Monitor Profiling in Mac OS X 10.7/Lion

[rob_w]

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Thank you so much for clarifying. But my main question is what would be recommended for my iMac running Lion if I go with X-Rite? Do I also need another program alongside that?

 

Hi Beyder, the device and the software come as a package so you should not need anything else once you have made your purchase.

 

As for recommendations, I have always found the Spyder2 does an adequate job. Some times the calibration does not look quite right to me and I re-run it and get a better balance -- I suspect it can be influenced by ambient light conditions but I have never checked it methodically. The improvement over the 'native' state of the monitor is already quite enough for me. I have not used the other devices so cannot comment on them. I did hear that Scott Kelby recommends X-Rite but I have never seen the results myself.

[delander †]

Jeff,

 

I have PM'd you about the CRT sucker for the Monaco Optix. If it is of any use, when I get back to the UK, I can run off a copy of the original Monaco software for you, but you would need to reacquire a serial number, which now may be difficult. It sounds as you are sorted anyway with the Argyll software. I will look at this as well, since I feel the Monaco profiles were more to my taste than the Spyder ones, which look a touch too green to my eyes.

 

Wilson

 

Wilson, I dont have PM from you but if you want the CRT sucker you are welcome to it.

 

Jeff

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[rob_w]

For those going down this route, I can report that I have been playing with the Argyll software (as posted at the start of this thread) and getting very good results. Generally, the profiles produced are more detailed and refined than those produced by the Spyder software. Colour balance seems marginally better as well.

 

I used it on both a MBP and an iMac. On the MBP the initial result was too dark. I found that re-running the software with gamma set to 2.0 rather than 2.2 worked better. (dispcalcGUI allows you to read the native gamma and brightness settings of the uncalibrated monitor -- very handy!) On both machines the curve seems a little blocked up at the black end -- I am thinking of experimenting with the black point setting to see if it can be opened up more. Both machines are now upgraded to Lion and working without a hitch.

 

Good to see that Colorvision or Datacolor (who does own the Spyder products these days?) have stepped up to providing a solution for owners of their product. However their note that the Spyder 2 cannot read the right spectrum for LED backlit screens introduces a new concern. Both of my Macs are LED backlit. While the results are still satisfactory as far as I can see, the move from CCF to LED back lighting has introduced an additional consideration to be borne in mind depending on your situation.

 

PS if you follow the help link from dispcalcGUI it takes you to a forum run by the software author where you can post questions and check on answers. It is very helpful.

Edited August 3, 2011 by rob_w

[wlaidlaw]

Wilson, I dont have PM from you but if you want the CRT sucker you are welcome to it.

 

Jeff

 

Jeff,

 

For some reason my PM's don't seem to be getting through to you. If you send me a PM with a normal email address I will contact you that way. I would love to get your Monaco sucker as I have been totally unable to buy one for about 18 months now.

 

Wilson

[wlaidlaw]

Robert,

 

Thanks for the update on Argyll - most helpful. I was lucky that my Spyder 2 went U/S and Datacolor replaced it with a Sypder 3. Otherwise I would not be able to profile my MBP. The Spyder is also useless on CRT screens, producing a worse profile on my Lacie IV's than the built in sRGB. Hopefully if I can get Jeff's CRT sucker for my Monaco Optix, I can go back to using that for my 2 CRT screens. I might actually sell the Spyder 3, as in general, I prefer the profiles from the Monaco Optix. I find the Spyder profiles are OK on my MBP but have a green tinge on my iMac, unless I draw all the curtains and do the profile in very low light. This is not generally how I use the iMac, so it is a bit pointless.

 

Wilson

[wlaidlaw]

Robert,

 

Quick question - does the Argyll software allow different profiles for dual screens? Although I have 2 Lacie Electron Blue IV CRT screens in the UK, they are different. The older one uses a Mitsubishi Blue Diamond Tube and the later one a Sony Trinitron. They therefore need quite different profiles.

 

Wilson

[rob_w]

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Hi Wilson, I don't have a multiple monitor set up so could not test this feature. However, there is provision for a drop-down list under "Display" which suggests you can select which display you wish to calibrate, so I would encourage you to experiment.

 

There was a minor upgrade to fix a few quirks with Lion, released on 28 July -- so get the version of dispcalGUI from this date or later.

 

Since I suspect a Spyder 3 is in my future, eventually, let me know if/when you want to sell yours!

[delander †]

Jeff,

 

For some reason my PM's don't seem to be getting through to you. If you send me a PM with a normal email address I will contact you that way. I would love to get your Monaco sucker as I have been totally unable to buy one for about 18 months now.

 

Wilson

 

Wilson,

 

PM sent,

 

Jeff

[delander †]

For those going down this route, I can report that I have been playing with the Argyll software (as posted at the start of this thread) and getting very good results. Generally, the profiles produced are more detailed and refined than those produced by the Spyder software. Colour balance seems marginally better as well.

 

I used it on both a MBP and an iMac. On the MBP the initial result was too dark. I found that re-running the software with gamma set to 2.0 rather than 2.2 worked better. (dispcalcGUI allows you to read the native gamma and brightness settings of the uncalibrated monitor -- very handy!) On both machines the curve seems a little blocked up at the black end -- I am thinking of experimenting with the black point setting to see if it can be opened up more. Both machines are now upgraded to Lion and working without a hitch.

[snip]

 

PS if you follow the help link from dispcalcGUI it takes you to a forum run by the software author where you can post questions and check on answers. It is very helpful.

 

Hi Rob,

 

Did you calibrate your i-mac screen as well as make a profile?

 

Jeff

[wlaidlaw]

Hi Wilson, I don't have a multiple monitor set up so could not test this feature. However, there is provision for a drop-down list under "Display" which suggests you can select which display you wish to calibrate, so I would encourage you to experiment.

 

There was a minor upgrade to fix a few quirks with Lion, released on 28 July -- so get the version of dispcalGUI from this date or later.

 

Since I suspect a Spyder 3 is in my future, eventually, let me know if/when you want to sell yours!

 

Robert,

 

I am afraid it is only the Express model. A friend who had bought the top Datacolour Elite Software in error and never registered it, passed it on to me. I was incorrectly told that all the pucks were the same (they certainly look identical) but there is a chip in them which says which grade of software you bought them with. You cannot therefore upgrade by just using the better software.

 

If the Argyll software works well with the Monaco Optix, I will sell the Spyder then. I am going back to the UK for about 10 days at the end of this month and I will try the Argyll then on my Dual G5 PowerMac.

 

Wilson

[rob_w]

Hi Rob,

 

Did you calibrate your i-mac screen as well as make a profile?

 

Jeff

 

Hi Jeff, yes I calibrated the iMac screen (my model is 24" early 2009 2.93 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo) and the results are fine. I used 6500 and 2.2. For the MBP I had to drop the gamma to 2.0 to get a similar result.

[nggalai]

I used it on both a MBP and an iMac. On the MBP the initial result was too dark. I found that re-running the software with gamma set to 2.0 rather than 2.2 worked better. (dispcalcGUI allows you to read the native gamma and brightness settings of the uncalibrated monitor -- very handy!)

 

That’s probably the most important tidbit in this thread. If you don’t use displays that can be calibrated in hardware (such as Eizo G series, NEC Spectraview, Quato) it’s crucial to keep the profiling as close as possible to the display’s native gradation curve / gamma. Even with displays sporting wider Look-up-tables (say, 14 bit per channel) you risk banding if you deviate too far from the screen’s native reading.

 

Out of interest, is your MBP a 2010 or later model? I was very surprised measuring such newer MBP’s displays to learn their native curve seems to be between Gamma 1.8 and 2.0 rather than 2008-early:2010 versions’ (and 10.6 & 10.7’s native gamma of) 2.2. As Apple uses different suppliers for its displays there might be other readings out there, but you’d be number five or something with such a “traditional” Apple screen in a new(er) model.

 

Cheers,

-Sascha

 

P.S. Try a blackpoint setting of 0.1-0.2 cd/m2, more if you use a MBP with glass covered screen.

Edited August 3, 2011 by nggalai

[ceflynn]

Mac OS X v10.6: About gamma 2.2

[rob_w]

Out of interest, is your MBP a 2010 or later model? I was very surprised measuring such newer MBP’s displays to learn their native curve seems to be between Gamma 1.8 and 2.0 rather than 2008-early:2010 versions’ (and 10.6 & 10.7’s native gamma of) 2.2. As Apple uses different suppliers for its displays there might be other readings out there, but you’d be number five or something with such a “traditional” Apple screen in a new(er) model.

 

Cheers,

-Sascha

 

P.S. Try a blackpoint setting of 0.1-0.2 cd/m2, more if you use a MBP with glass covered screen.

 

Spot on, Sascha. My MBP is a later 2010 model which confirms your supposition ... interesting.

 

Thanks also for the suggestion of trying a BP around 0.1 or 0.2, I have been thinking of that myself. I may try it this weekend and will report back if there are any interesting discoveries.

 

On the other hand, now that I have the screens at least as good as I wanted and the migration to Lion successfully completed, I am not sure whether the law of diminishing returns is about to set in. If I continue making minor adjustments will I see further visible improvements that justify the effort?

[rob_w]

BTW, here are some useful links re setting gamma values:

 

 

Display gamma estimation applet

 

Monitor calibration and gamma

 

Background to monitor calibration and gamma

[mby]

UPDATE: Lion compatibility for X-Rite color solutions

(...)

 

Here you go, happy testing: i1Profiler D2LionEdition BETA

 

Runs fine here, so far...

 

Best regards,

Michael

[chrism]

I tried the iProfilerD2LionEdition.app on a MacBook Air and a MacBook Pro last night. It would hang up at the screen brightness stage on the MBP, but eventually, for no reason I know of, it did a complete run and seems to have made a good profile. It ran without a hitch on the MBA. I was interested to see that it requires input from the user to adjust brightness to about 60% of maximum as part of the process. Since I have recently been having problems with prints coming out too dark from all my printers, I had done some searching and found some articles suggesting newer LCDs are much brighter and should be set to ~40-60% brightness for the screen to match the print in this regard. The iProfiler software on both the macs ended up with me having to adjust to about 60% brightness for it to approve and move on to colour profiling. Of course, this means I will tend to increase exposure a little in Lightroom and the print ends up lighter. It seems to be working out OK from a quick reprint this morning.

 

Chris

[rob_w]

Update: just to say, I gave up and purchased the Spyder 3. Crunch factor for me was that Datacolor claim the sensor in the Spyder 2 is not suitable for more modern LED backlit screens, and I began to suspect they were right.

 

Although I was able to do the calibration with Argyll I have not been satisfied with the results in the long term. I was able to pick up a Spyder 3 for £85 from Amazon so decided to stop stressing.

 

Works like a charm with Lion and the results are fine on all my monitors (iMac, Macbook Pro and Macbook Air).

[chrism]

iProfilerD2LionEdition.app is out of beta and seems to work very well - none of the hanging I mentioned above with the beta.

 

Chris

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[wlaidlaw]

Update: just to say, I gave up and purchased the Spyder 3. Crunch factor for me was that Datacolor claim the sensor in the Spyder 2 is not suitable for more modern LED backlit screens, and I began to suspect they were right.

 

Although I was able to do the calibration with Argyll I have not been satisfied with the results in the long term. I was able to pick up a Spyder 3 for £85 from Amazon so decided to stop stressing.

 

Works like a charm with Lion and the results are fine on all my monitors (iMac, Macbook Pro and Macbook Air).

 

Robert,

 

The reverse is also true. The spider 3 does rotten profiles on CRT screens. I have gone back to my old Monaco Optix Pro for my Lacies.

 

Wilson