Monitor Calibration

And a postscript regarding WiziWYG and LCDs:

You must use the native resolution of the panel before attempting to use WiziWYG. For example, if your LCD display has a resolution of 1400x1050, then you must set the display properties to 1400x1050 (not 1280x1024 otherwise the gamma squares will be completely useless!).

Matt

Brian, Well I got the Huey and boy are things different! I had it next day, but couldn't set it up as I was off for a long weekend of drinking and geology in Nottingham. I didn't realise how many different shades this form was rendered in! This may explain many of my colour and "punch" problems that John R and MAtt talked me through a while back. I owe you a couple of beers!

Matt, golfdiesel, thanks for your replies. It's a lot clearer now. I'll try and implement your suggestions in the next couple of days, just as soon as I can work out how to factory reset my monitor. Its a Dell P790 and there are no clues in the manual, on-line manual or the on-screen menu system. I've logged a call in the Dell forums

/WiRED

Hi Ammonyte, glad you like it, its even made a tremendous difference to online gaming.

All these beers and whiskeys are starting to mount up for EVERYBODY, we should arrange a meet day or weekend somewhere interesting.

After a couple of evenings wrestling with this thing, and still not getting very satisfactory results, I've ordered a Huey.

For anyone else interested, the best deal at the moment appears to be PurelyGadgets.co.uk (£58.95 + £5 P+P).

I also found a Windows XP Control Panel extension that I wasn't previously aware of on the Microsoft website . It lets you manage installation and selection of ICC files with a lot more convenience than the usual XP approach. Apologies if its been covered in other threads.

I decided to take the plunge, so I am going to buy a monitor profiling tool.

The options for me are:

Pantone Huey
Eye-One Display LT
Spyder2 suite

When reading reviews the spyder2 is supposed to give less performance when you have a lot of highlights in your pictures. There was one review stating that if you are going to do wedding shots you should forget about the spyder2.

So what are your thoughts and experiences with the above mentioned units?

So true. I have struggled trying to calibrate my 19" Dell Ultrasharp for free with Adobe Gamma and then WiziWYG and could never seem to get it quite right even using Matt's squinting trick. I had finally decided "you probably get what you pay for" and last week Amazon.ca had a sale on the Spyder2 Suite for $156 Canadian with free shipping (still on BTW). That was only $26 more than I would have to pay for Spyder Express (comes without the printer profiling software) locally and reasonable enough to get me off the pot and order it. I received it yesterday and in only a few minutes I must say the monitor is now very pleasing and it is good to know that I now have a standard to reference by. My monitor factory RGB presets are about 10-15% off the settings Spyder chose. Some of my previously processed photos look better now but a lot have to be re-tweaked from the point I started using WiziWYG. Not blaming WiziWYG though, probably something I did wrong. But, with the Spyder2 Suite I now know it is right.

The suite comes bundled with ColorVision PrintFIX PLUS to print test charts and then helps you build printer profiles to match your calibrated monitor to different inks and papers. That would undoubtedly make the process complete where Spyder Express would leave you only with half the setup. I have gone through a bit of the manual and that part of it looks quite involved and something I will do when I have more time to spend. The information posted previously in this thread is undoubtedly going to be a big help. Thanks for all that info guys.

I did find a colour test image with a good written guide of what to look for in the picture that may be of help for anyone here to view and or print, to at least get an idea if their monitor and printer are set correctly.

Here is a link to a PDI test image and you will also automatically be downloading the Freeware License Agreement with it. Please read it and abide by its terms.

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/Downloadable/Test_Image.zip


Here is a list of items to look for when reviewing the test image print:

A Smooth even gray ramp on the right of the image, without visible color casts or breaks in the gradient.

Good skintone color throughout the range of different skin types and their shadow areas, especially the difficult pink skintones in the second face, and the areas where the skin transitions into the hair on the third face.

Dark areas in the hair of the first model that show detail without clogging.

Bright, saturated, colors without loss of detail in the robot, the beta fish, and the colored beads.

Good deep tone detail in the purple sand in the fish bowl and the background of the tapestry.

Bright sunflower yellows in the sunflower, distinct from the lemon yellows of the lemon.

Good saturated blues in the vase and its stem.

No problem tones in the dark areas of the lemon, the peach,the orange, and the apple.

A rich range of greens in the cactus and the sunflower leaves.

Rich brown tones in the binocular case, transitioning well into the dark areas.

A good range of varying warm highlights in most areas.

The tint of each shadowbox section is effected subtly by the contents of each box.

Cool blue highlights on the optically brightened golf balls.

Good detail in the colored areas on the elephant, without bleeding from the blacks.

Here also is a B&W test image with an article included:
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/black_and_white_test.html


Hope this is helpful in determining if you too should buy a calibration system. Wish I could have afforded the PRO version

Regards

Drew

I just found this on the Adobe web site - useful for all using Adobe PS and / or Adobe Gamma.

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=328866

One important part is that
"Note: Neither Adobe Gamma nor Apple's Display Calibrator produces a reliable profile for flat-panel monitors. If you use a flat-panel monitor, either use a third-party utility to create a monitor profile or load the monitor profile included with the monitor."

Also because PS printers print using CMYK values
"it is very common practice to open RGB images in Photoshop before converting them to CMYK, make sure that both the RGB and the CMYK settings are correct in Photoshop. "

well, I took the plunge. I ordered a Eye-One Display 2. the extra features make it more usefull for TFT displays. I am using a CRT now, but I will switch to a TFT eventually.

Geez Rodger, why didn't you tell me that MONTHS ago?

I thought CMYK was for offset printing people using Postscript printers?

Drew

Cos I only just found out myself. CMYK is mostly for Postcript printers but makes sence for any printer using CMYK ink sets.

The link is best read in its entirity to fully understand whats going on. It's not to technical but answers many of the issues raised on this subject in the past.

PS Did you read the first paragraph (applies to everyting not just Photoshop
"Maintaining color when transferring documents and images between applications and devices ( for example, monitors, printers, or scanners) is a complex process. The process is limited by the color capabilities of monitors, applications, operating systems, and printers. A color management system (CMS) can offer optimized output to printers, but it requires that you have special equipment to calibrate your hardware and create device profiles (files that describe how particular devices reproduce color).

True color management also requires that you control all color-biasing elements in your work environment (for example, paint color of the room, direct or indirect sun light), which can be expensive and time consuming."

What? You mean I need to redecorate the spare room? You sure that bit wasn't wriiten by a wife?

CMYK would make sense for printing, but the printers we use are actually RGB devices, so it's a wasted conversion.

Nope it's a genuine Adobe comment
I used to work in QA at a cosmetics company - the walls had to be a lime green type of colour. Apparently best for colour management and for the staff. Though natural light was let in as much as possible and man made light to a minimum.

If we took two samples that looked the same under those conditions into natural light you could then decern a differance.

IMHO different films used to give different coulours so why shouldn't monitors, printers even paper types etc... Be sensible, do the best you can for what is afordable and spend more time on composition etc... than spending hours on colour management.

So the yellowish paint on the wall isn't very good here...
Allso during the summer I have to find something to block out the direct sunlight on the screen during the afternoon and early evening.