Calibration problems

markw08

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Mark
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I have a spyder calibration unit and have calibrated my home monitor, but when i send photos to lab printer they come out darker...

On my works Dell monitor they look dark also...

This is the photo, could someone with calibrated monitor tell me if this looks dark...

SD_002.JPG



Is it because i have a cheapish monitor at Home ???

:thumbs:
 
tilt your monitor back a bit and see if it matches the print.

what is the luminescence of the monitor?
 
tilt your monitor back a bit and see if it matches the print.

what is the luminescence of the monitor?

No, the prints are darker than the monitor output...

During the calibration it requires 200 ?? but the monitor at maximum brightness will only reach 187...

I have used default settings 2.2 gamma and 6500k.. is this correct ???

Mark
 
That's a nice shot but yes, I'd say it does look a little darker than you'd want it to be if you were going to get it printed.

Thanks Rob...

Thats the problem on my calibrated monitor it looks light, but my works non calibrated monitor looks about the same as the prints :thinking::thinking:

Mark
 
No, the prints are darker than the monitor output...

During the calibration it requires 200 ?? but the monitor at maximum brightness will only reach 187...

I have used default settings 2.2 gamma and 6500k.. is this correct ???

Mark

One of the biggest issue with prints coming out darker is the fact that Flat Screen Monitors are Backlit so they are going to be very bright.

To ensure that the images are being shown correctly, your monitor should be calibrated and set to a luminance level of 90 cd/m2 (ie 90 candelas per square metre) where possible.

The only other option is to increase the Brightness of the print prior to sending it out to the printer.

Making sure you use all the correct profiles for the Printer/Paper/Ink combination is also going to help.
 
To ensure that the images are being shown correctly, your monitor should be calibrated and set to a luminance level of 90 cd/m2 (ie 90 candelas per square metre) where possible.

Just had a thought... :thinking::thinking:

If the ideal setting is 90cd/m2, why is my calibration asking for 200cd/m2...

Is this because of the ambient light measurement ???

Would it be better to calibrated monitor in a dark room ???

:thumbs:
 
Just had a thought... :thinking::thinking:

If the ideal setting is 90cd/m2, why is my calibration asking for 200cd/m2...

Is this because of the ambient light measurement ???

Would it be better to calibrated monitor in a dark room ???

:thumbs:

You can Calibrate in what ever ambient you like but it is anvisable to view the prints in the same ambient light as what the calibrated montor was setup in or if you have a daylight balanced lamp, you can view it under that which will give you good results especially if you calibrated the monitor with the 65000k (D65) setting.

What you have to realise is that the Monitor - Printer profiles are in a chain and if any link of this chain is broken then the whole process is questionable, thats why I personally like to profile my own monitor/Printer with the X-Rite Color Munki
 
where did you send them and what was the imbedded profile, RGB?

Sent them to Costco, other friends send them there with no problems...
They use pukka Fuji printers...

My camera is set to SRGB...

:thumbs:
 
Sent them to Costco, other friends send them there with no problems...
They use pukka Fuji printers...

My camera is set to SRGB...

:thumbs:

SRGB Color space is ok for viewing on the web but for prints you really ought to be using Adobe RGB 1998 so you can make use of the larger Gamut range.
 
SRGB Color space is ok for viewing on the web but for prints you really ought to be using Adobe RGB 1998 so you can make use of the larger Gamut range.

But the self confessed "cheap" monitor may not be able to cope with displaying anything other than SRGB without problems.
 
Thanks guys...

I have a few things to try tonight from the info you have given me...

Will let you know the outcome...

:thumbs:
 
As posted earlier, 200cd/m2 is way too bright, with a monitor that bright you'll probably be compensating for that by making your image darker so it looks correct, therefore your prints coming out too dark.Try calibrating to around 120 which is recommended when I use an i1 display, that setting works fine. Try this before making any other adjustments to anything, this way you'll know where you are. Srgb should be fine for sending away to Costco etc..unless they recommend anything else, it certainly wouldn't massively affect how dark your images are printing.
 
It looks fine on my Spyder-ed monitor. Neither too light nor too dark. I've had hundreds of prints done (Photobox, Aldi, Kodak) and all have come back as I see them on my monitor.
 
As posted earlier, 200cd/m2 is way too bright, with a monitor that bright you'll probably be compensating for that by making your image darker so it looks correct, therefore your prints coming out too dark.Try calibrating to around 120 which is recommended when I use an i1 display, that setting works fine. Try this before making any other adjustments to anything, this way you'll know where you are. Srgb should be fine for sending away to Costco etc..unless they recommend anything else, it certainly wouldn't massively affect how dark your images are printing.

Think i have sorted it now...

As per quote above, found a site that stated LCD monitor should be set to 120cd/m2 and CRT 80cd/m2...

Set monitor to 120cd/m2 and turned off ambient light measure...
Followed the calibration process...
Went into DPP and photoshop and set profile to recent calibration profile...
The original photo looked dark as per the print...
Adjusted the exposure in PP so that it looked correct on screen..
Resent the photo to costco...
Yes... photo came out as per screen....

So i had the brightness too high possibly caused by the ambient measurement readings...

all sorted now... :thumbs:
 
Hi Mark, quick question - how did you set the monitor to 120cd/m2? on the monitor itself or via Spyder calibration??

Similar problems myself.....
 
I reset my monitor back to factory defaults...

Then using the Spyder software, i think it was the first section when asking for settings selected 2.2, 6500k - 120..

Then it asks to position spyder on screen and measures the brightness and you adjust using the menus on monitor until it reaches 120, click update regular until at correct brightness...

Then click use these settings and carry on with calibration of colours etc...

:thumbs:
 
Hmm, I dont remember mine ever doing that - I think it just said set the brightness to factory levels - I shall have another go tonight. Which Spyder do you have? I've got the 3 Pro I think it's called....

Edit: Looks like the Spyder 3 Elite software does the luminance measurement - they want £65 to upgrade from 3 Pro to 3 Elite just for the software!!
 
OK so I found I can measure luminance in Spyder 3 Pro by going to the RGB calibration bit. I got the luminance down to 124cd/m2 by dropping the brightness to 0 on my Dell 2209WA screen. Comparing some prints from Loxley and it looks pretty close now.

My question is now - if I use the darker monitor to set my exposure won't it look awful for the customer when they view it on their non-calibrated bright displays??? How does everyone deal with this?
 
i think unfortunaly this is alway an issue with monitor not being identical, probably the best bet is to show them your client on a calibrated laptop screen. This would give you cosistent results.

or say that colors may very on different displays
Hope this helps

Cheers Steve
 
Hmm, I dont remember mine ever doing that - I think it just said set the brightness to factory levels - I shall have another go tonight. Which Spyder do you have? I've got the 3 Pro I think it's called....

Edit: Looks like the Spyder 3 Elite software does the luminance measurement - they want £65 to upgrade from 3 Pro to 3 Elite just for the software!!

Yes, i use Spyder Elite...

Glad you got it sorted... It is a pain...

I have only sold prints so not come across this, but probably as Steve has said above...

:thumbs:
 
Glad you got it sorted, I have my monitor set to 80 which then matches my prints spot on sent to my printer, cant say about commercial printing as I have never used them. Until I found the exact match on my monitor I used a pre-set in LR prior to printing to up the brightness.
 
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