# How to determine if your monitor is accurately calibrated?



## KKCFamilyman (Sep 5, 2014)

Hello all CR,

I have been using macbook pro's for my editing running windows. I have tried several laptops and while they are close in color gamut and contast. The Macbook whites look pure white. Is this just because its a cooler (k temp) screen or does all the others that are a bit more warm and slightly leaning toward yellow correct? Does anyone have a test they do when calibrating a laptop? The one I have settled on is the dell m3800 with the 3200 x 1800 screen. For $1500 it seemed like the best editing laptop for the money not including mac's.


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## Jim Saunders (Sep 5, 2014)

My best suggestion is an x-rite i1 display pro; you'll wonder how you lived without it or something similar.

Jim


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Sep 5, 2014)

There is more to it than just calibrating the screen. A hardware checker is the only way to go for that.

However, ambient light plays a huge part in color accuracy, and in adjusting a image for the right brightness. Generally, you should turn the lights out or very low and then do the calibration with the same lighting you will use when editing. 

I've yet to see a laptop that was really good for serious editing, but as long as the screen is a good one, and has even back illumination, and is a ips type, it should be reasonable.


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## JimKarczewski (Sep 5, 2014)

Yup, you need something to calibrate your monitor and something to calibrate the monitor to the ambient room light.

I used a Spyder 4. Nice thing about it is, it will also do tablets (Android/iPad) if you use their gallery app (free.)

You connect your tablet to wifi, run a program on the computer the Spyder is connected to and it calibrates the screen of the tablet. Now, obviously ambient isn't taken into consideration, but it's better than nothing if you want to carry around a copy of your portfolio in digital format.

Along with that I also like the ColorChecker. The 3x4 card system that allows you to take a shot in a mixed light situation and then have a piece of software on your computer create a profile for it (I use lightroom) and work from that lighting.. nice if you have mixed color lighting.


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## Efka76 (Sep 5, 2014)

There is a misconception than Apple production does not need calibration  The truth is that you have to calibrate all monitors if you need accurate colours. Also, this calibration should be performed on a monthly basis due to shift in colours. Generall laptop monitors (even with IPS) are worse than normal monitors. My suggestion for you would be simple: buy calibrator (x-rite i1 display pro or Spyder) and calibrate your monitor. I bought x-rite i1 display pro and i am very happy with it. I was surprised when I saw a really huge difference in colors after my laptop calibration. Also, x-rite i1 display pro has an ability of assessing ambient light in calibration process.


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## KKCFamilyman (Sep 5, 2014)

Efka76 said:


> There is a misconception than Apple production does not need calibration  The truth is that you have to calibrate all monitors if you need accurate colours. Also, this calibration should be performed on a monthly basis due to shift in colours. Generall laptop monitors (even with IPS) are worse than normal monitors. My suggestion for you would be simple: buy calibrator (x-rite i1 display pro or Spyder) and calibrate your monitor. I bought x-rite i1 display pro and i am very happy with it. I was surprised when I saw a really huge difference in colors after my laptop calibration. Also, x-rite i1 display pro has an ability of assessing ambient light in calibration process.



I have always used my spyder 4 pro but when looking side by side. The dell looks to be warmer and was wondering if an accurate display was pure white say on empty space in a web browser or a slightly warmer yellow was the more accurate colors. Basically its not the color space but the white point that I am concerned about. I am not sure if it will get me closer to white buy altering the targeted gamma of 2.2 to 2.0 or when they show 6500k change it to 6000k to cool down the white point? This laptop if you look it up is design for photo/video editing and is considered a mobile workstation. Just stuck on the whites


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## neuroanatomist (Sep 5, 2014)

Efka76 said:


> There is a misconception than Apple production does not need calibration



My Apple displays do not need calibration. Well, they don't need calibration if I want my images to look really saturated and contrasty. I don't, so I use an i1 Display to calibrate them, even though they don't 'need' it.


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## jdramirez (Sep 5, 2014)

We should go halfsies on one...


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## arcanej (Sep 5, 2014)

Set an X-Rite ColorChecker next to your monitor, take a picture of the monitor and the ColorChecker and then correct colors through X-Rite software. If the image of your monitor on your monitor looks really off, you probably need to run an adjustment.


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## RunAndGun (Sep 6, 2014)

Most screens are actually "too white". The color temp is way too high. I think manufacturers do it to make them seem brighter and "contrastier". The first time I calibrated the screen on my old MBP it looked yellow/dirty after being properly set to 6500K and the brightness lowered, because my eyes had become accustomed to looking at it with a color temp probably around 9000K-1000K and the brightness jacked. 

Calibrating computer monitors is pretty easy nowadays. You just hook-up the probes and the software takes care of almost everything else. And you can re-do it anytime you need to. I just sent two of my broadcast monitors off for professional calibration a few months ago. Over $600 plus shipping them. And that's just one time. 

Also, if you're printing, you need to make sure everything in the chain is calibrated or you can still end up way off with the print. I decided to have a nice metal print made of one of our dogs for my GF's birthday. A friend of mine had an account with a printing company and instead of setting up my own account and having samples printed(you send them a few pictures and they send back print samples and you know the printing profiles to use then, etc.) to make sure everything is right, I just sent the file to him and he ordered it. The print is so dark you can barely see it. Lesson learned.


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## Marsu42 (Sep 6, 2014)

Jim Saunders said:


> My best suggestion is an x-rite i1 display pro; you'll wonder how you lived without it or something similar.



... or buy the "X-Rite ColorMunki Display" which is exactly the same device for at lot of less $$$, but with crippled software: They actually added a delay loop to the software to make it work slower than the "display pro" model :->. But you are as well off as the op seems to be, your best choice is indeed the "i1 Pro" model with a Dell monitor like the "Ultrasharp U2713H" with *hardware* calibration which doesn't rely on your computer to do the corrections.

Otherwise, +1 for buying any device like this, if I would have done this before it would have spared me a lot of hassle. Once you have a calibrated monitor, you wonder how you ever did without it.

Note: For real color checking you also need adequate ambient light (the colormunki tries to calibrate for your room, but that's a bit hit-or-miss) and the monitor brightness needs to be very low. But the actual calibration is the most important puzzle piece.


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