Conland Farm

[Donald]

Just woken up and caught up with the overnight discussion. Thank you one and all.

The think that still bothers me is being sure that I am doing the right things re calibration/profiling.

For example, Colin, I'm not sure I properly understand your statement, "I never have to touch the calibration on mine, but it was re-profiled a few weeks ago ..".

I run through 'check calibration' with Spyder 3, at the end of which it will suggest a profile name. Is that what you mean by profiling? Or am I missing something out. I'd really welcome the 'idiot's guide' on this one.

[Colin Southern]

Just woken up and caught up with the overnight discussion. Thank you one and all.

The think that still bothers me is being sure that I am doing the right things re calibration/profiling.

For example, Colin, I'm not sure I properly understand your statement, "I never have to touch the calibration on mine, but it was re-profiled a few weeks ago ..".

I run through 'check calibration' with Spyder 3, at the end of which it will suggest a profile name. Is that what you mean by profiling? Or am I missing something out. I'd really welcome the 'idiot's guide' on this one.

Hi Donald,

Calibration & profiling are two terms that people often get mixed up. Basically calibration is a "hardware" adjustment and profiling is simply a lookup table that corrects whats on the screen from what it would have been to what it SHOULD have been.

To look at that from a slightly different angle, if a monitor was perfectly calibrated then the profile wouldn't have anything to do. Most profiling software says to set the monitor back to it's defaults, and if in doubt, to leave things like black point and white point untouched - but I suspect that this advice is more due to the fact that unless you know what you're doing then you run the risk of making it worse ... but if you DO know what you're doing then the better you can get the calibration - the less the profile has to alter things - and thus the wider range of values are available for correction - which gets you further and further away from banding and other evils.

In my case the black and white points don't change much, and I only have to adjust the RGB balance by a whisker most times - so the before/after comparison on my main monitor is minimal.

Does that help?

Reason I mentioned it is that with images like yours there is a fine line between large areas showing subtle shadow detail and big dark areas with no detail - and if someones monitor has an incorrect black point then the shadow detail might be gone altogether, or it might be set too high and make the image look too washed out.

[Donald]

Okay. Having spent the best part of the day on this, it's now time to admit that I don't know what I'm doing and, as Colin suggested might happen in the post above, have made things a lot worse. There's something about all of this that's not falling into place for me. I need to get back to basics.

I think there are a few Viewsonic VX2433wm users out there. Can you tell me what you've got Contrast and Brightness set at? I've read so much that seems to conflict. I've had brightness at '0', at '100' and all points in between. Ditto for Contrast. Now I don't know where I started. And I don't know what the default settings were.

Amazing how you think you've cracked something, only to find yourself back in the hole, digging it even deeper. Images now look totally different than they did this morning and I don't know how to recover the situation.

[ScoutR]

Hi Donald: I have the same monitor. According to my Users Manual, which is pretty vague, Memory Recall is supposed to put settings back to factory Default. With my monitor Memory Recall sets Brightness at 70 and Contrast at 100.

I changed these quite a bit with the screen calibration that comes with my system. I also found I had to make a large adjustment to the Gamma setting. (Note: there is not a Gamma adjustment in the Monitor settings, the Gamma adjustment I used was a slider included in the Screen Calibration that came with Windows or my video card. I don't have a calibration device)

The only other setting that I see that might be relevant is the ECO mode setting (Under the Manual Image Adjust selection). I have mine set to "Standard". You can also choose "Optomize - decreases brightness by 25%" and "Conserve - decreases brightness by 50%" Didn't think I wanted to do that so I left mine set at Standard

I'm sure as far as brightness and contrast settings it will be different for everyone, seeing as there are so many other variables in each persons system

I remember going through this when I first got my new system. I had left everything at Factory defaults and had numerous comments that my images did not look right. I got a lot of help from members here in order to get the monitor calibrated as well as I could using the tools available.

Considering the feedback and results that I see in your other postings, I'm not sure if it is a good idea to try to change everything based on feedback from 1 photo, especially when ones thoughts on the photo in question can be so subjective. I like the dramtic sky and dark foreground, others don't, I'm not sure if that means that your monitor is off.

Just my 2 cents. I realize that monitor calibration is important, and I hope you get it sorted out to your satisfaction, but in my mind based on your postings, I don't think you have a problem. Either that, or we both have the same problem

Wendy

[Donald]

Wendy.

You're wonderful. Sainthood is guaranteed. You're very wise words pulled me back from a totally irrational and inappropriate depression that I got myself into today over this. It was awful. Totally over-the-top.

The thing that, I think, I allowed to throw me completely off course was, whilst trying to read all I could to help me understand, I came across this (http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/m...alibration.htm) and what seemed to be the helpful charts on the subsequent pages (Black Point check; Monitor Luminance Sensitivity; Monitor Grayscale Test Image).

On the first test I was very pleased. The intro said, "A top quality monitor using an excellent calibration system can show the difference between levels 0 and 1. Average monitors will not show any increase in output until level 5 to 8." And I did see a difference between their 0 - 1 setting. But then it didn't seem to be 'perfect' when I looked at the other test charts. And that's when it all went wrong. I started playing about with settings. And got into a total mess. Everything was then wrong.

But, I have got it all back, I think! Things look okay again and I'll stick with what I've got.

And, the one bonus to come out of this is that in the course of doing who knows how many recalibrations over the day (sad!), Spyder 3 asked me if I wanted to download the updated version - which I did. And that suggested that what I already had was not properly installed, as what I then had offered me a whole different range of menus and setting options that I thought should have been there in the first place. But because I wasn't confident I understood calibration, I thought maybe I was missing something.

What a day. I need to lie down in a dark room.

[Dave Humphries]

I need to lie down in a dark room.

Exactly how dark?

<Followed by: Sounds of Donald running, screaming, for the nearest loch.>

Wicked, me?

[Donald]

Exactly how dark?

I should have seen that coming! But it got the first hearty laugh of the day.

[Colin Southern]

I think there are a few Viewsonic VX2433wm users out there. Can you tell me what you've got Contrast and Brightness set at? I've read so much that seems to conflict. I've had brightness at '0', at '100' and all points in between. Ditto for Contrast. Now I don't know where I started. And I don't know what the default settings were.

Hi Donald,

On my home screen I have Brightness set to 50 and contrast set to 85. To be honest, I found this monitor tricky to calibrate - so there's a wee bit of a "kick" as the profile is loaded.

[Donald]

Colin
Many thanks for coming back on this. I think harmony has been restored!!

[Dave Humphries]

But it got the first hearty laugh of the day.

Oh good, objective attained

(sadly, my first of the day, despite 9.5 hours at work)