iPad Pro Mini LED blooming question, wondering about white text on black screen for writing

[MuckrakerJG]

So I'm actually due for a new MacBook not an iPad, but I was debating whether or not to wait for the 14 inch mini LED that's coming or just get the 13 inch that's out now and I have a question for you iPad Pro mini LED users about the blooming in regards to how I use my device.

I'm a writer for a living, my current Mac I only use Pages and Safari. With Pages, I use the blank black template so the text on it is white. I then use Dark Reader for Safari on the other side of the screen. So my screen is pretty much always dark or black with white text all over it.

I like to write in a darkened room, usually just a small lamp on in the corner on the other side of the laptop, no overhead light, just enough to see what I'm doing but no artificial light or sunlight getting near the screen.

From what I've read, this might be the worst case scenario for seeing the blooming? Dark room, dark screen, white text? If this is the case, I would want to buy one of the 13 inch ones now instead of waiting for mini LED. But I wanted to get some feedback from people here, I've also seen people say the issue is overblown, not that big a deal.

Thanks for reading and I appreciate the help.

 

[fwmireault]

I’d say that in day-to-day usage I see almost no blooming on my iPad screen. But yes, in a dark room and with white on black text, you’ll probably notice it very often. In my case, it was bothering me at first but I’ve come to not noticing it that much when reading (as opposed to drawing where it’s very visible). If you read or write in dark mode, the condensed text makes the blooming zone covering all the paragraph, which I’ve found less annoying because the text zone itself is equally backlighted. I obviously would prefer no blooming at all, I think that the question is more will it bother you, and it’s difficult to answer if you’ve never seen a mini-LED display before.

Also, we don’t know what kind of improvement Apple can deliver for macbook pro mini-LED panels. The iPad Pro has 2500 dimming zones for a 12.9 inch screen, maybe the 14 inch will have more dimming zones, reducing the blooming effect. There will be blooming in any mini-LED display for sure, but with technology improvements we can hope that the effect will be reduced.

 

[DiegoA]

Here's a photo of the iPad pro 12.9 2021 in the Pages app in "a darkened room......just a small lamp on in the corner". I assume you're using a dark background because it's easier on the eyes. I have the brightness of the iPad set at about 30% and it's a very comfortable brightness. No bloom at all.

 

[sparksd]

Here's a photo of the iPad pro 12.9 2021 in the Pages app in "a darkened room......just a small lamp on in the corner". I assume you're using a dark background because it's easier on the eyes. I have the brightness of the iPad set at about 30% and it's a very comfortable brightness. No bloom at all.

View attachment 1816880

Nice job on that photo - you didn't get the "photo-only" blooming effect in it. It matches what I just looked at on my 2021 12.9 Pro in a similar test.

 

[MuckrakerJG]

Ok, thank you for the screenshot. I might wait then because that doesn't look bad at all. And yes I do all dark mode on everything I can because I just think it's better for the eyes. At this point, when I have to turn dark mode off on certain websites, the entire screen lights up and I feel like I'm going blind for a second, lol.

I am also likely to use a low level brightness in order to maximize battery when unplugged, plus no one needs 500 nits or anywhere close to that in a dark room anyway.

 

[DiegoA]

Nice job on that photo - you didn't get the "photo-only" blooming effect in it. It matches what I just looked at on my 2021 12.9 Pro in a similar test.

I just let the iPhone do what it wanted to do. I suspect those shots of blooming white text on black are shot at maximum screen brightness and slightly overexposed (with maybe some post-processing in Photoshop).



I pushed the display with screen brightness at 100%. I still don't see any blooming in real life. I took a photo. But because the lettering is brighter the camera exposes less.

So I went into Photoshop and applied an upward curve. I think whatever slight haze you see around the letters is caused by flare within the molded plastic lenses of the iPhone. I don't see it in real life.

Making the curve steeper still doesn't show those glowing purple rectangles [indicating display blooming] around the white lettering - just lens flare. Look at how much less flare there is around Tue Aug 10 in the upper left corner - if it was caused by the grouped clusters of 4 leds each it would be larger, blockier - it's camera lens flare.

 

[musicpenguy]

I personally don’t notice it except when I’m in a perfectly dark room - if there is a lamp on it reduces the blooming in a big way for me

 

[ElDuderino91]

The worst blooming on my iPad ist recognisable when the room is totally dark and the screen brightness is set to a minimum. Then I get big white squares around text or even around the little cursor… No way I could use the iPad like this. When I pull the brightness up it gets better and the glowing squares disapear transforming to a barely recognisable glow around the words… Anybody else got this kind of blooming behaviour?

 

[Serban55]

The worst blooming on my iPad ist recognisable when the room is totally dark and the screen brightness is set to a minimum.

screen brightness is set to minimum or maximum?

 

[VaruLV]

It looks like either displays vary alot or individuals sight plays great role, because on mine, in dark room, white letters on black background will certainly yield visible blooming/haze effect.
The question is, how much will show on yours, how much of it you can optically notice and last, but most important - how much attention will you let your mind focus on it during time of use?

 

[ElDuderino91]

screen brightness is set to minimum or maximum?

To minimum!