Tweaking monitor calibration

In article ], isw
wrote:

I've been trying to get a good color calibration on my 2006 MacBook's
screen; seems to me it was better when it was newer. I think the
fluorescent tube may have aged and changed its color. Things way way too
blue.

maybe slightly, but it's unlikely it would fade enough that it be 'way
too blue.'

Problem is, when the calibrator is invoked, it doesn't start from the
previous settings, it starts from scratch, every time. If the color
errors are subtle, repeated calibrations don't make it "better" they
just wind up "different" -- and still wrong.

What I'd like, is a way to tweak the current calibration, similar to how
you can tweak a photo in GIMP or Photoshop -- just cut a bit of blue in
the highlights, or whatever.

Is there any way of doing that? Any tools that make it possible/easy?

to properly calibrate a display, you need a hardware colour puck. they
range in cost from under $100 on up. trying to do it visually is a
guessing game and never works properly because the eye is not very
precise.

the default profile is generally pretty good, so you could reset it and
go with that, then adjust the image in photoshop. what you *don't* want
to do is fix image problems in a profile because every image is
different, and they'll look totally wrong on a different computer.

I've been trying to get a good color calibration on my 2006 MacBook's
screen; seems to me it was better when it was newer. I think the
fluorescent tube may have aged and changed its color. Things way way too
blue.

Problem is, when the calibrator is invoked, it doesn't start from the
previous settings, it starts from scratch, every time. If the color
errors are subtle, repeated calibrations don't make it "better" they
just wind up "different" -- and still wrong.

What I'd like, is a way to tweak the current calibration, similar to how
you can tweak a photo in GIMP or Photoshop -- just cut a bit of blue in
the highlights, or whatever.

Is there any way of doing that? Any tools that make it possible/easy?

Isaac

In article , Floyd L. Davidson
wrote:

isw wrote:
I've been trying to get a good color calibration on my 2006 MacBook's
screen; seems to me it was better when it was newer. I think the
fluorescent tube may have aged and changed its color. Things way way too
blue.

Problem is, when the calibrator is invoked, it doesn't start from the
previous settings, it starts from scratch, every time. If the color
errors are subtle, repeated calibrations don't make it "better" they
just wind up "different" -- and still wrong.

I haven't got a clue what kind of software is available
for calibration of a MacBook, nor what kind of a
colorimeter you are using.

there is no colorimeter, and if you don't have a clue about what's
available for a mac, why are you even replying?

I use Argyll software under Linux. It allows
calibrating to different color temperatures, to
different brightness levels, and to different gamma
corrections. There are probably other variations that
I've forgotten are also possible to use, but those are
the ones that I have adjust.

that's wonderful. the original poster has a mac, not a linux box.

If you want to use a web browser that is not color
managed to view images on the web, your monitor should
be calibrated to gamma 2.2, a temperature of 6500K, and
whatever brightness is appropriate for the ambient
light.

mac browsers are colour managed (as is almost everything on a mac),
including the now obsolete microsoft internet explorer from a decade
ago.

If you want to view images for printing, a calibration
using gamma 2.4 or 2.5 and a temperature from 5000K to
5800K is probably more appropriate, and the brightness
should be down to perhaps 90 cd/m2.

gamma should be 2.2 and the white point should be d65 or ideally, the
native white point for the lcd. lower than that is much to warm for
normal purposes, including printing.

What I'd like, is a way to tweak the current calibration, similar to how
you can tweak a photo in GIMP or Photoshop -- just cut a bit of blue in
the highlights, or whatever.

Is there any way of doing that? Any tools that make it possible/easy?

Read the manual for the software you use to calibrate
the monitor with. That shouldn't be hard to do. Color
temperature is what you want to change.

what he was using is not separate software. it's *part of the system*.

it also doesn't work very well since there's no hardware puck.

On 2011-03-21 10:11:45 -0700, isw said:

I've been trying to get a good color calibration on my 2006 MacBook's
screen; seems to me it was better when it was newer. I think the
fluorescent tube may have aged and changed its color. Things way way too
blue.

Problem is, when the calibrator is invoked, it doesn't start from the
previous settings, it starts from scratch, every time. If the color
errors are subtle, repeated calibrations don't make it "better" they
just wind up "different" -- and still wrong.

What I'd like, is a way to tweak the current calibration, similar to how
you can tweak a photo in GIMP or Photoshop -- just cut a bit of blue in
the highlights, or whatever.

Is there any way of doing that? Any tools that make it possible/easy?

Isaac

The calibration tool in your Macbook actually does a pretty good job,
but it can be tough to work with if you have any vision issues. (Damn
little apple logos and everything dependent on your eyeballs!)
Also if you have at any time adjusted the screen brightness from your
keyboard you might find the calibration, either default or custom, to
be off. A good reason to save your custom calibration profiles.

I suggest taking a look for a Pantone huey (Pro would be preferable)
$100 from Pantone, approximately $70 at Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Pantone-MEU113...30900&sr =8-1

or
http://thurly.net/14hj

Save that calibration as a preset profile.

--
Regards,

Savageduck

isw wrote:
I've been trying to get a good color calibration on my 2006 MacBook's
screen; seems to me it was better when it was newer. I think the
fluorescent tube may have aged and changed its color. Things way way too
blue.

Problem is, when the calibrator is invoked, it doesn't start from the
previous settings, it starts from scratch, every time. If the color
errors are subtle, repeated calibrations don't make it "better" they
just wind up "different" -- and still wrong.

I haven't got a clue what kind of software is available
for calibration of a MacBook, nor what kind of a
colorimeter you are using.

I use Argyll software under Linux. It allows
calibrating to different color temperatures, to
different brightness levels, and to different gamma
corrections. There are probably other variations that
I've forgotten are also possible to use, but those are
the ones that I have adjust.

If you want to use a web browser that is not color
managed to view images on the web, your monitor should
be calibrated to gamma 2.2, a temperature of 6500K, and
whatever brightness is appropriate for the ambient
light.

If you want to view images for printing, a calibration
using gamma 2.4 or 2.5 and a temperature from 5000K to
5800K is probably more appropriate, and the brightness
should be down to perhaps 90 cd/m2.

What I'd like, is a way to tweak the current calibration, similar to how
you can tweak a photo in GIMP or Photoshop -- just cut a bit of blue in
the highlights, or whatever.

Is there any way of doing that? Any tools that make it possible/easy?

Read the manual for the software you use to calibrate
the monitor with. That shouldn't be hard to do. Color
temperature is what you want to change.

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)

In article , Better Info
wrote:

gamma should be 2.2 and the white point should be d65 or ideally, the
native white point for the lcd. lower than that is much to warm for
normal purposes, including printing.

Mac platforms are at gamma 1.7, or used to be.

nope. macs used to be 1.8 and now they're 2.2. most people calibrated
to 2.2 before it was the default (not that it matters that much either
way).

In article , Better Info
wrote:

to properly calibrate a display, you need a hardware colour puck. they
range in cost from under $100 on up. trying to do it visually is a
guessing game and never works properly because the eye is not very
precise.

Correction: MOST people's eyes are not very precise.

everyone's eyes. it's physiology.

One friend's mother
would amaze me with her ability to perceive, and even more uncannily,
remember colors accurately. She could go into a fabric-store and notice a
color she wanted, but the price would be too high. Then a week later notice
the same color in another store made by some other company, and buy it
because it was at a good price. When taking a swatch back to the first
store they'd be identical.

bull****.

On 2011-03-21 10:35:25 -0700, nospam said:

In article , Floyd L. Davidson
wrote:

isw wrote:
I've been trying to get a good color calibration on my 2006 MacBook's
screen; seems to me it was better when it was newer. I think the
fluorescent tube may have aged and changed its color. Things way way too
blue.

Problem is, when the calibrator is invoked, it doesn't start from the
previous settings, it starts from scratch, every time. If the color
errors are subtle, repeated calibrations don't make it "better" they
just wind up "different" -- and still wrong.

I haven't got a clue what kind of software is available
for calibration of a MacBook, nor what kind of a
colorimeter you are using.

there is no colorimeter, and if you don't have a clue about what's
available for a mac, why are you even replying?

....because Floyd always knows best.


I use Argyll software under Linux. It allows
calibrating to different color temperatures, to
different brightness levels, and to different gamma
corrections. There are probably other variations that
I've forgotten are also possible to use, but those are
the ones that I have adjust.

that's wonderful. the original poster has a mac, not a linux box.

If you want to use a web browser that is not color
managed to view images on the web, your monitor should
be calibrated to gamma 2.2, a temperature of 6500K, and
whatever brightness is appropriate for the ambient
light.

mac browsers are colour managed (as is almost everything on a mac),
including the now obsolete microsoft internet explorer from a decade
ago.

If you want to view images for printing, a calibration
using gamma 2.4 or 2.5 and a temperature from 5000K to
5800K is probably more appropriate, and the brightness
should be down to perhaps 90 cd/m2.

gamma should be 2.2 and the white point should be d65 or ideally, the
native white point for the lcd. lower than that is much to warm for
normal purposes, including printing.

Yup!


What I'd like, is a way to tweak the current calibration, similar to how
you can tweak a photo in GIMP or Photoshop -- just cut a bit of blue in
the highlights, or whatever.

Is there any way of doing that? Any tools that make it possible/easy?

Read the manual for the software you use to calibrate
the monitor with. That shouldn't be hard to do. Color
temperature is what you want to change.

what he was using is not separate software. it's *part of the system*.

it also doesn't work very well since there's no hardware puck.

Don't you know? Floyd always knows better that all others, even if he
doesn't have any idea of how to deal with a Mac. (Floyd is the
opinionated wizard of the frozen North. If that wisdom does not
translate to a Mac, that is irrelevant to anything he might say to let
us know just how he is the wisest wizard to be found North of the
Arctic circle.)

There are a few Mac users here, who are familiar with the various
characteristics of Mac display calibration. As I said before the OP
should be able to get a decent calibration using the Mac System tools,
if he is very careful using, and trusts his own eyeballs. Otherwise a
tool such as the pantone huey, for $72 it is the simplest and more
accurate way to go.


--
Regards,

Savageduck

On Mon, 21 Mar 2011 10:31:37 -0500, nospam wrote:


to properly calibrate a display, you need a hardware colour puck. they
range in cost from under $100 on up. trying to do it visually is a
guessing game and never works properly because the eye is not very
precise.

Correction: MOST people's eyes are not very precise. One friend's mother
would amaze me with her ability to perceive, and even more uncannily,
remember colors accurately. She could go into a fabric-store and notice a
color she wanted, but the price would be too high. Then a week later notice
the same color in another store made by some other company, and buy it
because it was at a good price. When taking a swatch back to the first
store they'd be identical.

All my years in the darkroom (and tinkering with fixing friends' color-TVs
in the past, adjusted internally the same as any monitor today, instead
done by software methods) has also trained my color-sense, but not to such
a high degree as that friend's mother. I have no problems setting the
dichroic filters on a color-head to 6500K give or take 100K, by eye alone.
Another example, many "daylight" fluorescent's in my home have transparent
color wraps that I make from lightly tinted filter materials. "Reynolds
Plastic Wrap" in their Crystal Blue, Crystal Purple, Crystal Yellow and
others in the right number of layers, or partial layers, work wonders to
very inexpensively white-balance any fluorescents in a home. I put them on
the lights to fine-tune their white balance, otherwise they annoy the hell
out of me. No two from different companies requiring the same filter-stack.
Even as a lamp ages I might have to adjust their filters.

Calibrating a monitor and printer is rather trivial by using any
video-card's own gamma and curve controls and a few test-charts and
graphics to print. (Though I admit, one printer always gave me troubles, so
I learned how to make my own printer color profiles from scratch.) I only
double check things once in a while if installing new software or using
different inks by viewing some simple monitor-calibration graphics and a
test print. I've never really understood why people needed Spyders et.al. I
thought everyone could perceive and adjust color displays as easily. I
found that's not true.

I recall there was an online test for this somewhere. (Found it, in my old
bookmarks: http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77 ) When taking
that once I couldn't figure out why others always had a difficult time
sorting them or getting any wrong. Accuracy of color perception now seems
to be just as variable in skill as any other human sense or ability. If you
automatically presume that everyone needs a 3rd-party-hardware calibration
solution you count yourself amongst those with a very low Color-I.Q.

On Mon, 21 Mar 2011 12:35:25 -0500, nospam wrote:


gamma should be 2.2 and the white point should be d65 or ideally, the
native white point for the lcd. lower than that is much to warm for
normal purposes, including printing.

Mac platforms are at gamma 1.7, or used to be.