Adaptive Display Screen Mode Offsets the Loss of Color Saturation and Color Gamut in Ambient Light
The Adaptive Display screen mode is particularly useful in moderate to high levels of Ambient Light because its larger Native Color Gamut offsets some of the loss of Color Saturation and Color Gamut that occurs when using the other calibrated Standard Screen Modes. This
Figure shows the measured decrease in two Color Gamuts with increasing Ambient Light, from 0 lux, which is perfectly dark, up through 2,000 lux, which corresponds to typical outdoor daylight in shade.
At 500 lux, which corresponds to typical office lighting, the measured on-screen Color Gamut for the Basic screen mode falls to 86%. At 1,000 lux, which corresponds to very bright indoor lighting or outdoor daylight with an overcast sky, the measured on-screen Color Gamut falls to 75%, and at 2,000 lux the measured on-screen Color Gamut falls to 58%. This loss of color saturation and wash out in Ambient Light is well known to all display users.
The way to improve the display color accuracy and performance in Ambient Light is to start with a larger Color Gamut, like the Adaptive Display screen mode, which is shown on the right in this
Figure compared to the Basic screen mode on the left. At 1,000 lux the Adaptive Display screen mode provides a much better match to the sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut than the Basic screen mode. The Adaptive Display screen mode also provides a good match to the DCI-P3 Color Gamut at 500 lux. So the Adaptive Display screen mode provides more accurate on-screen colors in moderate to high Ambient Lighting than the other calibrated Screen Modes, which are designed and calibrated for Low Ambient Light. Applying Dynamic Color Management based on the current Ambient Light lux level in the future will able to further improve color accuracy over a wide range of Ambient Light levels, which we discuss further in the Conclusion.