Color calibrating the display

[mubs]

My display is a Viewsonic PT775. Pretty happy with it except for the size - only 17". Never mind.

I've always run it at max contrast (100%) and zero brightness; it provides crisp, saturated colors and is easy on the eyes.

Recently, some digital photos I took had a color cast on them - most were taken in overcast conditions and I tried to adjust white balance during post-pic editing as best I could. Then the photos were printed at Costco. They looked kinda unnatural. First time this has happened. I don't know if the printer at Costco was low on one color or borked or what.

I went to Jasc's website (now stupid-ass Corel) and "calibrated" the display. That meant turning down the contrast to ~ 69% and the brightness adjusted to 65%. These settings allowed me to see all the variations (each square) in the black, grayscale and white gradients, which I couldn't see with my favorite display settings (the leftmost and rightmost 3 squares in each looked identical).

The problem is that e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g now looks worse. Windows desktop and colors, icons, everything is washed out and pale. Colors are totally unsaturated. I viewed some of the same pics, and they look horrible.

What gives? IIRC, I had tried calibrating once before with Displaymate's free tools, and the results were the same; I just went back to my own settings.

Can anybody throw some light on this, please?

 

[Mercutio]

Light may very well be the issue.

At least, color temp is the first thing I think of.
Lunar or GaryH or Buck probably have more helpful things to say on the subject.

 

[Pradeep]

We use a Pantone Colorvision Spyder2Pro at work. Easy to use, gives excellent, repeatable results. Cost about $250 from Amazon. Gives you a custom ICC profile for each monitor. We calibrate to gamma 2.2, 6500K.

 

[mubs]

Thanks for the tip on color temps, Merc, I had forgotten about that setting in my display.

Thanks for the info on the color calibrator, Pradeep. I was aware of the product, but it's something I simply can't afford at this time. Someday perhaps.

When I did the calibration (online at JASC), my gamma came out to 2.0. My monitor has color temp settings of 9300k, 6500k, 5500k and 'user'. Mine is set to 9300k. I tried 6500k and 5500k just now, and white (like the background in this text box that I am typing in) doesn't look white but a very pale light-orange. The only time it looks white is at 9300k. Is my display off??

How on earth do you guys use 6500k??

 

[Pradeep]

I think you may have blinded yourself by running with contrast at 100% for so long. I would find 9300K to be insanely blue. 6500K would indeed look very reddish if you were used to 9300K.

Is it possible to adjust the RGB values on your monitor?

 

[Mercutio]

I prefer 9300K as well, mubs. It's not just you.

 

[mubs]

Is it possible to adjust the RGB values on your monitor?

Yes I can, there's a menu option for it.

I think you may have blinded yourself by running with contrast at 100% for so long.

Perhaps. What now?

I prefer 9300K as well, mubs. It's not just you.

Thanks, Merc. But I'm a freak in many ways, and have been told that to my face by many people many times.

 

[Onomatopoeic]

Mubs:

Do you have one of those calibration cards that you hold with your hand? If you do, you can get reasonably close to the proper gamma and white point if your eyes are good. You will need to be in incandescent light to get the best results (use the card labeled "incandescent"). Fluorescent light of any kind is the worst for a computer graphics viewing environment.

Otherwise, you will probably use a couple of calibration setups -- one for photography and the other for text, spreadsheet, and general web browsing activities.

If you aren't printing to a photo printer and just saving scanned or digital photography, you should set your white point for 6500°K. Photo printing usually requires you to set the white point lower because paper can't reflect light all that well. If you want a "brighter" white for everything else, you can go up one notch. But, I would not use 9000°K or above for anything other than screen presentation. Blue-tinged whites are a bit distressing on the eyes.

Once you set the white point in the monitor's onboard control panel, THEN you calibrate your monitor (RGB, gamma, black point).

 

[mubs]

Onomatopoeic, thanks for the info.

I don't have anything to calibrate with, other than visiting a website that has instructions to do so - like this one.

If the card is just a few bucks, I'll buy it. I presume local photo shops (like Ritz Camera) would have it? I use an adjustable, dimmable incandescent at my computer workstation, with the reflector pointing down at the keboard or pointing to the floor to the left of it. The bulb is a GE Reveal (that is supposed to show more accurate colors. During the day, indirect ambient sun light is the lighting source.

I never print my own photos; they are cropped, edited if necessary and taken to Costco. I've gotten pretty good results this far, except for the photos from the last trip. I suspect being the summer holiday season, they didn't refill the chemicals/toners in the printers properly. Or, something in their setup has changed.

Maybe my monitor is messed up? That's why I have to set the contrast at 100%, brightness at 0%, and color temp at 9300k?

I guess the edit here and print-at-Costco setup also requires color temp at 6500? And once I set it to 6500, how do I "calibrate my monitor (RGB, gamma, black point)?"

Thanks very much.

 

[Stereodude]

DryCreekPhoto should have profiles for your local Costco's digital machine that you can apply in Photoshop to your images.

http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Frontier/

 

[Dïscfärm]

I presume local photo shops (like Ritz Camera) would have it?

They may have one. I wouldn't be surprised if they did. You are interested primarily in greyscale calibration. The rest of it is really for calibrating for print output (i.e. -- CMYK).

I can pretty much get a monitor in the ballpark by eyeballing 3 things on the screen (with the room lights off): A 255 step rectangle going across the screen, followed by a large pure white square in the middle of a pure black background, and finally a pure black square with nothing else. If you want accuracy, you will need a machine calibration.

The JASC page is fine. I also like a full 8-bit greyscale sweep, like I mentioned above, so that I can look for greyscale aliasing. Otherwise, you can take a handheld colorimeter and check the RGB levels of their 16 steps.

I use an adjustable, dimmable incandescent at my computer workstation, with the reflector pointing down at the keboard or pointing to the floor to the left of it. The bulb is a GE Reveal (that is supposed to show more accurate colors. During the day, indirect ambient sun light is the lighting source.

If you need a room light, a fairly low-to-mid-watt halogen that points at the (presumably) white ceiling is the best way to go for such. Glare on a monitor is a huge no-no. A black or dark grey panel behind you ensures that you won't pickup reflections. If you can turn the lights off, that is best. Otherwise, the source of your light needs to have a "warm" white point as opposed to a poisonous "cool" white point -- which is the opposite of colour temperature.

I never print my own photos; they are cropped, edited if necessary and taken to Costco. I've gotten pretty good results this far, except for the photos from the last trip. I suspect being the summer holiday season, they didn't refill the chemicals/toners in the printers properly. Or, something in their setup has changed.

Their problem was likely they used the wrong paper /wrong profile for the paper in the machine, or they did not update the profile for the new stock. Fuji somewhat recently introduced some new photo printing paper (if we are talking Fuji). Fuji Frontier and Noritsu printing systems keep track of photo-chemical usage. The printer section will start beeping when it's time to change chemicals. RA-4 developers and fixer are easy to maintain in these systems as they come in cartridges that you change out.

Maybe my monitor is messed up? That's why I have to set the contrast at 100%, brightness at 0%, and color temp at 9300k?

If we're talking Viewsonic, there's half a decent chance it's not so well balanced with RGB, brightness, and contrast set at 50%. Try setting the colour temperature at 6500°K like we were talking about earlier, then start over. How is your graphics card setup? You haven't mentioned anything about your graphics card and what it is capable of (the drivers and associated utilities).

I guess the edit here and print-at-Costco setup also requires color temp at 6500? And once I set it to 6500, how do I "calibrate my monitor (RGB, gamma, black point)?"

Chances are 5500°K will get you closer to the white point needed, if you plan to correct in a darkened room.

 

[mubs]

Thanks, Dïscfärm. To my eyes, at 9300k, whites look white. I just cannot stand a lower color temp - on this monitor that I spend 99.99999% of my computer time on.