Mac Book Pro - Spyder 3 Pro

[Dylfish]

Hey Guys, I have the above 2 hardware setups and im wondering even though my screen is calibrated colour wise, the brightness isn't. to match prints from an ICC certified pro lab, what brightness settings should I be editing on?

[I @ M]

Dyl, I don't know much about the Mac but in my experience to get the brightness as you want to see it in print the best option is to calibrate the screen under your normal working conditions, process a representative photo and get it printed. That way you can take the print back and compare it with the screen under the same conditions.
After going through the same thing as you it quickly became apparent that any print we had done was darker in 'real life' than on the screen so we simply adjust the final files that go to the printers to a defined level and they come back consistent in both colour and brightness.

[Dylfish]

thanks andrew,

Yesterday I actually took some prints to be done 8x12 at a pro lab (for once!) and I’ll be getting them back today. I was just wondering because when he loaded them, onto his eizo monitor (expensive  ) they came out very dull. I opted not to do any adjustments on them from there so I can compare today when I get them back.

I just find it hard that matching exposure on a monitor calibrated for printing seems a lot darker than the image we capture on our sensors.

Cheers,

[MarkW]

This is a common problem with the Mac

To tone down your screen use a programme called "shades". I tried running at about 80% which gave an OK print but couldn't stand the dull screen - I like it bright.

As I print my own images on an Epson R1900 I have upped the printer profile by 4 points to give an acceptable print that way I can leave the screen bright.

[Dylfish]

yeh, i like it bright too, but ive kicked it down to 50% brightness and it still seems a little off the prints. maybe i just bite the bullet and get the lab to calibrate my mac but thats gonna set me back $100 :(

[JM Tran]

yeh, i like it bright too, but ive kicked it down to 50% brightness and it still seems a little off the prints. maybe i just bite the bullet and get the lab to calibrate my mac but thats gonna set me back $100 :(

try and do it yourself as best as possible mate!

calibration is recommended for static monitors every 3 months, and 2 weeks for monitors that gets moved around, and for laptop screens going up and down all the time, you might need to do that a few times per year!

[Calxoddity]

Hi,
My approach was to use a combination of Shades, and put +0.1 brightness on the printing to my R1900 from Aperture. It's *almost* spot-on: prints are a touch darker but I have't played with different rendering intents yet, nor with black point turned on and off. Mostly noticeable in the blues - they render a little darker overall.

One of these days a colormunki photo will be bought - I'm not going to waste my time with cheapo calibrators.

Regards,
Calx

[NGP]

the recommended LCD luminance value of 120 cd/m2 is the way to go.. not sure if the Spyder3 does tell you what the luminance is before calibration, but with the x-rite products it does.. so I just adjust before I calibrate the screen if it isn't the right luminance..

[Dylfish]

with a macbook its so easy to change brightness (Backlight) settings. When you set a luminance value does that set the brightness from which you dont touch?

[NGP]

luminance
the quantitative measure of brightness of a light source or an illuminated surface, equal to luminous flux per unit solid angle emitted per unit projected area of the source or surface.

so yes I set it and don't touch it.. I recheck it again with my hardware device before calibrating.. disable the auto brightness feature!..

[Gregg Bell]

Will using an LCD Television give you different contrasts? I have always wondered if using a 50000:1 contrast ratio(what LG is claiming) will alter the difference in how the photograph is printed. Or am I better using my el cheapo 19" monitors from 4 years ago?

Sorry to hijack the thread.

[NGP]

if you're really concerned about getting the right monitor and best viewing option for post production, Eizo's ColorEdge screens are the way to go.. they're about as reliable as it gets for the money.. not cheap but I personally wouldn't want to rely my edits on cheap screens.. then again I get paid for what I do, for enthusiasts/hobbyists this might be bit over the top.. both Samsung, Dell, Apple have some good "semi-Pro" screens, just make sure to grab a screen that uses IPS panels (S-IPS/H-IPS) .. avoid any LCD screens with TN or VA panels.. TN panels are great for gamers but unsuitable for post production (photo/graphics etc).. and of course regular hardware calibration is a must..

EIZO:
http://www.eizo.com.au/products/coloredge/index.php

[Gunna]

I have a Dell U 2410 monitor. I am thinking of buying a 'ColorMunki' calibrater, as it will also do my Epson printer.
Any thoughts or advice?

[serenityFan]

Hi, sorry this might be too late, but I too have just bought a spyder 3 pro to calibrate an imac display. The software that came with the spyder 3 pro does not allow the use to select a prefered luminance, however browsing to datacolor's website reveals an updated spyder3pro software (ver 3.14). See this link:

http://support.datacolor.com/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=view

Among the updated features it says:

* Easy Luminance Control: new standard targets that include luminance values, no longer an advanced-only feature

Sound like it allows some sort of luminance calibration, I will try and install this new version and let you know if it allows luminance calibration ...


cheers,

Andy