Calibration Inaccuracy?

[jmtonkin]

Hey all,

In January, I picked up a Spyder4Pro to go with the computer that I built. The difference between it being on and being off are very obvious, but I don't know if the calibration is accurate. The colors do look much better with it on, but it is much darker. My whites just don't look as white, because everything looks slightly under-exposed. When I look at other people work, I really love the colors that I see in the calibrated, but I like the brightness that I see with it un-calibrated (if that makes any sense...). I will confess that I am using a rather old monitor, and I am in desperate need of an upgrade, but I don't think that can possibly be all there is to it.

Does anyone know how I can check to see if my colors are accurate for sure, or why everything looks so much darker?

 

[qleak]

Hey all,

In January, I picked up a Spyder4Pro to go with the computer that I built. The difference between it being on and being off are very obvious, but I don't know if the calibration is accurate. The colors do look much better with it on, but it is much darker. My whites just don't look as white, because everything looks slightly under-exposed. When I look at other people work, I really love the colors that I see in the calibrated, but I like the brightness that I see with it un-calibrated (if that makes any sense...). I will confess that I am using a rather old monitor, and I am in desperate need of an upgrade, but I don't think that can possibly be all there is to it.

Does anyone know how I can check to see if my colors are accurate for sure, or why everything looks so much darker?

but how do your photos turn out in print?

That's what calibration is all about.

 

[weepete]

Your eyes will adjust to it. I find my calibration looks too cool to what I'm used to on my monitor, however it does give me much more accurate reproduction for colour and exposure.

Trust your calibration device, thats what you bought it for.

 

[jmtonkin]

Your eyes will adjust to it. I find my calibration looks too cool to what I'm used to on my monitor, however it does give me much more accurate reproduction for colour and exposure.

Trust your calibration device, thats what you bought it for.

I agree, however, I'm not sure why nothing on my computer looks white. Everything looks underexposed. I created a solid white image in Photoshop, and that still appears to be a tad underexposed. Is my monitor just that bad?

 

[Overread]

Most monitors run very bright and very contrasty when new from the retailer; as such white is blinding white on most screens. When you use a calibrator things can appear more muted, more dull. It's not a fault of anything save that your eyes adapt so what is a more faithful display can appear more muted because your eyes already adapted and got used to the former "correct"display

 

[weepete]

Your eyes will adjust to it. I find my calibration looks too cool to what I'm used to on my monitor, however it does give me much more accurate reproduction for colour and exposure.

Trust your calibration device, thats what you bought it for.

I agree, however, I'm not sure why nothing on my computer looks white. Everything looks underexposed. I created a solid white image in Photoshop, and that still appears to be a tad underexposed. Is my monitor just that bad?

No. There is a small possibility that your calibration device is slighty out. But much more likely that your so used to looking at your uncalibrated screen that your brain has normalised that to what things should look like on a screen. Environmental factors such as where your screen is placed and the lighting around it, background colour in your house can also be a factor too.

You could do a quick (and totally unscientific) check by editing two images to look the same, one using your uncalibrated settings and one with your calibrated settings as a starting point. There are a few people on here with calibrated monitors so we could look at our screens as a quick double checkon which one has a better exposure.

It was a shock to me the first time I calibrated my screen just how much it was out, but having previously posted photos on here and had to tweek the exposure a few times due to them being under or over exposed after some critique I know my exposures are a lot more accurate using a spyder4pro. The one time I got comments recently suggesting my exposure needed a tweek my calibration had been there a while and as a bit off. I recalibrated my monitor and it was spot on.

 

[qleak]

Most monitors run very bright and very contrasty when new from the retailer; as such white is blinding white on most screens. When you use a calibrator things can appear more muted, more dull. It's not a fault of anything save that your eyes adapt so what is a more faithful display can appear more muted because your eyes already adapted and got used to the former "correct"display

I'd like to add, calibration is about matching to print.

So unless you print to the surface of a light source you want you monitors brightness turned down.

 

[jmtonkin]

Alright. Here's my unscientific experiment. Which one looks better?

1.

2.

 

[Ysarex]

Alright. Here's my unscientific experiment. Which one looks better?

1.

2.

1st one. Major blue/cyan color cast on the 2nd image.

Joe

 

[boomer]

What brightness are you calibrating your monitor to, the recommended 120 nits? Since I never really print, I prefer calibrating to 180 nits because I like that extra brightness. Even at 180 nits, my ASUS PB278Q and Dell P2715Q are only set to 50-55% brightness (I was one of those people who always had my monitors cranked to 100% before I got my Spyder calibrator lol).

I will also agree that you will get use to it. Before getting my calibrator, I liked my monitors WAY too cool! After I first calibrated to 6500K, I hated it for a while! It was so different. But now I have come to love where my monitors are calibrated. I can now usually tell how other monitors or screens are calibrated just by looking at my own pictures.

Also, if your monitor really is an older/cheaper TN panel, it's probably not going to be perfect. I was never happy with the way my Spyder calibrated my old Samsung TN panel 1080p monitor and my older Sony Vaio laptop. Could never get those two to quite match.

Now that i have 2 different IPS monitors for my desktop, they match PERFECT!

 

[jmtonkin]

What brightness are you calibrating your monitor to, the recommended 120 nits? Since I never really print, I prefer calibrating to 180 nits because I like that extra brightness. Even at 180 nits, my ASUS PB278Q and Dell P2715Q are only set to 50-55% brightness (I was one of those people who always had my monitors cranked to 100% before I got my Spyder calibrator lol).

When I just checked, with my monitor at the highest brightness setting, I got 93 nits. Could this be why everything looks so dim?

 

[boomer]

What brightness are you calibrating your monitor to, the recommended 120 nits? Since I never really print, I prefer calibrating to 180 nits because I like that extra brightness. Even at 180 nits, my ASUS PB278Q and Dell P2715Q are only set to 50-55% brightness (I was one of those people who always had my monitors cranked to 100% before I got my Spyder calibrator lol).

When I just checked, with my monitor at the highest brightness setting, I got 93 nits. Could this be why everything looks so dim?

Ya! If your monitor only hits 93 nits while running at 100% brightness, I would assume that's a probably your problem. Maybe look into a new monitor? What would be your budget if you were to get a new monitor?

 

[jmtonkin]

Right now, probably about $150. I'm trying to save up for my wedding!

 

[boomer]

Right now, probably about $150. I'm trying to save up for my wedding!

With photography being one of your main goals, I would HIGHLY suggest finding an IPS monitor. They can be had for around $200 dollars, or even slightly less. Most are closer to the $300+ range though. Plus, your Spyder will work much better on an IPS monitor too.

Here is an example of an IPS monitor that isn't terribly expensive : Amazon.com ASUS PA248Q 24-Inch LED-Lit IPS Professional Graphics Monitor Computers Accessories

But keeping around your $150 dollar budget, something like this should be much better than what you have now: Amazon.com Asus VS248H-P 24-Inch Full-HD LED-lit LCD Monitor Computers Accessories