Do you calibrate your monitor?

[Winsonapm]

I’m just wondering if this poll is representative of the masses out there that cares or do not care. I suspected that those of us, whom cared had polled, those that do not care, could not be bothered. As the statistics are, 99% don’t really care while the 1% of us struggled with perfection.

Calibration is a mechanical (or software tool) intervention to rectify the graduation of any monitor giving quantitative measurements. It usually resets the monitor to factory default or “zeroed”. 9 out of 10 are okay to sRGB, not perfect, but acceptable. The only way to balance it is to create an ICC profile to compensate the differences. A lot of users failed to realise that there are more to just buying a gadget or software tool and calibrate. Having zeroed your monitor then you can create an ICC profile, as ICC profiles based on the calibrated device only works with the particular calibrated device. E.g. If my monitor is calibrated, I can view and simulate your files on my screen and vice versa, softproofing.

This is currently what most of us are doing, knowing the colour difference but not the knowledge to control or change. This is also what most of us are struggling with. What to buy? How to use? Just remember, it’s all about colour balance, white point and grey (RGB) on monitor, grey (CMY) balance on print. ICC profile is like a fingerprint; it’s the characteristics of a device (input or output), unique and only applicable on the device. There are generic ICC profiles (or standard) like Adobe, Japan, Euroscale, SWOP, etc,. Always select a target, or you would not know your destination. What are you targeting or trying to achieve?

Do remember, data in ICC profile are constant, but the equipment is unstable. You can check your monitor with this target http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5015491&postcount=8 Have fun struggling. :bigeyes:

 

[hetfieldpaul]

Still using the gretamacbeth calibrator that came with my first dslr as a freebie hahaha

 

[acs1886]

used the spyder thing to calibrate monitor 3 days ago. I think i did something wrong. i totally hate it.
checked with my friend and he said its like that if you want accurate colours.

it might be a better reflection of your photo colours but for day to day work its horrible and a real strain on my eyes. so just make sure you try it on your computer dedicated to photo work.

 

[theRBK]

how to tell if result is "really good"....??? i don't think there's actually a concrete measurable way.. you can just try to see if the monitor displays colors properly lor..

compare with a physical colour target like a gretag macbeth colour checker chart... should be similar except slightly brighter than chart ;p

How about Colour Gamut? Is there a standard (sRGB?) to follow to get correct colours? Is WCG monitors necessarily better for getting the correct colours?

gamut depends on what the monitor can produce... monitors, I believe, are profiled against LAB colour, which can represent all colours visible to the human eye... obviously currently commercially available monitors can't replicate such a wide range, but within the monitor's gamut, proper profiling should mean that the colour that the monitor can reproduce is consistently matched to the LAB standard and between profiled monitors, colour should be consistent... of course, the programs that we use to view the image also need to be aware of the colour space of the image and the colour profile of the monitor...

WCG monitors are necessary for when you are dealing with images that have wide colour gamuts, but they are not necessarily better for getting correct colour... boils down to proper profiling again...

hmmm... so after you calibrate your monitor, do you set your colour settings in photoshop to sRGB/Adobe RGB, or to the monitor RGB option photoshop has(mine's Monitor - Samsung - ...)?
i noticed that if i set it to sRGB/Adobe RGB the white is slightly brownish but setting it to Monitor RGB gives a nice white. and yes im a noob haha...

sRGB/Adobe RGB, cause that is the colour space that you want to work your files in, and you want to save your files to a standard colour space so that when someone else opens your file on another computer, their computer will open it with reference to that colour space so as to give an appropriate colour...

Calibration is a mechanical (or software tool) intervention to rectify the graduation of any monitor giving quantitative measurements. It usually resets the monitor to factory default or “zeroed”. 9 out of 10 are okay to sRGB, not perfect, but acceptable.

calibration does not usually reset monitors to factory default... calibration usually involves using a device to adjust the colour reproduction of a monitor such that it closely follows a standard, from the brightest tones to the darkest in its colour gamut... the device/software combis that we normally use, the spyders and i1s and such usually do not do much of that... what they do is mainly to allow us to adjust the max R, G, B values of the monitor, which I guess can count as a crude baseline form of calibration, and then create a profile of the monitor to, as you mention, rectify the graduation of the colour response...

There are generic ICC profiles (or standard) like Adobe, Japan, Euroscale, SWOP, etc,.

those are not so much generic ICC profiles as colour spaces... i.e., they do not describe the colour gamut of any device but rather a standard range of colour that we can compare and base our images' colours on... generic profiles would be like say a profile for all ABC company's model XYZ monitors

 

[Vin]

used the spyder thing to calibrate monitor 3 days ago. I think i did something wrong. i totally hate it.
checked with my friend and he said its like that if you want accurate colours.

it might be a better reflection of your photo colours but for day to day work its horrible and a real strain on my eyes. so just make sure you try it on your computer dedicated to photo work.

Would you care to elaborate what went wrong and how calibrated monitors can cause eye strain on day to day work? Thanks.

 

[Winsonapm]

calibration does not usually reset monitors to factory default... calibration usually involves using a device to adjust the colour reproduction of a monitor such that it closely follows a standard, from the brightest tones to the darkest in its colour gamut... the device/software combis that we normally use, the spyders and i1s and such usually do not do much of that... what they do is mainly to allow us to adjust the max R, G, B values of the monitor, which I guess can count as a crude baseline form of calibration, and then create a profile of the monitor to, as you mention, rectify the graduation of the colour response...

those are not so much generic ICC profiles as colour spaces... i.e., they do not describe the colour gamut of any device but rather a standard range of colour that we can compare and base our images' colours on... generic profiles would be like say a profile for all ABC company's model XYZ monitors

Yes, you are right. But I would recommend that the device be set to default before profiling. The ICC profile created is a compensated profile of the default. E.G. 10,000 monitors left the factory with the same default setting, but all would turned out looking very differently. Why? Environmental factors, etc, etc, If all 10,000 monitors would be reset to default, most of them would have the same values. Thus, we can create a profile based on this difference. The next time the monitor looks or act funny, just set to default and recall the last ICC profile. Unless you enjoy creating a new profile based on the monitor not looking right every so often. Got it?

If you have a chance to look into the values of these generic profiles, you’ll be surprised to know that they shared the same values. Optimum values or we called these “targets”. E.G. 5 brands of monitors or 5 brands of printers would shared the same ICC profile in values for RGB or CMYK (default settings). Why? Regardless of the model, price, technology, it’ll try to show or print their best. Their best would be standards like SWOP, Euroscale, Japan, etc,. Inability to achieve is another story.

If you have a $200 printer that do not print as well as a $200,000 device, that’s is because it could not print to the optimum value. Profiling is to narrow the difference. Having profiled to the optimum, you still can’t achieve. Why? We call these limitations.:embrass:

 

[acs1886]

Would you care to elaborate what went wrong and how calibrated monitors can cause eye strain on day to day work? Thanks.

After i did the calibration thing on my work computer, everything seemed very yellow. everything from photos to word documents, icons on desktop etc. i feel its a strain on my eyes. maybe i'm not used to it. have removed everything and i'm more comfortable now.

 

[Vin]

After i did the calibration thing on my work computer, everything seemed very yellow. everything from photos to word documents, icons on desktop etc. i feel its a strain on my eyes. maybe i'm not used to it. have removed everything and i'm more comfortable now.

Calibration usually put the white point at 6500k (reference). Maybe the white point of your monitor before the calibration was somewhere is the cooler range around 9300k or higher.

Impression wise, most people prefer a cooler (bluish) white point over a warmer (yellowish) one. You can try this experiment on your TV or monitor. Select the different white points (colour temperature) and most likely you'll prefer the cooler setting.

You're most probably right saying that you are not used to the new calibrated setting. Trust me, if you leave it at this setting, in no time you'll get use to it

 

[Winsonapm]

After i did the calibration thing on my work computer, everything seemed very yellow. everything from photos to word documents, icons on desktop etc. i feel its a strain on my eyes. maybe i'm not used to it. have removed everything and i'm more comfortable now.

(Cut and paste from my last posting in Photo biz, i think it's very relevant to your situation.)
Today’s flat-panel LCD monitors are very affordable and good. Hence, most of us do not talk about temperature, gamma, etc. Most of us don’t even bother to calibrate unless there’s a need to do image retouching, this source of work or income had been render obsolete with files supplied ready to print. Colour-separation and colour retouching as a trade is dead. In a printing environment, most of the lights are florescent tube, around 2500K to 3500K. The only light at the press or viewing table is 5000K, or we call it “daylight”.

If you are into video or want to watch a movie with your monitor, you can set to 6500K to 9300K. Images are bluer and brighter.

But if you were going to prints, I would recommend a white point of 5000K with a gamma of 2.2. If you have been viewing uncalibrated display, your initial reaction upon performing your first monitor calibration will likely be, “Oops!….. what did I do wrong?”. Does it make sense to calibrate a monitor to have a dull screen? If you are doing it correctly, a properly calibrated LCD display will look dark and flat with a rather warm colour balance. I’m been conservative and realistic, as everyone expect to have prints like what they would see on their monitors. RGB vs CMYK.

There are two camps...6500K and 5000K, bluer or cooler and yellower or warmer. Those using the latter are mainly concerned with matching prints that they're viewing under a 5000K viewing box.

I wound not recommend 6500K to photographers. My sense is that he is not working in a fully profiled environment and is still relying on last minute visual tweaks to match.

Anyway, you have the freedom to decide what setting works for you, but remember: don't expect the colours you match and edited under your "6500K colour calibrated screen" to behave the same way in the rest of the world which are closer to 5000 K than 6500 K.

Calibration usually put the white point at 6500k (reference). Maybe the white point of your monitor before the calibration was somewhere is the cooler range around 9300k or higher.

Impression wise, most people prefer a cooler (bluish) white point over a warmer (yellowish) one. You can try this experiment on your TV or monitor. Select the different white points (colour temperature) and most likely you'll prefer the cooler setting.

You're most probably right saying that you are not used to the new calibrated setting. Trust me, if you leave it at this setting, in no time you'll get use to it

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Vin]

Thanks Winsonapm for the nice write up.

Found this info on colorwiki on Monitor Calibration. It also talk about White Point and Gamma.
http://www.colorwiki.com/wiki/Monitor_Calibration_FAQ

Was told that some Philips Monitors even has each set aligned before leaving the factory. They called is TrueVision according to their webpage.
http://www.consumer.philips.com/con...G_CONSUMER/LCD-widescreen-monitor+190BW9CB-69

 

[Diavonex]

Can you really adjust the Blue, Green, Red, Yellow, Magenta and Cyan on a monitor?

Or is it adjusting the software in relation to the monitor?

I only know that monitor have Blue, Green and Red pixel which turns ON and OFF.

Pse. educate me.

 

[Tiger Canon]

no, unless i decide to go commercial.

right now, i treat this as my second hobby. there are other stuffs I would like to get first.

 

[theRBK]

Yes, you are right. But I would recommend that the device be set to default before profiling. The ICC profile created is a compensated profile of the default. E.G. 10,000 monitors left the factory with the same default setting, but all would turned out looking very differently. Why? Environmental factors, etc, etc, If all 10,000 monitors would be reset to default, most of them would have the same values. Thus, we can create a profile based on this difference. The next time the monitor looks or act funny, just set to default and recall the last ICC profile. Unless you enjoy creating a new profile based on the monitor not looking right every so often. Got it?

I agree that the usual thing to do is to set the monitor to default, but that is not because, as you stated in post 21, that calibration "usually resets the monitor to factory default or “zeroed”. ", but because resetting to default puts the monitor at a baseline from which to start profiling your monitor where the various control values are unlikely to be crazy... the monitor is not calibrated, merely reset to default, and a profile built from there... what we normally do with the spyders and eye1s and whatnot is actually profiling monitors, not calibrating monitors...

If you have a chance to look into the values of these generic profiles, you’ll be surprised to know that they shared the same values. Optimum values or we called these “targets”. E.G. 5 brands of monitors or 5 brands of printers would shared the same ICC profile in values for RGB or CMYK (default settings). Why? Regardless of the model, price, technology, it’ll try to show or print their best. Their best would be standards like SWOP, Euroscale, Japan, etc,. Inability to achieve is another story.

profiles like Adobe RGB, sRGB, SWOP CMYK, Euroscale CMYK, are colour spaces, and they are related to machine profiles, like monitor profiles or printer profiles, through the "interlanguage" of LAB colour... if anything, LAB is the "target" for machine profiles...

and I would recommend 65ooK for profiling monitors...
1. it is usually close to the backlight colour temperature of most LCD monitors,
2. it is commonly use to view images in non-specialized spaces,
3. to change the colour temperature of LCD monitors, usually the LCD layer is utilized to adjust the temperature rather than adjusting the backlight, and this might affect the gamut achievable by the monitor... unless one is using one of those newfangled RGBLED LCD screens and the LED backlight is adjustable...

Can you really adjust the Blue, Green, Red, Yellow, Magenta and Cyan on a monitor?

Or is it adjusting the software in relation to the monitor?

I only know that monitor have Blue, Green and Red pixel which turns ON and OFF.

Pse. educate me.

the red, green and blue pixels can be adjusted to allow different intensities of red, green and blue light to be displayed... by adjusting these in combination, cyan, magenta and yellow can also be adjusted... usually on the monitor, adjustments may only be made to the maximum intensity of red, green and blue, and fine adjustments which can control the gradient of the colours within the maximum and minimum values, as well as the combinations to adjust cyan, magenta and yellow production, are usually made at the software level once a profile of the monitor is produced...

 

[Diavonex]

...the red, green and blue pixels can be adjusted to allow different intensities of red, green and blue light to be displayed... by adjusting these in combination, cyan, magenta and yellow can also be adjusted... usually on the monitor, adjustments may only be made to the maximum intensity of red, green and blue, and fine adjustments which can control the gradient of the colours within the maximum and minimum values, as well as the combinations to adjust cyan, magenta and yellow production, are usually made at the software level once a profile of the monitor is produced...

Thank you theRBK.

 

[Vin]

and I would recommend 65ooK for profiling monitors...
1. it is usually close to the backlight colour temperature of most LCD monitors,

Yes, PC LCD panels usually has backlight colour temperature is closed to D65. But for TV LCD panels, the backlight colour temperature is usually cooler say around 10k .

Example of a TV LCD panel specification,
http://www.lgdisplay.com/homeContain/jsp/eng/prd/prd100_j_e.jsp

3. to change the colour temperature of LCD monitors, usually the LCD layer is utilized to adjust the temperature rather than adjusting the backlight, and this might affect the gamut achievable by the monitor... unless one is using one of those newfangled RGBLED LCD screens and the LED backlight is adjustable...

Changing the colour temperature doesn't affect the colour gamut as the R, G and B colour coordinate (x, y value) doesn't change.


Found this nice chart comparing the gamut of the various backlight technology.