Bought a calibrated monitor. still need help

marineangel · Oct 22, 2015

I have been learning as much as I can with Trial and Error in the past few years. I am a stay at home mom and really that means I get about 15 minutes of uninterrupted time to learn whatever subject my focus is on that day. I decided recently to buy the Asus pa248q because it is precalibrated and I wanted to skip learning all about that for now. Well I printed my first photos that were edited on this new monitor and they were way darker and tinted down a bit. So I of course spent hours last night trying to find out why. I feel I got nowhere. Where would you suggest I start with my knowledge of this subject. Maybe because I print through Samsclub? I am mirroring from the hp envy laptop. intel hd graphics 1920x1080 60hertz refresh rate. sRGB.

Designer · Oct 22, 2015

I found this:

"Asus advertises a pre-calibrated accuracy of less than 5 deltaE and our measurements showed this to be the case. With an average colour difference of 1.31 deltaE this display will look very accurate to the human eye. However, we’ve seen cheaper monitors produce even more accurate results.

In fact we’ve seen more accurate calibration results out-of the box from some less expensive pre-calibrated IPS displays."

Until now I had not heard of any display claiming to be "pre-calibrated". It could be very good right out of the box, and it could be needing some tweaking.

The problem could be the printing service, so I wouldn't jump to any conclusions about the monitor calibration. Of course, you can and probably should check it when you get a chance, but why not try a different printing service first? Just order proof prints of a smaller size (4x5) and hold them up to the display to see how close everything is. You could even do a couple of different printers and compare all the proof sets at the same time.

D-B-J · Oct 22, 2015

marineangel said:
I have been learning as much as I can with Trial and Error in the past few years. I am a stay at home mom and really that means I get about 15 minutes of uninterrupted time to learn whatever subject my focus is on that day. I decided recently to buy the Asus pa248q because it is precalibrated and I wanted to skip learning all about that for now. Well I printed my first photos that were edited on this new monitor and they were way darker and tinted down a bit. So I of course spent hours last night trying to find out why. I feel I got nowhere. Where would you suggest I start with my knowledge of this subject. Maybe because I print through Samsclub? I am mirroring from the hp envy laptop. intel hd graphics 1920x1080 60hertz refresh rate. sRGB.

Precalibrated? I didn't even know that's a real thing... Just pick up a Spyder calibrator. Costs less than a hundred, and is effortless to use. It's what I use, and it made a huge difference.

Jake

KmH · Oct 22, 2015

Hardware cannot substitute for understanding.

Any 'pre-calibrated' display won't stay calibrated for long.
The 'pre-calibrated' marketing hype is used to sucker those wanting "to skip learning all about that for now" into buying that 'pre-calibrated' display.

Color rendition changes as a display ages.
Color rendition changes the quickest when a display is new.

Pros generally re-calibrate their displays every 2 to 4 weeks, or just before they edit an important group of photos.
To help me remember to re-calibrate I did it every new moon if I didn't have any critical editing jobs in between. There are 13 new moons most years.
If the ambient light falling on the display has changed, the display needs to be re-calibrated.

Use tomorrows 15 minutes to read this, if you haven't already read it.
Monitor Calibration for Photography

Take whatever time you can get.
15 minutes a day is 1.75 hours a week, is 7.525 hours a month (@4.3 weeks per month average), and 90.3 hours a year.

gsgary · Oct 23, 2015

I have just bought a camera pre loaded with pro quality photos so i can show my friends and say they are mine

tirediron · Oct 24, 2015

Designer said:
...The problem could be the printing service, so I wouldn't jump to any conclusions about the monitor calibration. Of course, you can and probably should check it when you get a chance, but why not try a different printing service first? Just order proof prints of a smaller size (4x5) and hold them up to the display to see how close everything is. You could even do a couple of different printers and compare all the proof sets at the same time.

I would say that this is most probably the case. Colour profiling isn't a 'monitor-only' thing; it's a critical part of the whole workflow process and includes both editing and printing. If you're using a real lab, then simply call up their customer service and discuss the matter. If you're using a big-box store type printing service, then start by ensuring that there's no box checked (or unchecked as the case may be) which allows the printer to make their own adjustments.

Designer · Oct 24, 2015

I just sent 60 files to a small shop for proofs. We'll see.

astroNikon · Oct 24, 2015

gsgary said:
I have just bought a camera pre loaded with pro quality photos so i can show my friends and say they are mine

I did better than that. I bought a Pro Camera, so I'm all set to hang my shingle up

Scatterbrained · Oct 24, 2015

marineangel said:
I have been learning as much as I can with Trial and Error in the past few years. I am a stay at home mom and really that means I get about 15 minutes of uninterrupted time to learn whatever subject my focus is on that day. I decided recently to buy the Asus pa248q because it is precalibrated and I wanted to skip learning all about that for now. Well I printed my first photos that were edited on this new monitor and they were way darker and tinted down a bit. So I of course spent hours last night trying to find out why. I feel I got nowhere. Where would you suggest I start with my knowledge of this subject. Maybe because I print through Samsclub? I am mirroring from the hp envy laptop. intel hd graphics 1920x1080 60hertz refresh rate. sRGB.

Sams Club should be able to give you acceptable (not great) print quality. Just make sure that you turn off the "in club auto correct". It's normally a check box at the top of the list of images when previewing the order. Even then, it's unlikely that the "auto correction" is accounting for your underexposed images. It's more than likely that the issue stems from your monitor brightness being too high.

Consumer grade monitors come preset with cooler temps and retina searing brightness levels. I'd recommend picking up a Spyder calibrator. I use a Spyder Elite, but the Spyder Express should work just fine for what you're doing. It's truly "plug and play". The primary hardware between the units are essentially the same, with the differences being software features. Similar to how GM sells the same truck as an Escalade and a Suburban.