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Calibrating a monitor
Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 11:26 am
by w i l l
Ok i've just finished a render which looks pretty good on my flat screen monitor, then when I view it on my other PC with a big Sony Trinitron monitor it looks too dark.
Is there any standard method for calibrating monitors for renders? Would I need to have the artwork printed and use this to calibrate to?
Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:30 pm
by Julian
Hi Will - probably the best thing to do is get a 'spyder' or equivalent and do a hardware calibration - this way you know that what you're seeing on screen is as accurate as your monitor can provide. It is a piece of hardware that 'looks' at the screen itself and assess the changes needed in RGB values, brightness and contrast in order to give you an accurate/balanced on screen representation.
Also, if you have a Sony Trinitron CRT monitor hang on to it! I read a review the other day and they still have one of the most accurate colour representations around, even compared to new top end flat screens. So if yours is in reasonable condition its probably worth calibrating this and using it as your reference - then you can be pretty confident that your image files are OK.
some useful sites:
http://www.colourtools.co.uk
http://shop.colourconfidence.com/index.php
Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:36 pm
by w i l l
I was using the Trinitron to judge the colours... maybe I should stick with it. The colours look similar to the colours on the flyers that we had printed, so maybe it's correct.
I'm off to an internet cafe (not that they are accurate, but it could give me a general idea) to have a look on a few other monitors. Cheers for that hardware tip.
Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 1:05 pm
by Julian
Just using the Trinitron as a reference is no guarantee - unless it is calibrated, it could be way off. Monitors output tends to drift over time so if its never been done...
IMO if you are working professionally I would say you need to know if what you are producing is OK - how it looks on everyone elses monitors is their problem - it also gives you the confidence to know if the printer has done a good job or not, in which case you can get them to make corrections if necessary. Without a known reference point you may well finish up chasing your tail.
all the best
Julian
Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 3:47 pm
by mverta
Yes, absolutely... the proper procedure is to begin with a monitor that is rated well for color fidelity and accuracy, and then have it hardware-calibrated using any number of products. Personally, I use a Gretag-Macbeth Eye One calibrator for my monitor. This way, I can always trust my own workstation to represent things as they "truly are," but I always check my work against other non-calibrated consumer monitors to see how the other 90% of the world will see it...
_Mike
Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 11:16 pm
by jsls
http://www.pantone.com/pages/products/p ... id=79&ca=2
Very cheap compared to other models....works great, even with Vista...constantly monitors ambient light also...
Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 12:04 am
by w i l l
They all look good. Thanks.
Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 12:31 am
by John Layne
I use one of these as too, it's probably not the most accurate device but it's far better than nothing at all. Rendering is a small part of what I do so I couldn't justify a more expensive calibrator.
This company has some good, basic, articles on colour management.
http://www.colourmanagement.co.nz/
Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 1:05 am
by Micha
I bought a spyder a few days befor. I'm happy and I'm not happy. I'm happy to see all grey steps at my CRT, but I'm not happy to see some of my old images.
Hardware Calibration is a must. If a client says: the colors are looking wrong, than you can say:My monitor is calibrated and yours? I will offer good clients to send him my calibration tool for a few days for a small rate. So we can talk about the same colors.
Attention: the ColorVision Spyder2 Suite support only gamma 1.8 and 2.2 and three color temperatures. I think about to setup my system at gamma 2, so I have a little problem. (Maybe I can correct it per graphic card gamma correction).
A link for good gamma check:
http://www.aim-dtp.net/
Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 11:24 pm
by Micha
Today I have got my new TFT, the old CRT was to dark. But I wonder me: if I create a gradient from black to white in photoshop, than I see small steps. Is this normal for TFT (it's a EIZO FlexScanS2100)?
The monitor is calibrated with the spyder befor.
... the histogram of photoshop dosn't look 100% smooth. Do somebody has a perfect smooth grey gradient?
Edit: I have find a perfect gradient (
the middle grey gradient) and it look 99% perfect at my screen.