Comments on: Color Calibration Challenges

By: Shannon

Shannon — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 16:26:24 +0000

P.P.S.
Per ColorVision’s website (the makers of our colorimeter, the Spyder Pro), their color calibration software — called OptiCAL — does not allow Windows users to calibrate two monitors separately. Twin monitors on a Mac - no problem. On Windows - nope” (quoted from http://www.dansdata.com/spyder.htm)

By: Shannon

Shannon — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 15:43:51 +0000

P.S.:
My current video card (Radeon 9600) has one DVI input and one analog input, so currently one monitor is connected via DVI and the other is analog. I already swapped cables on them to see if, as an example, the analog signal was causing the color shift/drift/whatever. But regardless of which monitor is connected via which method (analog vs. DVI), my new monitor has the same color issues as reported in my entry. I’ve also swapped them in order of precedence, eg. making the new monitor the secondary and the old monitor the primary. No changes in color cast issues result.

Yesterday evening, I did get some of the most egregious green color cast to disappear from my new monitor by resetting it to factory defaults (via its built-in controls) and then playing with color temperatures in Windows’ display panel. However, just because that makes it look better doesn’t mean much. The whole point of having the colorimeter (the Colorvision Spyder) is to remove the human eyeball/preference and perception from the equation and produce repeatable, dependable color calibration results.

I’ll figure it out… or report this new 17″ as defective and have Dell ship out a new one. So far, though, I’m not convinced the monitor’s bad … just different. I thought calibration would be easy since both monitors are nearly identical… one’s a (1+ year old) Dell Ultrasharp 1703FP and the other’s a (brand new) Dell Ultrasharp 1704FP.

Right now, the old monitor has perfect color — same as it did when it was my only monitor. It’s the new monitor I’m having ‘fun’ with.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 01:36:34 +0000

Thanks for the insightful feedback, T! Just before we left for dinner this evening, I played around with the color temperature settings and at least got the new (primary) monitor to look less offensively green. I’ll save the whole precision mode calibration run for another day, and keep your card suggestion in mind if I can’t get the level of control I need to ensure our photos-to-print workflow is sound.

I still LOVE dual monitors and have that, “Why didn’t I do this *so* much sooner!?” epiphany everytime I sit down at my desk now!

Love,

- Sis

By: Thomas

Thomas — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 17:44:02 +0000

Sorry to hear the calibration is coming along anything but smoothly. One thing to note is that DVI and Analog signals can look very different. I’ve not heard of it affecting color specifically, but it certainly can. Are both monitors getting the same input, both DVI or both Analog? You can get a mid-to-low end PCI graphics card with another DVI jack for faily cheap. This might be one solution to consider. Good luck!