White Level 120cd/m burns my eyes: auto it instead?

[Nahvir]

Hey, I apologize for being the millionth person to ask about white level. I spent a couple of hours trying to look for the correct answer but cannot seem to find one for this specific case. I am extremely new to all this terminology and attempting to learn quickly, so I apologize.

I am using DisplayCal with the intent of photography, primarily web-based, and found that 6500k was recommended as well as 120 cd/m. However, when set to 120, it burns my eyes to stare at the screen. My workroom has an ambient of around 40 cd/m according to the Spyder5 Elite and is pretty consistent in lighting. I’ve read that I should keep it at 120 for the best results and potentially 80 at the lowest. Most of the guides seem to favor the higher and nearly everyone is stating not to use the auto setting. I just wanted to ask if that is true in this case as well or if, since my room is so dark, it might be better to auto it? Or should I just try to get used to it and leave it at 120 (or 80) for the sake of the pictures?

I am using: Spyder5 Elite
Primary Monitor: ViewSonic VA2855
Secondary: Cintiq 24HD
Tertiary: ASUS VH236H

[S Simeonov]

If 120 is not good for you, try 100 nits or if you work in sRGB go for 80 nits.

[Nahvir]

Alright, thank you. I’ll try dropping it and see if that helps enough. Was worried about the quality if doing it too low cause I have had issues with pictures not looking like how I thought they did when it came to contrast and brightness. (pre-displaycal times)

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