monitor calibration and gamma setting

Carmelo75 · July 31, 2009

hi everybody,

I would like to know if some of you has successfully followed some "empirical" method to calibrate their monitors, in particular the gamma.

at the moment I am doing all the retouching work on a laptop (I know it is far from optimal, but I have no space for a desktop and a good monitor), and I have the impression that the default gamma of the lcd panel is quite higher that 2.2, with the consequence that I tend to produce too dark images for a correctly set-up display, but I have no way to check that for the moment...

I will really appreciate any suggestion!:scratch

Carmelo75 · July 31, 2009

monitor calibration and gamma setting
hi all,

did some of you ever performed an "empirical" monitor calibration, not with a specific device but visually?

at the moment I am doing all the photo editing with a laptop (I know, that's far from ideal, but I have no space for a good lcd for the moment...), and I have the impression that the defult gamma of the display is way too big, with the consequence that I tend to produce images that look "dark" on a well calibrated display. But I have no way to check that...

Lord Vetinari · July 31, 2009

Carmelo75 wrote:

hi all,

did some of you ever performed an "empirical" monitor calibration, not with a specific device but visually?

at the moment I am doing all the photo editing with a laptop (I know, that's far from ideal, but I have no space for a good lcd for the moment...), and I have the impression that the defult gamma of the display is way too big, with the consequence that I tend to produce images that look "dark" on a well calibrated display. But I have no way to check that...

Hi - Yes i did mine visually using info and test charts from these sites

http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html#gammachart

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/clock_phase.php

There's quite a few test chartys on the Lagom site

Brian V.

Newsy · July 31, 2009

Carmelo75 wrote:

..... I have the impression that the default gamma of the lcd panel is quite higher that 2.2, with the consequence that I tend to produce too dark images for a correctly set-up display, but I have no way to check that for the moment...

You can check several parameters of any TFT LCD monitor, be it external or in a laptop, on this site:

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

Ultimately, you will find a hardware calibrator much more accurate for rationalizing brightness (for print matching), colour, gamma, and temperature. However, I personally would not bother acquiring a hardware calibrator for use with a laptop screen. If you acquire a good quality external monitor, then it would be worthwhile to invest in the hardware calibrator.

Calibrators to be considered would be the Colorvision Spyder3 Elite (the PRO and Express do not permit custom white/black points or custom gamma or temperature settings), and the Xrite i1.

Some other online sites that may be useful:

http://www.tsi.enst.fr/~brettel/TESTS/Gamma/Gamma.html

http://epaperpress.com/monitorcal/

http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html#gammachart

.

Carmelo75 · July 31, 2009

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Hi - Yes i did mine visually using info and test charts from these sites

http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html#gammachart

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/clock_phase.php

There's quite a few test chartys on the Lagom site

Brian V.

Thanks a lot Brian, I'll have a careful look as soonas I have time...

Newsy · August 1, 2009

Wierd.... when I replied I swear I saw no other responses prior to mine and Carmelo only had one post to start the thread. Forum hiccup?

Carmelo75 · August 1, 2009

Newsy wrote:

Wierd.... when I replied I swear I saw no other responses prior to mine and Carmelo only had one post to start the thread. Forum hiccup?

That was my fault, I originally posted on the holy macro forum, but thought the first message did not go though for some reason, while it had been correctly moved here... that's why I submitted a second one. In any case, thanks a lot for the suggestions, as I want at some point to buy a good monitor and a good A3 printer.

arodney · August 4, 2009

Carmelo75 wrote:

I would like to know if some of you has successfully followed some "empirical" method to calibrate their monitors, in particular the gamma.

That's easy. Set it to 2.2 unless you've got a software product that supports "Native Gamma". Most displays are in the Neighborhood of 2.0-2.2. Setting to anything other than a native gamma or a close guess only introduces banding in the previews.

monitor calibration and gamma setting

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