Adobe Gamma ? Please explain

Jaap74 · 3 Mar 2006 at 10:01

Hi,

I read in a thread that somebody used Adobe Gamma to set up their TFT. Where can I get it ? Is it free ? Is it the best program for setting up your TFT ?

Cheers

Cuchulain · 3 Mar 2006 at 10:14

I think Adobe Gamma appeared in my control panel after installing Photoshop.

djohn · 3 Mar 2006 at 11:19

Yes, it also comes with the cut down version "Elements" which is an excellent photo/image editing application. Adobe gamma is just a colour profile associated with this and you can set you monitor to use this profile so that all your photos will be viewed by the application in the same way.

Many monitors come with their own profile as do other applications and you can set any one of them or all of them then choose as you go along which one to use.

Jaap74 · 3 Mar 2006 at 11:55

I see, well I don't have PhotoShopo or Elements. Can someone suggest a free application that will help in setting the screen ? I used the test pattern that comes with the BenQ 20" Widescreen but I thought it was pretty unhelpful......

Raymond Lin · 3 Mar 2006 at 12:39

How do I actually use it?

Baddass · 3 Mar 2006 at 12:44

this is fairly handy for gamma config:

http://www.photoscientia.co.uk/Gamma.htm

this also looks helpful: http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html

Raymond Lin · 3 Mar 2006 at 13:08

I am still confused....Adobe Gamma doesn't seem to do anything.

vince3 · 3 Mar 2006 at 14:32

Raymond Lin said:
I am still confused....Adobe Gamma doesn't seem to do anything.

I'm surprised it doesn't do anything. All I can think is that your display controller isn't amenable to the Adobe adjustment. But my previous (very aged) ATI controller was OK and so is the current nVidia.

Adobe Gamma should open with a small window with two options - Step by Step and Control Panel.

To see the effect quickly choose Control Panel and you get a window with a black and white bar and three colour adjusters which have sliders beneath them. Adjust Brightness and Contrast so the black is just on the black side of very dark grey but a true black. The white should be bright but not glaring.
These adjustments are very subjective. A better solution for black/white adjustment is this link:
http://www.tobinphoto.com/images/pics/grayscale.gif
where all 24 gradations should be discernible - tricky.

Move any colour slider and your display should change hue. The gamma is correct when the inner square of each colour merges into its outer border. View at a distance where the fine lines on the borders become less obvious. It may help if you 'narrow' your eyes slightly. The best colour temparature is 6500 (daylight). Finally click OK and save the profile under a new name - I just add a number to the one provided.

If you use Step by Step for an LCD screen, you should ignore the instruction to set the contrast as high as it will go. The link above is better.

The new Philips 200W6 I have seems OK (so far) at Brightness 5.0 (4.5 in a semi-darkened room), Contrast 6.4.

The real test is printing a photo on good photo paper (assuming you have a reasonable colour printer) and checking it against the screen image. Refelected colours always look slightly different from transmitted colours, but you should get a good comparison in terms of shade and brightness.
This may seem odd, but if possible view the print under a halogen lamp.

vince3 · 3 Mar 2006 at 15:02

P.S I just looked at http://www.photoscientia.co.uk/Gamma.htm and tend to agree that gamma 2.2 can be dark for most printers. But 2 can make the display glare slightly - hence my comments about viewing photos. I'm now going to look at QuickGamma referred to on http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html