I need to profile a new 24" Dell UltraSharp flat panel display using
a Spyder colorimeter and preCal/Optical connected to a Mac 17"
Powerbook. I understand that it's not the optimal color critical
display, but then neither is my PB.
One "problem"... it's incredibly bright. As in pin-you-against-the-
wall bright. It makes my 17" PB screen look like dog doo. I'm seeing
hues and shades of colors, higher saturation and rich solid blacks
I've never seen before. Even, if memory serves, on my Mitsubishi 2040
CRT when it was still bright enough to profile. But... the question
is how do I profile the Dell given that it's native brightness is
probably optimized for over-lit corporate office environments?
Unlike my PB, which essentially has no screen controls (it has to be
profiled at full brightness), the Dell has OSD controls for:
- brightness (which fails to make much of a dent in the brightness)
- contrast (inactive, I assume due to the PB card limitations)
And it has individual RGB level controls that are labeled:
- Normal preset (sRGB)
- Red preset (warmer image)
- Blue preset (cooler image)
- User Preset, which allows me to set the RGB levels individually
My first stab at profiling it was based on what I now realize was bad
logic. (I tried to make the display as dark as possible when I
probably should have tried to make the room as light as possible.)
Anyway, I cranked down the brightness control to zero, and adjusted
the RGB levels downward using PreCal until the white luminance value
was about 95. I figured this would bring the Dell closer to the PB
display and create a level that was more appropriate for my rather
dark office. Since PreCal requires a color temperature to be
selected, and doesn't have a native white point setting, I chose 6500
in PreCal. There no kelvin-based temperature settings on the Dell.
Once I finished with PreCal, I fired up Optical, selected 6500 and a
gamma of 1.8 and let 'er rip.
The resulting profile is obviously wrong. It makes photos too dark
and contrasty. So how should I go about it? Specifically...
- There is such a vast difference between the Dell and the PB display
in terms of brightness, I figure I should forget about trying to get
the two to match. Would you agree?
- Should I even use PreCal? Since I can't set the color temperature
of the display to a standard kelvin setting, I'm guessing there's no
point. And, in terms of casually eyeballing, the "normal" sRGB preset
looks the best.
- Should I make any attempt to lower the brightness of the display,
either with the individual RGB controls or the brightness control
before profiling? Full brightness is a bit breath taking. I probably
could never get my ambient office level bright enough in
relationship, especially at night. Although I could place lighting
fixtures in my line of sight.
- What gama should I use in Optical? I've always used 6500/1.8 on the
Mitsubishi, and native/1.8 on the PB. I get confused about gamma. Do
I see more shades of gray with higher gamma, or fewer?
