Fox in this thread is confusing the default icc being blown away (which of course it is, along with everything else on the drive) and the monitor’s calibration

Not quite the answer perhaps

It seems there is no “default” icc but rather each display has its own icc built in to the firmware, which the os “loads on top of the calibration”

So you can “blow it away” by reinstalling, or even simply deleting the icc, and the os will re-read it from the firmware

as pointed out by f54da above, the icc for each individual machine actually contains that displays serial number.

 

[mikethebigo]

They told me the only way to restore calibration is to buy a new MacBook Pro. They offered me $400 for my M2 Max MacBook Pro as compensation.

Who told you that?

 

[Jumpthesnark]

Who told you that?

They were trying to make a joke, it's not a serious reply.

 

[WolfSnap]

View attachment 2458415View attachment 2458417

What app is that?

 

[nathansz]

What app is that?

ColorSync utility

 

[LotsOfBees]

Macs and apple displays do not have software factory calibration

all displays are hardware calibrated to P3 and then generic profiles are used.

there is no individual calibration profiles (that can be lost).

 

[LotsOfBees]

Not quite the answer perhaps

It seems there is no “default” icc but rather each display has its own icc built in to the firmware, which the os “loads on top of the calibration”

So you can “blow it away” by reinstalling, or even simply deleting the icc, and the os will re-read it from the firmware

as pointed out by f54da above, the icc for each individual machine actually contains that displays serial number.


View attachment 2458415View attachment 2458417

open the same default profile on another mac, you will see the white point and primaries and TRC are the same.

 

[nathansz]

Macs and apple displays do not have software factory calibration

all displays are hardware calibrated to P3 and then generic profiles are used.

there is no individual calibration profiles (that can be lost).

nope, it would appear that each Mac or apple display has it's own icc, not a generic profile

it cannot be lost in the sense that it is baked in to the firmware

 

[LotsOfBees]

nope, it would appear that each Mac or apple display has it's own icc, not a generic profile

it cannot be lost in the sense that it is baked in to the firmware

simply no.

 

[nathansz]

simply no.

if someone would like to share their icc for a 16" m4 MacBook Pro I'd be happy to compare them

 

[nathansz]

open the same default profile on another mac, you will see the white point and primaries and TRC are the same.

I would very much like to do this, unfortunately I only have one apple display

 

[nathansz]

open the same default profile on another mac, you will see the white point and primaries and TRC are the same.

have you actually done this?

 

[f54da]

>open the same default profile on another mac, you will see the white point and primaries and TRC are the same.

Note that this may be (namely that the TRC & primaries are the same, it's only the mmod part which is dynamically generated). Easiest way would be for someone with 2 monitors to just diff the ICC profiles. But there's really only two possible cases:

* Factory calibrated (hardware LUT to a fixed target colorspace) + dynamically generated ICC profile for that fixed target

* Factory profiled (colorspace info embedded in firmware) + dynamically generated ICC profile for that colorspace

In both cases nothing gets "lost" when you reset.

 

[f54da]

Actually the native display profile does have TRC & primaries matching P3. So probably the former is true.

 

[mikethebigo]

>open the same default profile on another mac, you will see the white point and primaries and TRC are the same.

Note that this may be (namely that the TRC & primaries are the same, it's only the mmod part which is dynamically generated). Easiest way would be for someone with 2 monitors to just diff the ICC profiles. But there's really only two possible cases:

* Factory calibrated (hardware LUT to a fixed target colorspace) + dynamically generated ICC profile for that fixed target

* Factory profiled (colorspace info embedded in firmware) + dynamically generated ICC profile for that colorspace

In both cases nothing gets "lost" when you reset.

From all I've read, I agree the former is likely it (factory calibrated w/the LUT, and then the system generates an ICC profile on boot). Doesn't seem as likely that an entire profile is created in the factory stored somewhere in firmware.

So as others have said, factory calibration baked into the hardware, then the profiles are all generated in software. The OS will rebuild the P3 profile if it is modified or deleted.

 

[seek3r]

Not quite the answer perhaps

It seems there is no “default” icc but rather each display has its own icc built in to the firmware, which the os “loads on top of the calibration”

So you can “blow it away” by reinstalling, or even simply deleting the icc, and the os will re-read it from the firmware

as pointed out by f54da above, the icc for each individual machine actually contains that displays serial number.


View attachment 2458415View attachment 2458417

Didnt realize that part, even more reason to know that mr. fox is wrong

 

[Bob_DM]

Despite my reluctance to enter this specific wasp nest...

Calibration is the process of adjusting a monitor’s display settings (brightness, contrast, color temperature, and RGB levels) to meet a specific standard or ideal condition. The goal is to ensure that the monitor reproduces colors consistently and accurately, setting a baseline for color fidelity.

Profiling is the process of creating a color profile for the monitor after it has been calibrated. This profile maps the monitor’s specific color characteristics to a standardized color space (like sRGB or Adobe RGB). The profile is saved as an ICC (International Color Consortium) file and is used by the operating system and color-managed applications to translate colors correctly. Profiling doesn’t change the monitor settings but ensures that software compensates for the display’s unique characteristics.

The profiles that you read from the monitor are those of the specific target the monitor has been calibrated to, within the required tolerance.
You can measure a monitor response and save the measurements as profile.

If you reset a mac you delete all the profiles. There's no way, as far as I know, to touch the factory monitor calibration of a mac, you can only apply a specific profile to it.

Finally someone explaining the difference between calibration and profiling. Most people are talking about profiling when they use calibration! I was also hesistant to enter this discussion where even so called experts don’t use correct terms …

 

[A Hobo]

Relying on my years of experience in calibrating all monitors. I am a professional photographer. I cooperate with well-known printing houses, magazines, television. I understand color as well as monitors. Look for information on google, why the LUT falls off when reinstalling. It's a whole article.
You have a wrong opinion about calibration. Monitors are calibrated after complete assembly and software installation. And their display quality is not accurate, that 500 buck mac book is poorly calibrated, that expensive 6000 dollar apple pro display xdr monitor is poorly calibrated.
Most people don't know about factory calibration at all. They're fine with it. Moreover, they never look into these settings. Take a look at the forum. People ask “help me choose 16gb memory or 8gb memory”. What factory settings are we talking about?

So, zero proof.
Anecdotal and incorrect. Display maintains all configs from FACTORY when erased. Hence exactly why nobody has ever made a complaint about the displays changing colours when erased and reinstalled.



Why is anybody giving this tripe the time.

 

[A Hobo]

This is the answer.

The default icc is designed to look the same on all machines because it’s loaded *on top* of the calibration. Mr Fox in this thread is confusing the default icc being blown away (which of course it is, along with everything else on the drive) and the monitor’s calibration

Mr fox sadly is confusing people on purpose and even doubled down with ‘I’m a really good photographer or something so believe me’

I would love in this instance for someone to show a before and after photo with a spyder of their internal display before and after a restore. You will see the exact same variables in the display as it’s programmed from the factory and not by the calibration profile. Not using the spyder to change anything but just scan.

Chicken and egg, color profile does NOT equate factory d3 calibration, as that’s done already. The panel just reports its needs to the OS during install.

 

[MallardDuck]

This is the answer.

The default icc is designed to look the same on all machines because it’s loaded *on top* of the calibration. Mr Fox in this thread is confusing the default icc being blown away (which of course it is, along with everything else on the drive) and the monitor’s calibration

And the default icc is reloaded by the OS when you install it. Unless something has changed, they aren't different between different machines.

FWIW, I've found Apple's default profiles to be consistently cooler than after profiling (with both a spyder and xrite).

 

[ricojagustin]

They were trying to make a joke, it's not a serious reply.

My local MacLife store told me that. They said I could trade in to a newer model if it was an issue for me. I was never gonna accept $400, though.