Calibrated Monitor

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Andrew Sartain
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It would be interesting to know if you calibrate regularly? I do every month even though I have a Mac Studio & Benq monitor
 
Yep I do there is a reminder on the software I use that pops up.
 
When we had CRT monitors, they continuously drifted and needed calibration every 3 weeks or so. Modern Monitors hardly change at all so I calibrate mine about every 6 months. Even at this interval it is hard to detect any change.

Dave
 
I calibrate mine each month, taking care to replicate the same conditions, and there is always a noticeable change.
 
I calibrate regularly, probably about every three months.

But the thing is "calibrated" doesn't mean "correct." Even if you calibrate a couple times in sequence you can get slightly different test results. All it is doing is making the colors as correct as it can, and that usually causes some tradeoffs... e.g. a color that was accurate becomes less accurate, in order to make a color that was very off more accurate.

Then you add in the fact that most viewing conditions aren't calibrated; so the colors probably will not be entirely consistent no matter what you do.
 
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I'm new to calibrating, and I've found the results on my M1 MacBoo Pro a bit weird sometimes. What were neutral areas like text boxes in some social media (or Wordle), suddenly taking a pink tinge, for instance. I'm beginning to realise that the bit about not allowing light to fall onto the screen means being a lot lot more careful than I was! Not sure it's going to be worth while as (a) I mostly use black and white and (b) it appears my eyes see different colours for the same thing anyway (possibly the effect of that post cataract surgery thing that requires blasting with a laser). However, I've got the Spyder X Pro now, so I'll probably keep at it, but I've reduced the frequency.
 
ChrisR said:
I'm new to calibrating, and I've found the results on my M1 MacBoo Pro a bit weird sometimes. What were neutral areas like text boxes in some social media (or Wordle), suddenly taking a pink tinge, for instance. I'm beginning to realise that the bit about not allowing light to fall onto the screen means being a lot lot more careful than I was! Not sure it's going to be worth while as (a) I mostly use black and white and (b) it appears my eyes see different colours for the same thing anyway (possibly the effect of that post cataract surgery thing that requires blasting with a laser). However, I've got the Spyder X Pro now, so I'll probably keep at it, but I've reduced the frequency.
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Check your screen doesn't have any presets on in the menu, like movie or games - these can do odd things to calibration.
 
I calibrate when I plan some 'serious' editing.

After printing a photobook many years ago that came back too dark, I learned that calbration was needed. Most people have their monitors too bright, and so edited images print dark.

I know most people have uncalibrated monitors, but all you can do is get the image as 'right' as you can, and let the world react off that. If 'they' see a wrong colour, it's their fault.
 
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redhed17 said:
After printing a photobook many years ago that came back too dar
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Even with a calibrated monitor I turn the brightness right down when preparing for printing, it gives the best chance of having the prints come out like what is on screen
 
I try to remember every six months or so to calibrate my monitor.
It is set to warn me its about time I got the Spyder X Pro out again.

Noticeable difference when the calibrated settings kick in.
Prints come out pretty much as I hope for so its a if it ain't broke situation for me
 
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sirch said:
Even with a calibrated monitor I turn the brightness right down when preparing for printing, it gives the best chance of having the prints come out like what is on screen
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A good point here. It is more important to regularly check the brightness. Backlit LCD screens gradually fade in brightness. Also not all calibration devices deal with brightness. I use a Spyder X which does. When the monitor is new, the brightness has to be set to around 20% but this gradually increases and, after about 6 years, is 100% so then time to replace the monitor.

Dave
 
Dave Canon said:
A good point here. It is more important to regularly check the brightness. Backlit LCD screens gradually fade in brightness. Also not all calibration devices deal with brightness. I use a Spyder X which does. When the monitor is new, the brightness has to be set to around 20% but this gradually increases and, after about 6 years, is 100% so then time to replace the monitor.

Dave
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Just as big of an issue is room brightness/ambient levels.

A simple check is that white on the monitor should be about the same brightness as a piece of white paper in the same lighting (maybe a touch brighter because backlit). But that doesn't hold true if working in a darkened environment; and I find working in too dark of an environment problematic as well.
 
Since moving over to a Mac Studio again with a Benq monitor. I have standardised my routine of checks to be sure that every time I get the same result. As a result my prints always mirror the screen
 
I run two identical monitors on my PC and in the past you could set identical screen savers. This at least gave some assurance when they looked the same. It does not seem possible to easily achieve this now since Microsoft updated. Most Microsoft updates seem to be at least one step back.

Dave
 
I calibrate mine using this, I'm fortunate that it's part of my day job tool bag. There's a rubber attachment (oo-er missus) which contacts the monitor surface so the Jeti is only seeing light radiating from the monitor, stray room light is not measured.
The Jeti is about £5k's worth of instrument, it costs my employer about £1k per annum to have it calibrated.

I run DisplayCal software.

I save the Jeti's output in .csv, so I can keep a weather eye on drift. 2 x AOC monitors don't actually drift much at all.

Brightness, many people seem to run monitors far too bright, maybe that's to get over ambient light? My editing PC is in our wee study, I keep the blinds shut when working (I don't like bright light, my eyes are very sensitive to it). Causes no end of 'discussions' with SWMBO with whom I share this space.
 
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