New Monitor Calibration question
Nov 13, 2016 14:07:59 #
I finally made the plunge and purchased a BENQ 3200PT monitor to use as an extended monitor with my MacBook Pro for editing in Lightroom (mostly) and I'm learning Photoshop. The monitor is scaled at 2560x1440 and has 2 color profiles - HD 709-A and SD 170M-A. It is standard set at the HD 709. It includes an internal color calibration setup. Looking for input on calibrating internally or should just purchase an external one. The monitor is beautiful out of the box to the eye but I want to print my work and have it look great. This is new territory for me so any suggestions or recommendations are appreciated.
I also looked up the display profile for HD709 and SD 170M and probably just confused myself more but it seems like the HD 709 is at least the one to leave as is for now.
I also looked up the display profile for HD709 and SD 170M and probably just confused myself more but it seems like the HD 709 is at least the one to leave as is for now.
Nov 13, 2016 14:17:54 #
Software calibration, IMHO, is not accurate regardless of the computing platform.
Nov 13, 2016 14:38:08 #
Unless your monitor has a flip-up external sensor to measure screen brightness (which I don't believe yours has) then you still need an external calibrator for accurate calibration and to create a correct profile for your particular display. Some of the new Dell monitors have a small flip-up sensor at the bottom of the screen for calibration, but I have no idea how accurate they are - perhaps someone else can comment. Without an external sensor, the monitor has no way to actually measure the output of the display, which changes over time, it cannot know what the actual brightness is, just what it thinks it should be given the input.
The external calibration system first measures and asks you to adjust the ambient light within certain limits. It then drives the monitor to produce various colors and intensities while making an accurate measurement of the on-screen displayed brightness of each and uses this information to produce a correction profile which is loaded on start-up into the video card's look up table (LUT), such that the output from the video card drives the monitor to the correct color balance and brightness. The popular calibration systems are the Colormunki and Datacolor Spyder and are available in different price ranges depending on the feature set. I use a Datacolor Spyder 5 to cal all my monitors, both Mac and PC as well as laptops, and the savings in producing correct prints the first time can quickly pay for the calibrator.
The external calibration system first measures and asks you to adjust the ambient light within certain limits. It then drives the monitor to produce various colors and intensities while making an accurate measurement of the on-screen displayed brightness of each and uses this information to produce a correction profile which is loaded on start-up into the video card's look up table (LUT), such that the output from the video card drives the monitor to the correct color balance and brightness. The popular calibration systems are the Colormunki and Datacolor Spyder and are available in different price ranges depending on the feature set. I use a Datacolor Spyder 5 to cal all my monitors, both Mac and PC as well as laptops, and the savings in producing correct prints the first time can quickly pay for the calibrator.
Nov 13, 2016 15:00:29 #
MCullen wrote:
I finally made the plunge and purchased a BENQ 320... (show quote)
What you need to look for is a monitor that allows you to adjust the brightness level down to a value of 80 to 90 CD/m2 (which is necessary to match paper white. The most sophisticated software for calibrating is X-rite (there are several versions)!!
Nov 13, 2016 15:54:58 #
I strongly recommend at least a basic external monitor calibration device: either the X-Rite ColorMunki Smile or the DataColor Spyder5Pro. You can use the same device to match your PC monitor and your laptop monitor.
Nov 14, 2016 08:00:44 #
Nov 15, 2016 14:41:01 #
Thanks for the input, I was leaning towards the Spyder product to start with and appreciate your response and recommendation.
Nov 15, 2016 14:59:32 #
MCullen wrote:
I finally made the plunge and purchased a BENQ 320... (show quote)
Get a Spyder5Pro and don't look back. The profiles that came with your monitor are generic, and if they ever matched, they won't for long. Monitors age the most in their first 1000 hours of use.
The ONLY way to get an accurate view of your files is to calibrate the monitor and create an ICC profile for it that brings the color to an international standard. ICC (ColorSync) profiles work with your OS and software and enable you to see what your images really look like. Then a proper printer profile (for the paper, ink, printer model combination) allows a reasonable match with the on-screen image. I say reasonable, because there is no way to exactly match any CMYK process (or CcMmYyKk, or whatever subtractive color process) to any RGB device. But you can get close enough!
Keep the monitor brightness down. 80 to 120 Cd/m^2 is about right. Follow the calibration/profiling software's advice!
Nov 15, 2016 15:05:34 #
Thanks for the help and advice. I was already leaning towards the Spyder Pro5 before I asked for help and everyone has just cemented what already thought. Thanks again.
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