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Hi, brand new here and also more or less new to the world of monitor calibration. I just purchased an X-Rite i1Display Pro Plus to calibrate my Asus PG35VQ, but after playing with the DisplayCAL software and going through a handful of calibrations, I’m unsure of a few things, mainly pertaining to the wide gamut nature of this monitor. I mainly use this monitor for games, video, and web browsing, so I suppose “general use.”
- Correction: The display itself uses an LED backlight with a Quantum Dot coating to achieve its wide color gamut, so I’m completely unsure of which Correction to go with. I’ve tried LCD White LED family, LCD PFS Phosphor WLED family, and LCD Quantum Dot LED, all to varying degrees of “success.”
- Gamma 2.2 or sRGB: I’ve given both a try and am unsure which I should go with. I’m assuming I want to stick with 2.2 since the monitor is used in its Wide Gamut mode.
- Gamma 2.0 while calibrating: I noticed in TFT Central’s review of this display they noted that the display is actually closer to a gamma of 2.2 when set to 2.0 in its OSD, so I’m wondering if I should go ahead and change mine to 2.0 as well for calibration.
- Managing the ICC Profile: Finally, is it preferable to leave the DisplayCAL software running in the background to manage the ICC profile my calibration generates, or would I be fine letting the built-in Windows Color Management do it instead?
Any help and clarification on how to properly calibrate this display would be most appreciated. Thanks!
Calibrite Display Plus HL on Amazon Calibrite Display Pro HL on Amazon
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.1- Unknown unless you get a review with a Spectral Power Distribution plot (emitted power per wavelength). Long ago they plotted them (like prad.de), but now they skip this valuable info from readers.
WLED family is NOT 100% sure => sRGB LED monitors.
User made looks QLED, 3.3nm, seems legit:
https://colorimetercorrections.displaycal.net/hash/d8994ba2b8cfd5e258e29129dfb5856c/ASUSTek%20COMPUTER%20INC%20ROG%20PG35V%20WCG%20%28i1%20Pro%29.ccss2- Gamma 2.2
3- Measure it! validate with greyscale testchart before calibrating, check gamma.
If you find it somehow difficult/counterintuitive use HCFR for uncalibrated gamma validation4- DisplayCAL to ensure it get reloaded in something clears it in an unwanted way and to avoid calibration banding (if you GPU is abe to do it).
Thanks for the reply, but I’m going to be real, a lot of this is going over my head. Like I mentioned, I’m very new to calibrating so most of the nuances that you probably take for granted are completely beyond me. What do you mean by “WLED family is NOT 100% sure => sRGB LED monitors”? I’ll give the user made correction a shot, I appreciate you digging that up for me. Hopefully that does the trick as far as this setting goes. But what do you mean by validating with a greyscale test chart? Exactly what kind of test chart am I validating, and with what? My eyes or my meter? HCFR seems many levels of complexity above DisplayCAL, which I’m still trying to understand, so I’m not sure how far I’d get going down that path. I suppose I could just stick to 2.2 and call it “good enough”, the differences look to be rather minor after running two identical calibrations at 2.0 and 2.2.
Quick update on gamma: I was able to use DisplayCAL’s built-in reporting feature to measure the uncalibrated gamma, so that takes care of that. Readings came back as 2.2 = aprox. 2.44, and 2.0 = aprox. 2.22, so setting the gamma on the OSD to 2.0 it is!
Another update, still having trouble getting this monitor calibrated. I’ve run a couple dozen runs trying many different settings both in the monitor’s OSD and in DisplayCAL itself and the result is more or less the same: darks end up being elevated too high, bordering on washed out. Sites and images I’m used to seeing on half a dozen different screens all show up as too bright and washed out on this display post-calibration, and I’m quickly running out of possible reasons why.
I’ve tried calibrating the monitor both in sRGB and Wide Gamut mode on the monitor, used many different corrections including one I pulled from the colorimeter database for this monitor, I’ve tried calibrating at different gamma values, at different levels of brightness, and every time it comes out looking washed out. I realize that most displays are too saturated and have too much contrast, so losing some of that is to be expected, but sites and images that I know to be dark grey appear as almost light grey after calibration.
Any ideas on what might be causing this?
Run a profile validation (calibrated profile vs display) and check actual gamma and if actual gamma matches display profile.
Anyway in color managed enviroments sRGB images dark greys will lift up vs non color managed with a near 2.2. gamma (except near black).You’ll need a reference display that you know that works as intended = validated with actual measurements, to know or infere that there is something wrong in your calibrated display. You exclude the non zero possible situiation that you have been seeing those images wrong all the time near black.
Run a profile validation (calibrated profile vs display) and check actual gamma and if actual gamma matches display profile.
Anyway in color managed enviroments sRGB images dark greys will lift up vs non color managed with a near 2.2. gamma (except near black).You’ll need a reference display that you know that works as intended = validated with actual measurements, to know or infere that there is something wrong in your calibrated display. You exclude the non zero possible situiation that you have been seeing those images wrong all the time near black.
Well validating the gamma before calibration shows that setting the display to 2.2 actually produces a reported gamma of 2.4, and likewise setting it to 2.0 produces gamma a hair over 2.2. So validating the calibration shows that it’s a perfect 2.2, but only when set to 2.0 in the display. I can of course set the display’s gamma to 2.2 and that darkens the image substantially, but then it just gets reported as around 2.4 when testing the calibration, as you’d expect.
I can’t say for certain that I’ve never seen these images or websites “correctly” before, and I don’t have access to a reference display of any kind, but they appear substantially lighter and washed out after calibration than any other display I have or have looked at them on, also significantly lighter than the factory calibration this monitor came with, so I can’t help but feel like I’m doing something wrong or not taking something into account for this display. Could it be due to the nature of this monitor, being a wide gamut display with a quantum dot coating? Might that be something that’s just out of this colorimeter’s depth?
Run a profile validation (calibrated profile vs display) and check actual gamma and if actual gamma matches display profile.
Anyway in color managed enviroments sRGB images dark greys will lift up vs non color managed with a near 2.2. gamma (except near black).You’ll need a reference display that you know that works as intended = validated with actual measurements, to know or infere that there is something wrong in your calibrated display. You exclude the non zero possible situiation that you have been seeing those images wrong all the time near black.
Well validating the gamma before calibration shows that setting the display to 2.2 actually produces a reported gamma of 2.4, and likewise setting it to 2.0 produces gamma a hair over 2.2. So validating the calibration shows that it’s a perfect 2.2, but only when set to 2.0 in the display. I can of course set the display’s gamma to 2.2 and that darkens the image substantially, but then it just gets reported as around 2.4 when testing the calibration, as you’d expect.
This has nothing in common with OSD settings. No matter what OSD preset you choose DisplayCAL will use GPU to get your desired gamma, but the closest HW is to target the less unique grey levels you loose.
What I asked you is to check actual post calibration results (validate, no simulation profile, no use simulation profile as display profile. If you did that using a colorimeter correction that is suitable for that backlight and get an OK (display matches display profle)… it’s done and it’s OK.
Just open an image with an associated embeded display profile in a reliable image viewer like Photoshop It should be rendered as intented.I can’t say for certain that I’ve never seen these images or websites “correctly” before, and I don’t have access to a reference display of any kind, but they appear substantially lighter and washed out after calibration than any other display I have or have looked at them on, also significantly lighter than the factory calibration this monitor came with, so I can’t help but feel like I’m doing something wrong or not taking something into account for this display. Could it be due to the nature of this monitor, being a wide gamut display with a quantum dot coating? Might that be something that’s just out of this colorimeter’s depth?
It is not related at all to quantum dot or whatever backlight. QD is not different in results for a “near standard” human trichromat observer if you go from QD to GB-LED or WLED PFS phosphor, minor native gamut differences.
Regarding factory calibration. You cannot use it as is… you need to associate in OS settings a suitable profile that describes it FOR EACH OSD mode. Then open a reliable color managed editor and if that calibration was good (tested with simulate profile & use simulation profiel as display profile) you can see things asintended.
For example, native gamut g2.0 (which you rport works as 2.2) associated to factory display ICC (if it had 2.2-like gamma in profile) should render images properly in Photoshop IF calibration was accurate (again= test= measure).
At the same time for sRGB mode you should asocate display to sRGB ICC profile for display.
On windows it is done in control panel, color management, 1st tab (and just 1st tab), device tab, choose display, use my configuration for this device, add profiles, then check one and set as “default”.This way you do not change factory calibration, you just said to color managed apps “hey, my display in THIS OSD mode behaves like THIS ICC profile says” hence you can color manage.
This has nothing in common with OSD settings. No matter what OSD preset you choose DisplayCAL will use GPU to get your desired gamma, but the closest HW is to target the less unique grey levels you loose.
What I asked you is to check actual post calibration results (validate, no simulation profile, no use simulation profile as display profile. If you did that using a colorimeter correction that is suitable for that backlight and get an OK (display matches display profle)… it’s done and it’s OK.
Just open an image with an associated embeded display profile in a reliable image viewer like Photoshop It should be rendered as intented.Oh oh! My bad, I didn’t understand what you meant by validate. By validate you meant using the Verification option in DisplayCAL, correct? Verifying the calibration came back checks across the board, an average ΔE of only 0.35, so I suppose I can’t really hope for much better than that.
Regarding factory calibration. You cannot use it as is… you need to associate in OS settings a suitable profile that describes it FOR EACH OSD mode. Then open a reliable color managed editor and if that calibration was good (tested with simulate profile & use simulation profiel as display profile) you can see things asintended.
For example, native gamut g2.0 (which you rport works as 2.2) associated to factory display ICC (if it had 2.2-like gamma in profile) should render images properly in Photoshop IF calibration was accurate (again= test= measure).
At the same time for sRGB mode you should asocate display to sRGB ICC profile for display.
On windows it is done in control panel, color management, 1st tab (and just 1st tab), device tab, choose display, use my configuration for this device, add profiles, then check one and set as “default”.This way you do not change factory calibration, you just said to color managed apps “hey, my display in THIS OSD mode behaves like THIS ICC profile says” hence you can color manage.
I only mentioned the factory calibration because out of the box this display is already pretty color accurate, so it’s weird to me how much lighter it appears after calibrating it myself, but this explanation actually helped a lot and I feel like I have a better understanding of things now, thanks!
1- Maybe I do not understand you. Attach verification HTML if you wish. HTML report stores if display & profile match but also actual display behavior (measured).
Color managed apps need 1st one. Non color managed apps in an sRGB-like display or sRGB/Rec709-like OSD mode need the second.
Windows 10 default image viewer is not color managed at all. Old windows image viewer can be set as default for W10 and it is partially color managed and should work OK while not fullscreen with typical matrix profile from DisplayCAL.2-“I only mentioned the factory calibration because out of the box this display is already pretty color accurate”
You do not know unless you measure, you can measure as I explained. It may look ok if it looked like you “expected”, that does not mean color accurate.
Since you have an i1d3 do not rely on whatever 3rd party review says, take your own measurements.1- Maybe I do not understand you. Attach verification HTML if you wish. HTML report stores if display & profile match but also actual display behavior (measured).
Color managed apps need 1st one. Non color managed apps in an sRGB-like display or sRGB/Rec709-like OSD mode need the second.
Windows 10 default image viewer is not color managed at all. Old windows image viewer can be set as default for W10 and it is partially color managed and should work OK while not fullscreen with typical matrix profile from DisplayCAL.Here’s the verification, used the default “Extended verification testchart”, let me know if that’s what you were looking for or if I need to run a different testchart.
I’m not sure I fully understand the difference between color managed and non-color managed applications in practice, since after applying this profile, everything on my system seems to be abiding by it, even the W10 image viewer you mentioned not being color managed. Anything I view in that app is behaving just like anything I view in a color managed app like Photoshop; it appears that my entire system is abiding by this calibration, not just apps that are color managed.
2-“I only mentioned the factory calibration because out of the box this display is already pretty color accurate”
You do not know unless you measure, you can measure as I explained. It may look ok if it looked like you “expected”, that does not mean color accurate.
Since you have an i1d3 do not rely on whatever 3rd party review says, take your own measurements.I can certainly take my own measurements, but my monitor came with a calibration certificate in the box verifying and detailing its factory calibration, so I do have a good idea of how color accurate it is “by default”, so I wasn’t just assuming that based on what I “expected.” 🙂
1- Maybe I do not understand you. Attach verification HTML if you wish. HTML report stores if display & profile match but also actual display behavior (measured).
Color managed apps need 1st one. Non color managed apps in an sRGB-like display or sRGB/Rec709-like OSD mode need the second.
Windows 10 default image viewer is not color managed at all. Old windows image viewer can be set as default for W10 and it is partially color managed and should work OK while not fullscreen with typical matrix profile from DisplayCAL.Here’s the verification, used the default “Extended verification testchart”, let me know if that’s what you were looking for or if I need to run a different testchart.
I’m not sure I fully understand the difference between color managed and non-color managed applications in practice, since after applying this profile, everything on my system seems to be abiding by it, even the W10 image viewer you mentioned not being color managed. Anything I view in that app is behaving just like anything I view in a color managed app like Photoshop; it appears that my entire system is abiding by this calibration, not just apps that are color managed.
Non color managed apps do nothing. Calibration is just for grey & white.
Profile vs display seems to be very good. Native gamut looks like extended P3 red, very slight oversaturated green over sRGB far from P3 green.
Look for an sRGB image, even make a synthetic one: 3 bars: 255 red, 255 green and 255 blue. I mean create a new one, make sure that sRGB profile is asigned to im,age, draw these 3 bars, save JPG WITH EMBEBED sRGB ICC profile.
That jpeg WILL LOOK different on default Windows 10 photo app (the new one not color managed, not old one) than in Photoshop, specially in red bar.
Or even easier (since newer Win updates may have chaned something I’m not aware of), open that synthetic JPG in MS paint and in Photoshop. They need to look different.If they look equal even in red bar it looks that you have misconfigured Photoshop. Check that your are not displaying images as “monitor RGB” or something like that.
2-“I only mentioned the factory calibration because out of the box this display is already pretty color accurate”
You do not know unless you measure, you can measure as I explained. It may look ok if it looked like you “expected”, that does not mean color accurate.
Since you have an i1d3 do not rely on whatever 3rd party review says, take your own measurements.I can certainly take my own measurements, but my monitor came with a calibration certificate in the box verifying and detailing its factory calibration, so I do have a good idea of how color accurate it is “by default”, so I wasn’t just assuming that based on what I “expected.” ????
Actually, not, not by far. Against “what” that report is evaluated? 😀 Just looking at verification options in DisplayCAL you should have raised that question to yourself.
“At best” factory calibration means:
-neutral grey native gamut OSD, RGB native gamut primaries matching EDID or display driver ICC installed with monitor.
-good sRGB gamut emulation (primaries, white, gamma)
And those claims needs to be checked.For example 6500K CCT/CDT does not mean atall that white is white. From an infinite number of white points at exactly 6500K CDT there is only ONE that is D65, and a few that are close to it at ~1dE. The remaining are exactly 6500K but look pink or greenish.
This stuff is explained in wikipedia for example if you wich to take a look.Non color managed apps do nothing. Calibration is just for grey & white.
Profile vs display seems to be very good. Native gamut looks like extended P3 red, very slight oversaturated green over sRGB far from P3 green.
Look for an sRGB image, even make a synthetic one: 3 bars: 255 red, 255 green and 255 blue. I mean create a new one, make sure that sRGB profile is asigned to im,age, draw these 3 bars, save JPG WITH EMBEBED sRGB ICC profile.
That jpeg WILL LOOK different on default Windows 10 photo app (the new one not color managed, not old one) than in Photoshop, specially in red bar.
Or even easier (since newer Win updates may have chaned something I’m not aware of), open that synthetic JPG in MS paint and in Photoshop. They need to look different.If they look equal even in red bar it looks that you have misconfigured Photoshop. Check that your are not displaying images as “monitor RGB” or something like that.
Oh wow, the difference is significant! Outside of Photoshop, the bars look much more saturated, which I’m hoping is the desired result. Thanks for clearing that up for me!
Actually, not, not by far. Against “what” that report is evaluated? ???? Just looking at verification options in DisplayCAL you should have raised that question to yourself.
“At best” factory calibration means:
-neutral grey native gamut OSD, RGB native gamut primaries matching EDID or display driver ICC installed with monitor.
-good sRGB gamut emulation (primaries, white, gamma)
And those claims needs to be checked.For example 6500K CCT/CDT does not mean atall that white is white. From an infinite number of white points at exactly 6500K CDT there is only ONE that is D65, and a few that are close to it at ~1dE. The remaining are exactly 6500K but look pink or greenish.
This stuff is explained in wikipedia for example if you wich to take a look.That’s a very good point, I hadn’t thought about what exactly factory calibrated entailed, or more accurately didn’t entail, so I appreciate you pointing that out to me. Apologies if I came off as hostile, in hindsight my reply sounds really passive aggressive haha.
I appreciate you answering all of these questions for me! I had no idea the kind of can of worms I was opening by buying an i1d3. One final question though, for the time being at least: ambient light level adjustment, is it something I should mess with? My computer room is always kept really dark, so the ambient light level in here is very low, and after doing a calibration with that light level taken into account, I got a significantly darker result, maybe even too dark.
Non color managed apps do nothing. Calibration is just for grey & white.
Profile vs display seems to be very good. Native gamut looks like extended P3 red, very slight oversaturated green over sRGB far from P3 green.
Look for an sRGB image, even make a synthetic one: 3 bars: 255 red, 255 green and 255 blue. I mean create a new one, make sure that sRGB profile is asigned to im,age, draw these 3 bars, save JPG WITH EMBEBED sRGB ICC profile.
That jpeg WILL LOOK different on default Windows 10 photo app (the new one not color managed, not old one) than in Photoshop, specially in red bar.
Or even easier (since newer Win updates may have chaned something I’m not aware of), open that synthetic JPG in MS paint and in Photoshop. They need to look different.If they look equal even in red bar it looks that you have misconfigured Photoshop. Check that your are not displaying images as “monitor RGB” or something like that.
Oh wow, the difference is significant! Outside of Photoshop, the bars look much more saturated, which I’m hoping is the desired result. Thanks for clearing that up for me!
Desaturated image in PS is the way it is meant to be viewed. Only color managed apps will work this way.
For seeing thinks like “intened” in games or office, move OSD to sRGB/Rec709 mode, get the best gamma preset you can, calibrate & profile with DisplayCAL. White or gamma that cannot be correfted in OSD will be corrected in GPU.
When you cange from one OSD to another you’ll have to use DisplayCAKL tray app to change profile which_
-reloads calibration (grey, white)
-republish ICC profile for color managed apps 8usually app restart is needed to notice it)For movies I would say that you want to stay in native gamut and use madVR compatible player and make a LUT3D with DisplayCAL:
-source profile Rec709 g2.4
-destination: your display profile
-apply VCGT (for madVR which usually disables them by default)Actually, not, not by far. Against “what” that report is evaluated? ???? Just looking at verification options in DisplayCAL you should have raised that question to yourself.
“At best” factory calibration means:
-neutral grey native gamut OSD, RGB native gamut primaries matching EDID or display driver ICC installed with monitor.
-good sRGB gamut emulation (primaries, white, gamma)
And those claims needs to be checked.For example 6500K CCT/CDT does not mean atall that white is white. From an infinite number of white points at exactly 6500K CDT there is only ONE that is D65, and a few that are close to it at ~1dE. The remaining are exactly 6500K but look pink or greenish.
This stuff is explained in wikipedia for example if you wich to take a look.That’s a very good point, I hadn’t thought about what exactly factory calibrated entailed, or more accurately didn’t entail, so I appreciate you pointing that out to me. Apologies if I came off as hostile, in hindsight my reply sounds really passive aggressive haha.
I appreciate you answering all of these questions for me! I had no idea the kind of can of worms I was opening by buying an i1d3. One final question though, for the time being at least: ambient light level adjustment, is it something I should mess with? My computer room is always kept really dark, so the ambient light level in here is very low, and after doing a calibration with that light level taken into account, I got a significantly darker result, maybe even too dark.
Do not use it, in color managed apps all changes will be undone because profile will store “ambient light compensated TRC(gamma)”
May have some use with no color management & controled light enviroment… but do not use it unless you are encouraged to use it for certain non color managed apps.
