Image Displayed on Retina iMac

I'm upgrading my tired 11 year old PC (still going strong though) and am contemplating getting a new 27" iMac (building my own PC with a good IPS monitor will cost about the same, but I kind of like the all in one of the iMac).

I've asked quite a few people this question but no answers, either they don't get the question or don't know how to answer (apple users right )

I know the retina mode basically doubles the pixels in each direction, but in normal Retina (Best) mode, you get 5120x2880 pixels operating with the space of the 2560x1440 iMac, so no increased real-estate.

But I THOUGHT somewhere I read that programs like Photoshop, Lightroom and some video apps will go to 1:1 pixel on a photo/video when opened so that you aren't pixel doubling on the image or video you are working on? That way you get more real estate for the image/video. Does this make sense?

Speaking from experience here, I've owned a 27" Retina iMac since May.

Think of it like this:
You have a 32" 720P Television, and 32" 1080p Television.

They both play the same footage, at the same size (dimensions), but in their respective native resolutions. You can see more detail on the 1080p Television.

None of the images, buttons, or icons, appear smaller, they all just become more refined on the Retina display. You see an incredible amount of detail without even trying. It's actually quite difficult to get used to right away!

cccc wrote in post #17771592
Speaking from experience here, I've owned a 27" Retina iMac since May.

Think of it like this:
You have a 32" 720P Television, and 32" 1080p Television.

They both play the same footage, at the same size (dimensions), but in their respective native resolutions. You can see more detail on the 1080p Television.

None of the images, buttons, or icons, appear smaller, they all just become more refined on the Retina display. You see an incredible amount of detail without even trying. It's actually quite difficult to get used to right away!

Thank you very much. My question is, do are programs like PS and LR setup so that when you open photos, they show up 1:1 (ie not double pixeled) so you get more real estate showing on that image ? I know I read this somewhere when the iMacs came out last year, but can't find info on it now, and nobody seems to know what I'm trying to describe.

This is a better explanation about what I'm asking about...

"The iMac Retina behaves like the Retina Macbook Pro in that it will scale the OS X interface to a readable size while still displaying pictures and video content at its native resolution. "

So I guess that's the question. When using the 5k iMac and Photoshop or Lightroom, in retina mode, is the image scaled to the native resolution?

drisley wrote in post #17771645
Thank you very much. My question is, do are programs like PS and LR setup so that when you open photos, they show up 1:1 (ie not double pixeled) so you get more real estate showing on that image ? I know I read this somewhere when the iMacs came out last year, but can't find info on it now, and nobody seems to know what I'm trying to describe.

OS X is capable of intelligently scaling elements in many applications in such a way that the interface will appear the same size it would on a 1440p display, but with the image density of 5K.

When you open an image in PS or LR at 100% or 1:1 magnification, it will appear considerably smaller than on an equivalent 1440p display, since it still maps one image pixel per display pixel. If you want to inspect image detail the way you're used to on a lower-res screen, you would have to look at the image at 200%.

Kolor-Pikker wrote in post #17771797
OS X is capable of intelligently scaling elements in many applications in such a way that the interface will appear the same size it would on a 1440p display, but with the image density of 5K.

When you open an image in PS or LR at 100% or 1:1 magnification, it will appear considerably smaller than on an equivalent 1440p display, since it still maps one image pixel per display pixel. If you want to inspect image detail the way you're used to on a lower-res screen, you would have to look at the image at 200%.

YES! That's the information I was looking for, but nobody seemed to know what I was talking about! LOL

Thank you for that! That's so helpful!!

If you're buying a late 2015 IMac (Skylake processor), be aware that the color gamut of the display is DCI-P3. The old video standard, Rec.709 was essentially identical to sRGB. Videographers and still photographers were getting the same thing. DCI-P3 is about the same size as AdobeRGB, only it’s skewed differently in the CIE color model. AdobeRGB extends deeper into the greens and blues, while DCI-P3 extends more into the reds and a different set of greens. As long as you're aware of this - and ok with it - you'll be ok.

rick_reno wrote in post #17783166
If you're buying a late 2015 IMac (Skylake processor), be aware that the color gamut of the display is DCI-P3. The old video standard, Rec.709 was essentially identical to sRGB. Videographers and still photographers were getting the same thing. DCI-P3 is about the same size as AdobeRGB, only it’s skewed differently in the CIE color model. AdobeRGB extends deeper into the greens and blues, while DCI-P3 extends more into the reds and a different set of greens. As long as you're aware of this - and ok with it - you'll be ok.

You can select what workspace you want though in the OS right?

Yes, we should be able to do that.

https://support.apple.​com …locale=en_US&lo​cale=en_US