swflaboatman Loc: Fort Myers, FL

I do not have a monitor calibrator... YET.. I am saving up for one so please don't answer with..." get a calibrator".
I get that.
In the mean time... I opened the attached .png RGB file directly into Photoshop and sampled the colors with the eye dropper tool.
They all registered the correct values.
So.... does that mean I am color correct?

Monitor is a Benq PD 2700Q and I have done all the online tests for contrast, gamma, sharpness, saturation and banding. It all checks out fine.

(Download)

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

No.
Photoshop isn't measuring what you see on your monitor. It's measuring the content of the PNG file.

SalvageDiver Loc: Huntington Beach CA

What Ysarex said:

swflaboatman Loc: Fort Myers, FL

Thanks... that makes sense.
So I gather there is no way to know without calibrating if a monitor is rendering "color" correctly?

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

A physical sensor that examines the monitor's output is the only option that works.

swflaboatman Loc: Fort Myers, FL

Just did this..
went to https://testthisdevice.com/color/
dragged the eye dropper outside photoshop to the colors on the page
red was close
blue was close
green was way off

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Actually monitor "calibration" is not something the average display owner can do. The tools required are quite sophisticated and can really only be done at the factory.

The correct term is "profiling" - for which there are various tools available on the market. My favorites are those provided by Xrite.

In the simplest of terms, calibration a monitor ensures that the colors displayed are as neutral as possible using internal adjustments to achieve that result. Profiling uses a signal composed of red green and blue colors, which is sent to the display, then measured using a colorimeter or spectrophotometer. Any difference between the signal received by the display and what is measured is as close as possible to the source. The information is stored in a profile on the computer and loaded every time the computer is started.

The advantage of a profile is that one can be built for each color situation. RGB profiles are typically used for still photography, DCI-P3 profiles are used when there is video projection involved. The two are not interchangeable.

To answer your question - without being able to measure the colors and compare them to a known calibrated standard, there is no way to know if your colors are correct.

Even if you were to do the work of matching a print to your display, there is no guarantee that another image will match print to display exactly the same way.

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

A physical sensor that examines the monitor's output is the only option that works.

Calibrating a monitor is a multi-step process that includes not only making physical adjustments to the display's output but also measuring and profiling the display's adjusted state and saving a device dependent ICC profile for the display that is then used by the OS as well as any image processing software.

There's no way to get that accomplished properly without an external physical sensor and software engineered to work with that sensor.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

There is nothing close to accurate in this approach. It does not take into consideration the color response of the device against a known standard. Shortcuts cannot substitute for proper measuring tools. I suggest you continue to save for a device, preferably an Xrite i1 Display Pro, which is the least costly device that will profile a display that has a programmable LUT (Look Up Table). The Datacolor stuff as well as the entry level ColorMunki by Xrite lack that capability.

swflaboatman Loc: Fort Myers, FL

Thanks guys... your responses are much appreciated

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

You might try a photo of a subject with many colors, then compare the subject to the image on the screen. Of course, this implies the camera/photo is properly white balanced.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

It depends. Some people are really good at recognizing hues. For example, if what supposed to be a pure red (HEX #FF0000) is rendered correctly or is slightly off. Others have more difficulty with this.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Don't forget, unlike popular belief, everyone will not see exactly the same colors as someone else sees. Each individual's eyes are different in the colors and hues they see. Many may be very close, but no cigar.

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

In fact no. Humans are really good at recognizing variation in color when presented side by side. However human color memory is quite poor. This has been repeatedly tested and verified. We are as a species pretty bad at remembering what color something was.