Monitor Calibration

[dandc]

Anyone out there using a Monitor Calibrator and find it to be useful?  I'm thinking of getting one to use on my Dell Laptop because its color/brightness seems to be 'off' sometimes when I compare my photos between it, my tablet or work computer.  It's my editing computer which is why I'm pondering getting one.

Recommendations appreciated!

Thanks,
Dan

[Howard]

Yes. I calibrate my Dell UP2516. I use Dell's DUCCS software with XRite I1 device.

I calibrate 3 or 4 times a year and when I compare old and new there is usually a very slight difference on one of the channels. Whether it's worth it for the money I'm not sure. Depends what you do with your photos and how good your eyes are!

I print a lot so it's useful for me as I save Adobe RGB and sRGB in different "slots" so I can switch easily as necessary (by default I shoot using adobe these days and only convert in rare instances).

Also, check if your monitor supports hardware calibration.

If you go ahead, you might want to check for used ones on gumtree, ebay etc. I got mine for less than half price and it is good as new.

Hope that helps a little.

[Tpgettys]

Nov 6, 2023 23:46:46 GMT dandc said:

Anyone out there using a Monitor Calibrator and find it to be useful?  I'm thinking of getting one to use on my Dell Laptop because its color/brightness seems to be 'off' sometimes when I compare my photos between it, my tablet or work computer.  It's my editing computer which is why I'm pondering getting one.

Hi dandc ,

I use the Spyder4express monitor calibrator (it is an older model by now, but works for me).  It is made by datacolor

Calibrating your monitor provides the most accurate color rendering your monitor is capable of.  Also, calibrating your monitor is essential if you are to have any chance of your prints matching what you see on the screen.  The other half of the puzzle is to make sure you have the right driver installed for your printer.  However, I am not an expert on this topic, so to get more information I suggest you click Search on the main menu and search for Monitor Calibration.  There have been several helpful conversations on our forum about this important topic.

[mart44]

Are third party calibrators better than the calibration function provided in Windows? My HP monitor just needs a slight gamma adjustment according to this and all looks well on the screen.

I don't print anything these days but I know it can be difficult getting the colours right with an inkjet printer. After some research, I bought a Canon Selphy dye-sub printer and prints from this seemed a lot more accurate, even if a bit limiting on print size.

[Tpgettys]

Nov 7, 2023 8:39:36 GMT mart44 said:

Are third party calibrators better than the calibration function provided in Windows?

mart44 , I am unfamiliar with the "calibration function provided in Windows."  Please point me to where it is found and maybe briefly how it use it.  I can't imagine how it might work without a piece of supporting hardware!

[mart44]

If you go to the Windows settings and type 'calibrate' into the search box (or even just 'cali') the function will come up in the results. Click that and the procedure will start. When the steps are finished, it will automatically lead into 'Clear Type'. Best to look out for that and un-tick the option if Clear Type has already been set. Microsoft has a pretty good library of drivers for various make of monitor etc. Although the driver won't be labelled with the make in Device Manager, I think it is likely to be a correct one. That's perhaps how it can use this function for all monitors,

I have two all-in-one computers. One with a Dell monitor, the other with HP. The HP is QHD and the Dell is HD. I was actually a little disappointed with the monitor on the Dell. The text on it looks a bit scrawly and jagged in some programs. Tried all sorts of cures including Dell support to no avail. It doesn't make the computer unusable but it annoyed me enough to get the HP, which is great. The Dell comes in useful when for following tutorials or instructions. Having two computers running saves jumping from one Window to another.

I thought I'd carry out the calibration adjustments on both displays to see how it went. Each one looks OK but a little different in the white area, so I'm not sure how useful this calibration would be. It may just be that the Dell monitor isn't quite as good as the HP, or because they have different native resolutions. Might be worth trying the calibration though. I photographed both computer monitors and this is the result (HP on the left)..

[pontiac1940]

Thanks dandc . Good topic although one I'd rather ignore.  Yes, monitors should be close to reality, but IMHO, so many other factors affect what we see on our screens and on prints. Room brightness and type of room lighting are also factors. Then there are our eyes. Before my second cataract surgery (lens replacement) my left and right eyes were different: one eye saw warmer and one eye saw cooler. Then there are other factors such as degree of color blindness. Then there is the hypothetical question: Do you and I see the same colors? Do you see the same green as me. Of course we shall never know, eh? Anyway ... 

I have a 4K Asus monitor connected to an Asus laptop. I just calibrated it with a datacolor Spyder X because of this thread. The calibration warmed up the screen compared to pre-calibration. Neither are good or bad. See below. 

BTW, I do not print at home and use a good lab when I want high-quality prints. 

Here is a discussion on calibration and includes a nice collection of images all in one photo. The image is locked and not downloadable. I made three screen shots to get it all in one in PSE. When I click one of the pure white rectangles and then try to color correct in PSE there is an almost unnoticeable difference. (I am trying to think this through. Overthinking again! If my monitor was way off how would that work in PSE since the eyedropper might "see" the real white vs what I see on my monitor? My brain might explode. Stop Clive!! )   

Can you see the difference? Do you like one over the other? 

[Tpgettys]

Nov 7, 2023 8:39:36 GMT mart44 said:

Are third party calibrators better than the calibration function provided in Windows?

Thanks for that info mart44 .  I can now answer your question; it is an emphatic yes!  Having said that, though, anything that you do to get the best settings on your monitor is probably worth doing.  When I get a new television the default settings are absolutely terrible, so doing just about anything yields a better image.  Trusting my eye is not going to get me very close to accurate colors and contrast though. 

A third-party monitor calibration tool consists of a piece of hardware that measures the monitor output; the software runs the monitor through many colors and the hardware feeds the monitor output back to the software.  A custom profile is built and reloaded by the display driver every time the computer restarts.

[dandc]

Thanks everyone for your input/suggestions/help! Clive I do see a difference between your two examples and usually prefer warmer images . . just like the tint on my sunglasses ;^)

[mart44]

Nov 7, 2023 22:51:35 GMT Tpgettys said:

When I get a new television the default settings are absolutely terrible, so doing just about anything yields a better image. 

I find that too and spend some hours/days getting the best settings. I was a TV repairer in the early days of colour TV (PAL system in UK) and optimising the picture/convergence/colour adjustments in those televisions was a fine art that couldn't be done by the user. I still tend to be a bit fussy about TV picture quality.

Regarding monitor calibration, this isn't something I've thought about too much up to now other than just using the Windows function. Do you think proper calibration only makes a difference for printing purposes? I ask because I think that providing the colours on a monitor aren't wildly off, the eye can get used to and accept what's presented. For instance, this page is supposed to be white and providing it's reasonably so, it gets accepted that way even it it is biased a little to the warm or cool side. The same with colours. All examples shown in the previous posts look OK, perhaps especially so if there is nothing side by side to compare them to.

When it comes to viewing online, if other people haven't calibrated their monitors, the colours a creator sees could be slightly different for individual viewers ..but still look very good anyway, as indeed all images posted here are.

When I printed photos, I found it was difficult to match the printed colours to those seen on the monitor but much seemed to depend on the paper used or the quality of print chosen. I used to do little swatches to try and get a good match before printing the big picture. It was at that point we got the dye-sub printer and any photos wanted as prints were printed directly from the camera. Maybe I'd have done better with a calibrator such as you have described.

Anyway, with all the ways there are of sharing images/photos there are now, even the dye-sub printer spends its life just sitting in a drawer. For printing though, the colours were accurate and permanent. As near the quality of 35mm film prints as I've seen.

[PeteB]

Hi Dan
I have for years have used Datacolor’s Spyder {hardware + software). But recently I used the Spyder colorimeter with DisplayCal, a user interface for an open source color management system (Argyll CMS). Be forewarned I have gone down this monitor calibration rabbit hole, and my conclusion can be summed up in a Nietzsche quote, “As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist”.
Good luck.

If anyone is interested in DisplayCal here is a link.

displaycal.net/#colorimeter-corrections

[pontiac1940]

Nov 8, 2023 15:16:09 GMT PeteB said:

Nietzsche quote, “As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist”.

That's a great quote Pete! It applies to so many things. 
Thanks. 

[Andy]

I use an older Spyder model as well and it works for me. I also use DisplayCAL.

[Howard]

I think this is a handy article and clarifies some of the fog around calibration/profiling.

Image Science

On a cost/benefit basis, if I was using the built in screen of a laptop I would not invest in X-Rite, Spyder et al because generally laptop screens are not built to a high enough spec/quality to begin with to deliver good enough results for the investment.  I'm sure there are some very high spec examples to prove me wrong but as I say, generally, laptop screens are built to a price and are not designed to support high level calibration/profiling.   Comparing the price of a good monitor to the price of a laptop suggests this to be the case.

Feel free to correct me if you think I am misguided.