IPS pre calibrated monitor settings, what to use?

[nielsi]

This week I received my Asus PA238Q IPS monitor which I bought primarily because I was fed up with my photos and videos looking different every time depending on how I was sitting in front of my laptop screen.

I’m an absolute noob when it comes to color spaces and color profiles. I guess what’s important is that all my material is destined for online use. So prints are not really an issue for me. What I’m looking for though is a color accurate representation of what my material will look like on most other monitors (sRGB I guess). In other words; I don’t want to be color correcting my videos or photos but find that on 80% of other monitors it looks way more red than how I graded it.

So the Asus monitor is individually pre calibrated in the factory for sRGB (I’ve got the test result sheet here in front of me with the serial number of my monitor on it). The thing is thought that if I put the monitor on sRGB mode, it feels very ‘greenish’ to me. Especially compared to the Standard mode which seems to have more crisp whites (though maybe a touch blue).

I don’t have any calibration tools and I’m not looking for perfection, just a good representation. Does anyone have any suggestions for me on what mode to use or maybe have experience with this monitor? Is it just my eyes that have to get used to the sRGB color mode and is that in fact the most accurate calibrated mode, or is there something else going on?

Thanks a ton in advance!

 

[john5189]

If a someone else monitor is not calibrated it is not predictable how your photos will look on it.
The only thing you can do is to calibrate your own monitor and at least you have a consistancy to your work that other monitors can then degrade, but if the original image you release to the WWW is not true then it will definitely be degraded on other monitors.
If you've bought a nice new monitor even out of the box it needs to be calibrated.

 

[AaronLLockhart]

Calibrating your monitor for photo editing is good if you are going to be focusing on prints. If not, you need to pay attention to your histogram more than anything else, because your images are going to look different on each person's monitor, as they do not have the same monitor or calibration you have.

 

[nielsi]

Thanks. That makes a lot of sense. I understand that calibrating for the web is sort of a moot point since everyone has a different monitor with different settings. Still, I guess all monitors will strive for getting as close to sRGB as possible since that’s the system default color space and the color space of the web. Which would make me think it’s best to set the monitor to the calibrated sRGB mode (as a baseline, knowing that experiences may differ). I still don’t get why the sRGB mode feels so green in my eyes…

 

[Big Mike]

Just buy a monitor calibration system (Spyder Colorimeters For Monitor Display Calibration and Software - Datacolor Imaging Solutions or http://www.xrite.com/product_overview.aspx?ID=1513 etc.)
Then you will know that you have a calibrated display.

 

[KmH]

Still, I guess all monitors will strive for getting as close to sRGB as possible since that’s the system default color space and the color space of the web.

Most computer displays can only display 6-bits of color color per RGB channel.

In other words most computer displays cannot even display the entire color gamut that is sRGB.

Next you have to factor in that not all web browsers are color aware.

Lastly, your new monitor will need to be routinely re-calibrated, if the ambient light falling on it changes, or if the color temperature of the ambient light changes.

 

[Garbz]

The thing is thought that if I put the monitor on sRGB mode, it feels very ‘greenish’ to me. Especially compared to the Standard mode which seems to have more crisp whites (though maybe a touch blue).

You're not comparing to anything external. Your eyes are a horrendous judge of colour casts. For example if you can set your monitor to a 9000k colour temperature and use it for about 20 minutes. You'll find when you go back to the 5500k or what ever the normal balance for your screen is, that everything will look very wrong. This is because your eyes naturally adjust to the brightest thing you can see, your monitor.

What is important for the calibration is not any slight colour casts in the overall picture, your eyes will adjust to this, but rather colour consistency across the entire range of colours. That is to say you want to make sure that 255,255,255 has the same greenish cast as the darker 128,128,128. Also knowing how pure each of the three points of the colour triangle are is important for saturation purposes but if the screen is calibrated to sRGB you're fine with that.


Give it a go. Set it to sRGB for a while and see if you still think in an hours time that it is wrong.

 

[nielsi]

You’re absolutely right. It’s fascinating to see how quickly your brain adapts to interpreting colors. It’s like standing in a room with a red light holding a white piece of paper. Within minutes you’re convinced the paper is white, even though it’s technically red as hell Since I’m not trying to match my monitor to a print the other things you mentioned like color consistency are key. I’ve put the monitor on sRGB mode for a day now. I started to adapt to it, just like you said. I put up a six step grayscale on the monitor, walked away from it, reviewed it again, just to get an idea if my opinion would change. I still feel the greys have a slight greenish tint over them but to be fair; I’ve always had a tendency to ‘undergreen’ digital material so it might even have to do with taste a bit. More importantly: what I considered to be this slight green tint is consistent over all greys. Also, a 6 primary colors scale feels spot on, which gives me the impression that something right is happening with this sRGB mode

The only thing that I could kind of calibrate to (although still an interpretation) is skin tone. I color corrected a portrait with the ‘1/5, 1/3, 1/3 CMYK recipe’ for caucasian skin tone which is supposed to be a formula for a healthy, natural skin tone. Judging this over the different modes I feel the skin tone looks most natural in the sRGB mode. (I’ll try to attach the image. The green face in the original is due to a weird reaction of the make up in the light. Keep in mind that the cheeks are redder because of make-up)

I guess the calibration test results from the factory are right and I just have to get used to a correctly calibrated screen I’m sticking with the sRGB mode. Thanks so much for the input!!

 

[Dao]

Correct me if I am wrong. Calibration done at the factory do not mean too much as far as the photography concern because of the working environment varies from place to place.

For example, the factory calibrate the monitor in a regular office type lighting while your workstation is in a dim room. I can understand if a the manufacturer calibrate a TV movie mode since they expect people watch movies in a very dim or dark room.

If you get a monitor calibrator, you may notice that the device at one point will try to measure the ambient light during the calibration.

 

[Big Mike]

And also, calibration should be (re)done on a routine basis.

 

[nielsi]

That’s very true and very important, but of course the idea behind calibration is, for photography that you see on your monitor what you’ll see on the final print, and for cinematographers that you’ll see on your monitor what you’ll eventually see in the theater. In other words, you’re calibrating your monitor to match as closely as possible how it will look on your final medium. (to prevent for example that when you have a very warm light bulb ambient light and you make your photos look good in that, it will come out of the print shop way to blue because you overcompensated for your ambient light)

For me that’s a whole different story because my final medium is always the web ie. other peoples monitors. And I can’t calibrate to all of those (like other users already said). So what’s most important to me then, like Garbz and Aaron hinted, is to at least have a color consistency. What I would theoretically have to calibrate to is an average of all screens connected to the internet. sRGB is generally the default color space and the standard for the web so you could say that that’s kind of a baseline. Then I’m assuming that the calibration in the factory took place under ‘most average’ light conditions. Because you’re right, calibration might totally differ per ambient condition, so I take it the factory will try to find a neutral condition to calibrate in so that colors and contrast still are in an acceptable range in booth cool and warm ambient light conditions.

So yes, I could get a calibration tool and calibrate my monitor three times a day, which would be very necessary if I want my photo to come out color perfect in the print shop, but since my material will be watched on many different monitors in many different conditions anyway it doesn’t make that much of a difference. I just need to get close enough to an average and I guess the sRGB mode would be that. Am I right..?

 

[Dao]

If you go to a store that has a lot of monitors displaying the same image/screen, you will notice they all looks different. Which one your monitor should calibrate to?

 

[Garbz]

So yes, I could get a calibration tool and calibrate my monitor three times a day, which would be very necessary if I want my photo to come out color perfect in the print shop, but since my material will be watched on many different monitors in many different conditions anyway it doesn’t make that much of a difference. I just need to get close enough to an average and I guess the sRGB mode would be that. Am I right..?

It's back to the audiophile example. There are some of us out here who have expensive calibrated monitors and it is us who you should be targeting. The reason is the people who care the most are the people who spend the most (just like audiophiles). The people with boomboxes are not going to care how well you master your studio recording. However unless they are your only target audience then you damn well better have an expensive speaker and mixing desk so you are sure of what you're producing.

Correct me if I am wrong. Calibration done at the factory do not mean too much as far as the photography concern because of the working environment varies from place to place.

The factory calibration is actually something quite important and something that won't drift. The key here is that the monitor is likely calibrated for certain primary colours. This does not change very often. What changes in monitors is the viewing environment when it leaves the factory, and the backlight. The backlight changing is the main reason you need to periodically recalibrate, however primary colour calibration should not drift much over the age of the monitor.