Monitor Brightness Calibration.

[Digifrog]

Hi all.

I've often felt my display was too bright and as such my final images look too dark on other monitors. I'm looking for an optimum setting for the brightness setting on my monitor. My setup is...

Samsung SyncMaster 22"cw
Nvidea Contol Panel (to make said adjustments)

I tried this test from dpReview
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/28849608

Now I adjusted the brightness setting so that I could tell the difference between bars, though the 2 bars at either end are pretty indistinguishable from one another. Now doing this adjustment meant I had to turn the brightness back UP, something I didn't want to do as I thought I had lowered it (by eye) to an optimum level.

I've also tried viewing this image on black in Flickr..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/93711578@N00/8678855612/in/photostream

I tried to get the black background in Flickrs lightbox to match the black in the photo (so that the edge of the frame could not be seen) but felt this to be too dark. Would that in itself be a good test of what level of black to have? Is Flickrs Lightbox truly black on your monitors?

Would like some advice or tip on the optimum setting for my monitors brightness.

Many thanks

 

[AJQS]

As long as you're not on a laptop get a screen calibrator. plenty can be had on ebay (and in the classifieds here) for around £40-60 for a half way decent one. Getting one that's good on laptops is difficult.

I personally do my laptop by eye matching DSCL prints to the same image on screen using my graphics card software, it's very slightly out but I don't do portraiture so a slight colour shift is acceptable (I often shoot with massive colour shifts anyway, so you'd never know).

 

[sk66]

Trying to calibrate your monitor/images so that they look good on other uncalibrated monitors is an attempt at futility.

That's why critiquing other's photos online is so "iffy."

 

[Suvv]

Try this?
Not as accurate as hardware calibration and may not be that accurate at all but better than guessing.

 

[Digifrog]

As long as you're not on a laptop get a screen calibrator. plenty can be had on ebay (and in the classifieds here) for around £40-60 for a half way decent one. Getting one that's good on laptops is difficult.

I personally do my laptop by eye matching DSCL prints to the same image on screen using my graphics card software, it's very slightly out but I don't do portraiture so a slight colour shift is acceptable (I often shoot with massive colour shifts anyway, so you'd never know).

Thanks Alan

I've put off getting a proper calibrator for now -- I don't print at home and a new monitor is being considered. I don't seem to have a problem with colour but then my eye isn't that critical atm. I do often wonder though how some people get deep reds in their clouds at sunrise, a Canon trait maybe, or proper calibration or editing maybe?

Try this?
Not as accurate as hardware calibration and may not be that accurate at all but better than guessing.

Thanks Suvv, anything's better than guessing I suppose. Thanks for the link.

 

[Pookeyhead]

I've also tried viewing this image on black in Flickr..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/93711578@N00/8678855612/in/photostream

I tried to get the black background in Flickrs lightbox to match the black in the photo (so that the edge of the frame could not be seen) but felt this to be too dark.

That's because it would have been. The black background in Flickr is nowhere NEAR black. When I view that image there's a massive difference between the black of the image and the Flickr background.