monitor is getting dark

[jenne1978]

I suspect my monitor is getting darker. I have a SyncMaster 214T and cannot get it bright enough for medium ambient light settings when I calibrate with a Spyder3. I have dimmed the ambient light (a full spectrum lightbulb) in my room to low level light to compensate for this, but I want to know if my monitor is still good enough. According to the calibration software (Spyder 3 elite) it is, but how do I know for sure?

[chrisletts]

I suspect my monitor is getting darker. I have a SyncMaster 214T and cannot get it bright enough for medium ambient light settings when I calibrate with a Spyder3. I have dimmed the ambient light (a full spectrum lightbulb) in my room to low level light to compensate for this, but I want to know if my monitor is still good enough. According to the calibration software (Spyder 3 elite) it is, but how do I know for sure?

I don't know that monitor, but are you sure it doesn't have any auto adjustment for ambient light ? (e.g. Magic Bright) - if it does then you would need to turn off the auto setting to let you set it to the brightness you want.

[John 2]

I had the same problem when using my Spyder 3 Pro to calibrate my ASUS ProArt monitor. In the end I trusted the colour calibration and ignored the brightness. I then calibrated brightness by eye and it hasn't been a problem.

[jenne1978]

It's not magic bright (I have it switched off all the time), but the contrast setting. I did a calibration with an ambient light measurement included. Even at its highest it does not meet the 175 cd/m2 aquired for "medium ambient light" as requested by the spyder3. However, after dimming the light in my room even further, i was able to meet the standards. This is the first time this has happened, so that's why I am wondering what is causing it. I suspect that the backlight is not bright enough, but how do I know for sure?

[revi]

If your monitor is getting somewhat older (a few years) then it's not at all impossible that the backlights are less efficient: they are fluorescent tubes mostly, and those get darker over time.
Otoh, the usual complaint is that the screen can't be made dark enough...

[jenne1978]

I thought this might be te case Revi. The Eizo monitor test does not come up with anything dramatic, so I think I am safe.