Latest PM6 Color Management broken

[RobertE]

On macOS 15.3.2 color management in the latest (last) version of Photo Mechanic 6, build 7269 thumbnails and previews look flat. This is for JPEG images with embedded sRGB and Adobe RGB (1998) profiles.

Reverted to Photo Mechanic 6 build R7212 and colour is accurate.

I compared the images with Lightroom and Photoshop, both Adobe apps show/read the color profiles correctly.

[ahoward]

Please try deleting your cache folder.

1. Quit Photo Mechanic and open a Finder window.
2. Click on the 'Go' menu at the top of your screen.
3. Hold down the 'Option' key and a 'Library' folder will appear in the menu. Click on that to open the User's Library folder.
4. In the 'Library' folder, find the 'Caches' folder and in that folder find the 'PhotoMechanic' folder and delete it.
5. Then, launch Photo Mechanic 6 and see if the problem persists.

[RobertE]

Thanks I followed your steps several times and the issue remained.

A workaround is in Settings, I set the "Default ICC profile if undetermined:" to "No default profile", so all the good!

FWIW for decades I've had it set to "sRGB" to show embedded JPEGs in raw files accurately, and this still works in Photo Mechanic 6 build R7212.

In Photo Mechanic 6, build 7269 it doesn't - unless you view at 100%. Deleting the cache between launches fixes it for a while.

[RobertE]

Unfortunately the color management bug persists after relaunch. Even if I have default ICC profile set to none.

I notice that when I change the size of the thumbnails, larger or smaller, the color management works again. It seems like Photo Mechanic applies the wrong color profile to the cached thumbnail.

Is this related to Tim's issue?

[Kirk Baker]

Robert,

Unfortunately the color management bug persists after relaunch. Even if I have default ICC profile set to none.

I notice that when I change the size of the thumbnails, larger or smaller, the color management works again. It seems like Photo Mechanic applies the wrong color profile to the cached thumbnail.

Is this related to Tim's issue?

Not known at this time.  We'll investigate and see what can be done.

-Kirk

[JS]

Maybe related to this problem: I found a strange behavior in the last time, I can't remember I had before. Running latest PM6 on macOS Monterey. In Preview: When I tag or color tag an image, the color of the image gets flat, as if I would toggle the "perform color matching" button. If I untag the image, the color remains flat. And still more strange: This happens on my Mac Pro with OCLP patched Monterey. On my MacBook Air 11,6 with native Monterey the exact opposite happens. If I tag or color tag an image, the color gets brighter and stays like that. Any idea?

-John

[JS]

It's really strange: Now I reinstalled from an old Time Machine Backup PM Build 7102 and the problem has disappeared.

[Eric]

I will echo what JS is seeing with colors going 'flat' but in my case it happens when I crop a photo. The transmitted files are fine though.

[bdigital2]

Has there been any success in finding a fix for this issue?  I experienced the same problem, tried the same fixes, but like the original poster, reverting back to version 7212 was the only way to correct the issue. 

Here is a screen grab showing the issue.  In "screen to fit mode", the colors were desaturated, but when viewed at 100%, the colors were correct.

[Kirk Baker]

Has there been any success in finding a fix for this issue?  I experienced the same problem, tried the same fixes, but like the original poster, reverting back to version 7212 was the only way to correct the issue.

No.  If you can contact support and help them reproduce it themselves, I will fix it and make another PM6 build.  Contact our support folks at:

By email: support@camerabits.com

By phone: +1 503.547.2888

Hours: Mon-Fri, 9:00am-5:00pm [PST/PDT]

Thanks,

-Kirk

[Eric]

having the same issue with a MBP M4 on the latest OS. It's definitely a cosmetic issue as the files upload with their full color and display correctly on the web or if you open them in PS.

[ahoward]

having the same issue with a MBP M4 on the latest OS. It's definitely a cosmetic issue as the files upload with their full color and display correctly on the web or if you open them in PS.

Can you (or anyone experiencing this issue) send the log file from the computer where this occurred to support@camerabits.com?

[Kirk Baker]

Please try this build:  https://www.camerabits.com/download/PhotoMechanic6R7272_1ea44d72.dmg

Please also do the following so that old cache files are not an issue:

Please try deleting your cache folder.

1. Quit Photo Mechanic and open a Finder window.
2. Click on the 'Go' menu at the top of your screen.
3. Hold down the 'Option' key and a 'Library' folder will appear in the menu. Click on that to open the User's Library folder.
4. In the 'Library' folder, find the 'Caches' folder and in that folder find the 'PhotoMechanic' folder and delete it.
5. Then, launch Photo Mechanic 6 and see if the problem persists.

Please let me know if this does/does not fix the issue.  We've been unable to reproduce in-house so I can't say for certain if this build will fix the issue.

Thanks,

-Kirk

[RobertE]

Hi Kirk,

Please let me know if this does/does not fix the issue.  We've been unable to reproduce in-house so I can't say for certain if this build will fix the issue.

I deleted the PM cache, unfortunately this build does not fix the problem for me. First viewing of images shows correct colour rendering, second pass shows flat colour as reported above. If I zoom to 100% in the Preview window the colour looks accurate, then flat again when zoomed to fit screen.

In the latest build I have, version 2025.5, build 8578 (afca8f9), this problem does not occur. I'll email you the log file from Photo Mechanic Version 6.0, build 7272 (1ea44d7) to see if it helps.

-- Robert.

Edit: Sorry email bounced, please see log file attached.

[Kirk Baker]

Robert,

Please give this build a try, starting with a clean cache:

https://www.camerabits.com/download/PhotoMechanic6R7274_42f391c4.dmg

Thanks,

-Kirk