ColorMunki on a Mac

Home · Register · Search · Software · Hosting · Software · Join Upload & Sell

FM Actions & Plugins support
Workflow Guidelines

FM Forums \| Post-processing & Printing \| Join Upload & Sell
end

Archive 2011 · ColorMunki on a Mac

Hrow
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #1 · ColorMunki on a Mac

Just got a ColorMunki Photo. I have a two monitor Mac Pro with one 20" Cinema Display and a 24" Cinema HD. I have calibrated both using the same settings, however, the 24" is about 3/4 stop darker than the 20". Have repeated the calibration process a number of times. Same result.

First question, what might I be doing wrong that I can't get two monitors to look the same, or
second question, if you can't get two monitors side-by-side to look the same then what's the point of calibrating? How do you know which one is right (or righter - if that's a word.)

Dec 15, 2011 at 04:00 AM

Gregory Edge
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #2 · ColorMunki on a Mac

Have you set the luminance level the same for both profiles?

Dec 16, 2011 at 12:43 AM

ProImages
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #3 · ColorMunki on a Mac

I'm on a Mac Pro with dual 23" ACD monitors, they match. Open System Preferences > Display and adjust the monitor brightness when you use the ColorMunki. Don't set the luminance level to 110 or 120, have it measure the room's luminance. Use Advanced mode.

Dec 16, 2011 at 01:43 AM

Hrow
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #4 · ColorMunki on a Mac

Gregory Edge wrote:
Have you set the luminance level the same for both profiles?

Yes.

Dec 16, 2011 at 03:50 AM

Hrow
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #5 · ColorMunki on a Mac

ProImages wrote:
I'm on a Mac Pro with dual 23" ACD monitors, they match. Open System Preferences > Display and adjust the monitor brightness when you use the ColorMunki. Don't set the luminance level to 110 or 120, have it measure the room's luminance. Use Advanced mode.

I am using the Advanced Mode and when I had it measure the room's luminance it came up with a reading of 19.X and luminance setting of 80. This turned the whites on my monitor to a middle grey. In the alternative I ended up using 130 for both monitors to give me a brightness level that I can actually do some work on. Even there it is dullish on the 24" Cinema HD which is about 3/4 darker than the 20".

Both have been calibrated multiple times, always within minutes of each other and the result is always the same. If I change to 110 both darken but the 20" is still noticeable brighter.

Dec 16, 2011 at 03:57 AM

Alan321
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #6 · ColorMunki on a Mac

I wonder if a more modern colorimeter such as the x-rite i1 display pro is required to ensure consistency with different monitor technologies. The older units tended to give variable results across different monitor technologies, making it harder to match two side by side monitors. e.g. I had this problem with an Eizo screen and a laptop screen. Again with an NEC Spectraview and a laptop. Eventually I realized that I was able to get great results from the NEC at default Adobe RGB 98 settings and just matched my laptop as best I could to it. I had a ColorMunki Photo but it was then incompatible with the Spectraview. It was then only used for my prints.

I saw a test review recently that suggested the x-rite i1 display pro was the cheapest of the new generation units that gives both accurate and consistent results with any monitor. Here's the link (with thanks to Rodolfo Paiz for posting it in another thread):
http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/Calibration/MonitorCalibrationHardware.html

Most profiling is done by playing with the graphics card rather than the monitor. Some monitors allow higher-precision tweaking than the graphics cards do and some monitors have a lower minimum usable brightness than others. I once did a test in a well lit room and found that I was getting 89 Cd/m2 reflected off white printer paper on my wall. I set my monitors to that for the maximum chance that they would closely resemble what I'd get from a print. Yes they looked dark at first but I got used to it and I think it helped that the Eizo and NEC monitors could handle such low outputs without using the graphics card lookup table to discard many of the possible output tonal values from the card. I suspect that is a problem with your Apple screens. Certainly some of the recent iMacs could not handle low output brightness - they were more like 160 Cd/m2 and up.

- Alan

Dec 17, 2011 at 05:20 AM

end
FM Forums \| Post-processing & Printing \| Join Upload & Sell end