Railfan Technology > high pixelation using Mac OS 10.15.7 Preview v. 11.0 on new MBP

Does anyone have any ideas about why viewing the same JPG file on Mac OS 10.115.7 Preview (v.11.0) and on Safari v.14.0.3 would reveal much worse pixelation in Preview than in Safari?

Here is a comparison of the same photo file, original size 1100x636 pixels at 72 pixels/inch - the image on the left is Safari, on the right is Preview.  Which one is telling the truth?  The workflow is in Photoshop Elements 2021 - Open, resample/resize to 1100x636, then Unsharp Mask 150%, 0.3 radius, threshold 0.

Any help that the assembled wisdom of TO can offer would be greatly appreciated.  I recently upgraded from old PSE 6 for Mac on a 10 year old Macbook Pro, and am struggling to get the new PSE 2021 to give me what the old version appeared to be giving me.

Well, I posted this to TO, and the software has made both photos in the sample look essentially the same.  Yikes.  There's clearly a lot going on here that I don't understand.

HRGXguy
Thanks in advance.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/21 12:04 by HRGXguy.

Here's the comparison; the Safari view is on the left, and the Preview version is on the right.  The TO website software seems to have made them look softer and more alike; the handrails and anything else relatively horizontal seem to be the worst of on the right hand view on my screen.

HRGXguy



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/21 13:55 by HRGXguy.

---

How does the original, unprocessed image look?

Is it any better?

Did you start out with a RAW file, or a 72dpi JPEG?

Are you posting an actual file or a screen shot?  I assume a screen shot but note a file will look the same.

I assume this is a crop.  So you crop first and resize second then sharpen. 

I'd think pixalation could occur if the image size is less than the size of the screen but the preview is set to full screen.

I use a small PC laptop but desktop screens are obvously large and 1100 pixels will not come close to filling the screen so if he program is set to fill up the screen will not look very well.

Also even with digital, and extreme crop will show up any slight movement or focus problem

Bob

 

walstib Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How does the original, unprocessed image look?
>
> Is it any better?
>
> Did you start out with a RAW file, or a 72dpi
> JPEG?

The original is a Nikon NEF RAW file from my D700.  It's 4256x2832 pixels, and sharp as a tack, even zoomed in as it appears in my post above.

robj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Are you posting an actual file or a screen shot? 
> I assume a screen shot but note a file will look
> the same.
> I assume this is a crop.  So you crop first and
> resize second then sharpen.
> I'd think pixalation could occur if the image size
> is less than the size of the screen but the
> preview is set to full screen.
> I use a small PC laptop but desktop screens are
> obvously large and 1100 pixels will not come close
> to filling the screen so if he program is set to
> fill up the screen will not look very well.
> Also even with digital, and extreme crop will show
> up any slight movement or focus problem
> Bob

The screen on my new MabookPro is about 1800x1100.  Because of the size limitations of TO photo postings (which I am NOT complaining about at all!), I now realize that I can't really show what I'm looking at on my own screen.  I'm just puzzled why Preview would show som much more pixelation for the exact same file at the exact same resolution and 100% zoom.  I don't ever remember seeing this before.  I worked for 10 years with a mid-2010 MBP and Photoshop Elements 6, and with pretty good results.  I did not expect to have a new computer and new software to yield inferior results for the same workflow.  I'm puzzled for sure.

HRGXguy

Sorry to ask again but how wide is it on you Mac screen is, it 1100 pixels wide or 1800 pixels wide.

Sorry not up on Mac but you call it preview.  I loked up on google and they are talking about settings:  Probably place to start?

-------------------------------------------------------

Make sure your display resolution in System Preferences is set to its default. If you're using a resolution that's scaled, the image might be magnified to fit the display. This can cause the image to look blurry in some apps. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.Dec 16, 2020

Bob

HRGXguy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I did not
> expect to have a new computer and new software to
> yield inferior results for the same workflow. 
It is possible for software to get worse over time: Company decides that old code is too hard to maintain, or isn't 64-bit (Final Cut), or needs to move away from legacy APIs (Carbon vs. Cocoa, e.g.) and orders a rewrite. Junior programmers fumble the rewrite; the software may never fully recover.

If your have an Apple computer using any OS from the last ten you can view photos in finder when you are looking at the file in finder.  The photo will be thump-nail size.  If the file is a JPG or TIF if you double click on the photo the photo will be enlarged using Preview.  If the finder in is RAW file the OS will default to a program that allows viewing of RAW file.  If you are going to view file in this matter please make sure your computer is setup to default a program like Canon's excellent DPP4 program for working with Canon RAW file.  This last part I did know about until a couple of months ago when I started scanning my slides on my new slide scanner.  The scanner gives each scanned a unique the file name that needs to be changed.  One day I was changing the names of some files and by accident I double clicked on RAW file and the system defaulted to my Photoshop Elements 2021 program which I have not setup to work with RAW files since Canon's DPP4 program is better and is designed to open and convert Canon RAW files.  Unfortunately the Elements program sort of went haywire and I had to turn the power off to the computer to get it to reboot.  I fixed the program by calling an Apple tech and they walked me through the process of changing the default for RAW files to DPP4.  Needless to say I will not be enlarging any RAW file ever again.

Preview is not intended to be a high quality photo program. No proto look good in it. Use the Photos program on the Mac or a Photo program like Photoshop Elements.
RWJ

HRGXguy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does anyone have any ideas about why viewing the
> same JPG file on Mac OS 10.115.7 Preview (v.11.0)
> and on Safari v.14.0.3 would reveal much worse
> pixelation in Preview than in Safari?
>
> Here is a comparison of the same photo file,
> original size 1100x636 pixels at 72 pixels/inch -
> the image on the left is Safari, on the right is
> Preview.  Which one is telling the truth?  The
> workflow is in Photoshop Elements 2021 - Open,
> resample/resize to 1100x636, then Unsharp Mask
> 150%, 0.3 radius, threshold 0.
>
> Any help that the assembled wisdom of TO can offer
> would be greatly appreciated.  I recently
> upgraded from old PSE 6 for Mac on a 10 year old
> Macbook Pro, and am struggling to get the new PSE
> 2021 to give me what the old version appeared to
> be giving me.
>
> Well, I posted this to TO, and the software has
> made both photos in the sample look essentially
> the same.  Yikes.  There's clearly a lot going
> on here that I don't understand.
>
> HRGXguy
> Thanks in advance.