- This topic has 6 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 6 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Greetings.
This is my very first post here, 1st of all I would like to thank the developers and many others involved with this wonderful software.
Photography is my hobby, and I want to print some photos out. For that reason 2 weeks ago I hired a guy to do calibrating on my monitors, which is BenQ SW2700PT and this surface pro 2017. On the BenQ the result is great and almost indentical to factory settings so I am happy with it, but on the surface screen it is another story.
His tool is Spyder 5 Elite, and he was using the datacolor software. At the 1st try, while the result wasn’t too bad, I noticed some really high numbers in chart. As I was concerned with that, he tried another time and cover the monitor with a cloth. The result looks about the same, with one chart still much higher than the rest, but the overall result, according to the software is at acceptable level so we left it as it is. Even so, with my naked eyes I still see it was a bit of green-ish and the white point looks kinda unnatural.
Please note here that I haven’t print any photo out yet so I don’t have any physical img to compare with the one on screen, and forgive me for don’t remember which data was off. I am completely new in this and tbh, even after reading around on this very rich infos site, I still have no idea what is what … everything is like rocket science to me and my poor brain can’t process much.
Out of curious, I decided to buy a spyder 5 pro and try to calibrate my surface pro screen with DisplayCal. After 3 tries with various settings, I got a quite decent profile (I think …). Comparing it with the BenQ it is somewhat close, and also close to the sRGB/enhanced profile of the surface itself. But what confused me is, is there that much different from displayCal and the software from Datacolor? Ofc I changed something here and there but the basic settings are still like this: 6500K white point, sRGB and gamma at 2.2.
And if anyone would be so kind to tell me what I need to do to calibrate laptop screen with displayCal and spyder 5? I tried to follow the tutorials and wiki but not sure if I do it correctly or not … and do I need to calibrate monitors in a dark room?
Thank for reading, any help and/or advises are appriciated.
Have a good day.
Hi and welcome to the forum.
But what confused me is, is there that much different from displayCal and the software from Datacolor?
it’s mainly a difference of thoroughness. the dataColor software only measures a handful of patches, which limits the accuracy. With DisplayCAL, there is no such restriction, but it also takes longer as a result.
And if anyone would be so kind to tell me what I need to do to calibrate laptop screen with displayCal and spyder 5? I tried to follow the tutorials and wiki but not sure if I do it correctly or not … and do I need to calibrate monitors in a dark room?
There’s nothing special about laptop displays, you can calibrate them just like any other (i.e. simply use default settings in DisplayCAL). The only difference is that on a laptop, you cannot adjust RGB sliders during interactive adjustment, so you just skip that step.
Thank you so much for your reply Mr. Hoch.
Been reading around on the internet and this site too, right now I am somewhat comfortable with displayCal, but still have some questions in my mind.
- Almost everyone say the Xrite 1Pro is more accurate than datacolor spyder instruments, but is the different big, enough to considering changing from my spyder 5 pro to it? I don’t have any worthy photo to print as fine art, just some normal landscape and portraits, and while I care about the quality, I doubt I would be able to print a great photo alone with my calibrated monitor, as the quality of the lab will be much more important.
- Last week I tried to calibrate some monitors for my friends, 3 of them infact, and all of them are Dell U, which one is U2412, and two U2314. I thought dell U is good, but the result kind of suprised me. U2412 is the one with the best result, the other U2314, dispite newer, are falling behind, but all of them while able to cover 99% of sRGB, only able to cover from 71 to 74.5% adobe RGB gamut. Out of curious, I also went through the trobles to calibrate the cheap monitors at my office, which is a HP something, cost around 90$ I think and some entry level laptop screens. The result, after calibration all of them are able to cover 97-99% sRGB, and 66-70% aRGB.
I know that there are much more than just cover the RGB gamut, but with that result (with my limited knowledge) they all are able of displaying colors correctly right? so, to the point that I wondering if, if someone with limited budget consult me about which entry laptop he would buy, should I let him get a laptop with decent specs and a cheap screen, or focusing on laptop with better screen like macbook but lower specs?
3. There are also the problems of some apps (in windows, as it is the most common OS) can’t use the calibrate profiles. From what I read, at the moment firefox with the option of gfx.color_management is the only browser can use the profile? And the photo viewer (in windows 10) can’t use it too? As when I comparing the photo side by side in photo viewer, and in Capture One/Lightroom I notice some slightly different. Is there any photo viewer software that can use the calibrated profiles? Open C1/LR just to see the photos is way too slow for me.
And same question about watching movie, currently I am using media player classics with CCCP, is it able to use the profiles or I need other software for it?
As for games, I don’t play any but, can games use the profiles?
4. From what I read on ceos3c, which was the main reason why I decided to bought a spyder 5 pro and use displayCal to calibrate my monitors, I created 2 profiles, one with 6500K color temp for web display and general using, and one with 5500K for print processing. And so to use them, when editing photos for printing, I need to switch to 5500K profiles right? Do I need to tweak in the editing software about the profiles change too, or they can detect it themself? I am using CaptureOne, Lightroom and Photoshop.
Sorry for rather long wall of text.
Have a good day.
Almost everyone say the Xrite 1Pro is more accurate than datacolor spyder instruments, but is the different big, enough to considering changing from my spyder 5 pro to it?
Just to clarify, the i1 Pro (spectrometer) is a different instrument than the i1 Display Pro (colorimeter), and I assume the latter is what you’re likely referring to. Whether the difference between the two is enough to warrant the upgrade (which it definitely would be) is something only you can decide. The main benefit you’ll get that would be instantly noticeable is the much quicker measurement speeds compared to Spyders.
I know that there are much more than just cover the RGB gamut, but with that result (with my limited knowledge) they all are able of displaying colors correctly right? so, to the point that I wondering if, if someone with limited budget consult me about which entry laptop he would buy, should I let him get a laptop with decent specs and a cheap screen, or focusing on laptop with better screen like macbook but lower specs?
It depends on what the person is mainly going to do with the laptop. If colors and viewing angles are not important, even a cheap TN display (with poor sRGB coverage) will do. Otherwise, look at PVA/MVA, IPS or similar technologies with at least > 90% sRGB coverage. If wide gamut is important (e.g. for semi-professional or enthusiast photo editing), look at AdobeRGB gamut coverage (and always verify manufacturer claims by independent tests).
3. There are also the problems of some apps (in windows, as it is the most common OS) can’t use the calibrate profiles. From what I read, at the moment firefox with the option of gfx.color_management is the only browser can use the profile?
Yes.
And the photo viewer (in windows 10) can’t use it too?
No. The Windows photo viewer always uses sRGB as display profile (don’t ask, Microsoft somehow thought this was the right thing to do…). But there are alternative color managed viewers (e.g. XnView MP).
And same question about watching movie, currently I am using media player classics with CCCP, is it able to use the profiles or I need other software for it?
MPC-HC has color management support. As an advanced option, it can also use madVR, which supports 3D LUTs for color management.
As for games, I don’t play any but, can games use the profiles?
Games are not natively colormanaged, but there is the possibility to have accurate color in games via ReShade (when supported with the game in question) and a 3D LUT.
4. From what I read on ceos3c, which was the main reason why I decided to bought a spyder 5 pro and use displayCal to calibrate my monitors, I created 2 profiles, one with 6500K color temp for web display and general using, and one with 5500K for print processing. And so to use them, when editing photos for printing, I need to switch to 5500K profiles right?
Which whitepoint target you should use depends on your room / ambient lighting and how you view your prints. If you view your prints under 6500K lighting there is obviously no reason to calibrate to anything else. Rule of thumb: If you do not have high quality dedicated lighting (e.g. viewing booth) to view your prints, use 6500K. Don’t bother with multiple calibrations for different whitepoint targets.
Do I need to tweak in the editing software about the profiles change too, or they can detect it themself?
When you change display profiles, a restart of applications using them is usually needed for them to pick up on the changes.
Thanks you so much for your help, your answers are really straight to the point and easy to understand, much apprecitated.
About the 2 profiles, no wonder why I see them almost identical in term of color, was afraid I did something wrong but glad it wasn’t the case.
Oh and about the xrite display pro, how much faster it is compare with spyder5? I use high speed settings and with spyder 5 it always take around 1 hour for the whole process. Currently for my personal use I don’t mind that, but in the future I would like to run calibration services and wonder if it will cut that time down a lot.
Oh and about the xrite display pro, how much faster it is compare with spyder5? I use high speed settings and with spyder 5 it always take around 1 hour for the whole process.
The i1 Display Pro will cut the one hour process down to around 20 minutes typically.
Calibrite Display Pro HL on Amazon
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
