Much brighter display on 2020 iMac 27" after upgrading?

[CheesePuff]

I don't know how to explain it, but I use my 2020 27" 5K iMac for ~8 hours a day for the past year I've had it so I definitely know its normal brightness, and I have automatically adjust brightness off, usually always using it 8 clicks from zero (exactly half way), but after upgrading to Monterey today, its noticeably brighter. In fact I had to turn it down 2-3 clicks because of how bright it is. At full brightness its ridiculous. Anyone else seeing this?

 

[MrLee]

I've noticed the exact same thing. It's very noticeably brighter...

 

[Bounce1]

Yes Monterey is A LOT brighter on my iMac Pro, I had to turn down brightness 3 clicks (from 7 to 4)

 

[CheesePuff]

Wonder what happened that could allow for this - wish I had a tool to measure if the output is > 500 nits now, because it certainly seems it must be

 

[qap]

Yes same here, as a photographer I have a xRite 1pro display device to analyze the color and luminance of the iMac (I have a 2020 i9) but im sure the display now is brighter, usually 6 + 2/3 “clicks/notches“ are 110 lux but now I have to measu again because the same level is much brighter.

I will tell you also about the maximum brightness but I don’t know if it has been changed, looks Weird btw. First time in a lot of years/iMacs. My custom display profile hasn’t been changed fortunately

 

[Bounce1]

I did some measurements with an x-rite i1Display Pro and got the following results on the iMac Pro:
Left number = Brightness setting shown on screen when pressing the brightness keys ("clicks")
Right number = Brightness measured by i1Display Pro

1 - 35
2 - 70
3 - 105
4 - 139
5 - 175
6 - 211
7 - 245
8 - 280
9 - 316
10 - 352
11 - 385
12 - 418
13 - 453
14 - 486
15 - 522
16 - 558

Monterey is definitely brighter, 4 on Monterey feels brighter than 7 on Big Sur. If I remember correctly 7 was around 130 on Big Sur. Would prefer 120 which is between 3 and 4

 

[MrLee]

I did some measurements with an x-rite i1Display Pro and got the following results on the iMac Pro:
Left number = Brightness setting shown on screen when pressing the brightness keys ("clicks")
Right number = Brightness measured by i1Display Pro

1 - 35
2 - 70
3 - 105
4 - 139
5 - 175
6 - 211
7 - 245
8 - 280
9 - 316
10 - 352
11 - 385
12 - 418
13 - 453
14 - 486
15 - 522
16 - 558

Monterey is definitely brighter, 4 on Monterey feels brighter than 7 on Big Sur. If I remember correctly 7 was around 130 on Big Sur. Would prefer 120 which is between 3 and 4

Cheers for these numbers. That roughly corresponds to what I'm experiencing on my 2017 27" iMac. Used to have it set on 6 clicks, but now down to 3. A very big difference.

 

[Bounce1]

Cheers for these numbers. That roughly corresponds to what I'm experiencing on my 2017 27" iMac. Used to have it set on 6 clicks, but now down to 3. A very big difference.

Yeah this sucks, on Big Sur I used to manually change between 5,6,7 depending on the sunlight. Too big steps between 3,4,5 on Monterey.

 

[qap]

Here are my measurements with the i1 display Pro

After Monterey

Clicks - Lux

0 1

1 31

2 63

3 94

3 1/4 102

3 2/4 110 - target

3 3/4 118 - target

4 126

5 157

6 188

7 218

8 249

9 280

10 310

11 340

12 371

13 400

14 430

15 461

16 490

So the same for the maxium brightness, only different gradation. Profile also looks the same

 

[Coltaine]

I noticed the same thing on my iMac 27" 5k late 2015.
It is so bright now, that I cannot leave it on auto adjust.
At night, even the lowest setting on the keyboard (1 click) ist too bright. 0 clicks is too dim. So I gotta set it with the slider in the settings app. Very annoying. I wish someone would come up with a workaround. No problems on my M1 MacBook Pro 13" from last year.

 

[CheesePuff]

I noticed the same thing on my iMac 27" 5k late 2015.
It is so bright now, that I cannot leave it on auto adjust.
At night, even the lowest setting on the keyboard (1 click) ist too bright. 0 clicks is too dim. So I gotta set it with the slider in the settings app. Very annoying. I wish someone would come up with a workaround. No problems on my M1 MacBook Pro 13" from last year.

Right.. if anything I wish my MBP got brighter after the upgrade and not my iMac

 

[Bounce1]

I noticed the same thing on my iMac 27" 5k late 2015.
It is so bright now, that I cannot leave it on auto adjust.
At night, even the lowest setting on the keyboard (1 click) ist too bright. 0 clicks is too dim. So I gotta set it with the slider in the settings app. Very annoying. I wish someone would come up with a workaround. No problems on my M1 MacBook Pro 13" from last year.

Same here, the only "fix" I could find was using Shift+Option+F1/F2 to change the brightness in 1/4 increments

 

[Coltaine]

Same here, the only "fix" I could find was using Shift+Option+F1/F2 to change the brightness in 1/4 increments

I found this a very useful tip. Spares me opening the settings app using the slider, each time I restart my iMac.
Thank you!
My setting is 1/4 click at night - just to give you an idea of how bright the display has become.
I set it to full, just for fun, burns your eyes out. This cannot be intentional.

Edit: I just read from the measurements that the maximum brightness obviously remained the same...interesting. So it is just the steps that have become different.

 

[Bounce1]

I found this a very useful tip. Spares me opening the settings app using the slider, each time I restart my iMac.
Thank you!
My setting is 1/4 click at night - just to give you an idea of how bright the display has become.
I set it to full, just for fun, burns your eyes out. This cannot be intentional.

Edit: I just read from the measurements that the maximum brightness obviously remained the same...interesting. So it is just the steps that have become different.

That’s insanely bright I’m at 2-3 at night. Hope this is fixed in 12.1, almost got my eyeballs fried installing Monterey

 

[drisley]

Same issue here!

Hey guys! I'm so glad I saw this because I was starting to wonder if it was my eyes. However, I was able to confirm because I have a 2nd Dell 4K IPS display that used to match (mostly) my iMac screen. I had to up brightness on my Dell from 60 to 80 to get it close to my normal level on my iMac.

I have a Late 2015 27" iMac and have kept it on 50% brightness (8/16) for six years and that is almost perfectly calibrated. Now that's SO bright my brain is getting a tan.

Interestingly, after I installed Monterey I had noticed my brightness was actually at around 4/10 I think and looked "normal" but I increased it to what I normally used. The whites especially are INTENSE. I wonder if this has something to do with new macbooks having HDR.

 

[Bounce1]

Same issue here!

Hey guys! I'm so glad I saw this because I was starting to wonder if it was my eyes. However, I was able to confirm because I have a 2nd Dell 4K IPS display that used to match (mostly) my iMac screen. I had to up brightness on my Dell from 60 to 80 to get it close to my normal level on my iMac.

I have a Late 2015 27" iMac and have kept it on 50% brightness (8/16) for six years and that is almost perfectly calibrated. Now that's SO bright my brain is getting a tan.

Interestingly, after I installed Monterey I had noticed my brightness was actually at around 4/10 I think and looked "normal" but I increased it to what I normally used. The whites especially are INTENSE. I wonder if this has something to do with new macbooks having HDR.

I had the exact same experience, the whites are insane. It almost feels like some kind of weird software HDR emulation

 

[wilberforce]

Hmm, I have not yet installed Monterey, but if you Option-click the Displays icon in System Preferences, do you still get the hidden choice for "allow extended dynamic range," and does that make any difference?

Big Sur:

 

[qap]

Yes the option is still here but makes no differences to my eyes, probabily due to normal sRGB profile used by macOS during "normal" operation. Even in PS or Lightroom during a RAW development.

 

[Bounce1]

Hmm, I have not yet installed Monterey, but if you Option-click the Displays icon in System Preferences, do you still get the hidden choice for "allow extended dynamic range," and does that make any difference?

Big Sur:
View attachment 1900292

That’s strange, I don’t get the "Allow extended dynamic range" checkbox when option-clicking on Monterey (iMac Pro)

 

[CheesePuff]

That’s strange, I don’t get the "Allow extended dynamic range" checkbox when option-clicking on Monterey (iMac Pro)

I also don't on my 2020 27" on Monterey

 

[Evergreen]

Has anyone tried resetting PRAM?

 

[Bounce1]

Has anyone tried resetting PRAM?

Yep I tried but it had no effect on the brightness

 

[drisley]

I tried resetting PRAM but no difference.

That's interesting about the "Allow Extended Dynamic Range" option. I do have it (Late 2015 27" iMac)

Mine was checked but I don't see a difference if I uncheck it

Also weird is that the ? button shows no mention of it.

 

[asus389]

They have been doing weird things with color/text rendering since Big Sur. I boot back into Catalina and the entire UI is less irritating. It's hard to explain. It almost as if Big Sur and Monterey are causing eye strain. It's clearly the software for me, because it's the same hardware.

 

[drisley]

They have been doing weird things with color/text rendering since Big Sur. I boot back into Catalina and the entire UI is less irritating. It's hard to explain. It almost as if Big Sur and Monterey are causing eye strain. It's clearly the software for me, because it's the same hardware.

Yes, it's almost like a sharpening was applied both in small and large radius.
Essentially the whites are all boosted/ramped.
I tried changing colour profiles and that doesn't affect this "brightness" effect.