ColorMunki Smile / iMac 2015 (RG Phosphor backlight)

[GrabtharsHammer]

I recently bought a 21.5″ late 2015 iMac Retina and ordered a Colormunki Smile to calibrate the display.

Now I found the following information on the Colormunki support page:
“As of late 2015, Apple has changed the technology type in the 27″ 5K Retina and 21.5” 4K Retina iMacs to an RG Phosphor backlight. As a result, the appropriate technology type to select with the ColorMunki Display is “RG Phosphor” and “GB-LED” (same calibration matrix as RG Phosphor) with the i1Display Pro. ColorMunki Smile users will need to stay with “LED”. While Apple went to white LED backlit displays in 2009, these two iMac models switched to the RG Phosphor in late 2015. Prior to 2009, iMacs were CCFL backlit displays.”

Is this only a limitation of the manufacturer’s software for the Colormunki Smile? Would DisplayCAL let me choose an RG Phosphor mode or only CCFL/WLED (and would it offer a Phosphor mode for the Colormunki Display?)? Do I have to return the Smile and get the Colormunki Display to calibrate the 2015 iMac with Displaycal? Or would the CCFL mode be sufficient and give good results, too?

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[Florian Höch]

Hi,

the ColorMunki Smile does not have a RG-Phosphor/GB-LED mode.

[…] would the CCFL mode be sufficient and give good results, too?

Doubtful. The white LED mode is the next best choice, lacking a RG-Phosphor/GB-LED correction.

[GrabtharsHammer]

Thanks for the quick reply, Florian 🙂

Would DisplayCAL offer an RG phosphor mode when I connect the ColorMunki Display instead?

[Florian Höch]

Would DisplayCAL offer an RG phosphor mode when I connect the ColorMunki Display instead?

Yes (under “Correction”).

[GrabtharsHammer]

Thank you! Okay, then I’ll return the Smile and get the Display instead.

[Author]

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