Calibrating two monitors - how to!?

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FreeStream

FreeStream

Soldato
Joined
10 Apr 2004
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Right basically on Tuesday I will have:

Hazro HZ26Wi (~3 years old) and HZ27WD (new).

How would I calibrate these two so they display the same thing as close as possible?

Calibrating to a certain white point on the 26" makes it go really blue, calibrating it to the panels natural white point makes it closer to white in my eyes.

So what am I supposed to do to keep both as close as poss?

Using a eye-one Display 2.

Cheers :)
 
i odnt think you will be able to get them the same at the old screen will have degraded with age just calibrate the new one and then visually do the old one to look like the new?
 
First calibrate both to the same settings, 120 cd/m2 (or whatever you require for your working environment) 6500k, 2.2 gamma, minimum black point. Compare the two and see what's what. You may have to specify a specific colour temperature on one of the monitors if when trying to calibrate to 6500k one is warmer/colder than the other. Just pick the one you like the most and adjust the other to match.

Then if you want to go a step further use the calibration report and find which monitor has the highest minimum achievable black point for your chosen luminance. Recalibrate the better monitor with this as a target for black point so the contrast ratios between the screens match.

Be warned though you may never get a satisfactory match between two different monitors with two very different amounts of usage. And calibrating to match the poorer display may be wasting good potential of the better display. I would just try and get the colour temperature to match and forget about everything else :)
 
Adrianr said:
First calibrate both to the same settings, 120 cd/m2 (or whatever you require for your working environment) 6500k, 2.2 gamma, minimum black point. Compare the two and see what's what. You may have to specify a specific colour temperature on one of the monitors if when trying to calibrate to 6500k one is warmer/colder than the other. Just pick the one you like the most and adjust the other to match.

Then if you want to go a step further use the calibration report and find which monitor has the highest minimum achievable black point for your chosen luminance. Recalibrate the better monitor with this as a target for black point so the contrast ratios between the screens match.

Be warned though you may never get a satisfactory match between two different monitors with two very different amounts of usage. And calibrating to match the poorer display may be wasting good potential of the better display. I would just try and get the colour temperature to match and forget about everything else :)
Click to expand...

Ok, the colour temp is the important one then.

I know for a fact that the older display goes very blue (I think, been a while since I've forced it to 6500k) so I know that one won't happen.

The older monitor being W-CCFL and the new one being W-LED should help, no?
 
Concorde Rules said:
Ok, the colour temp is the important one then.

I know for a fact that the older display goes very blue (I think, been a while since I've forced it to 6500k) so I know that one won't happen.

The older monitor being W-CCFL and the new one being W-LED should help, no?
Click to expand...

The backlight will have no appreciable difference unless the old one is shot to beans. Even still 120cd/m2 if that is your desired target is far below the maximum luminance for most monitors, and even something 3 years old *should* be able to achieve that. Either monitor being colder or warmer is likely a property of the default settings, not the capability of the monitor. Both should get 6500k, but as I say you may need to adjust either one in 100k increments if it seems off.
 
I usually use the i1Match software, but i've been messing with the Lacie blue eye pro software on my MacBook Pro just to mess about (and the i1 software isn't Lion compatible yet!) and I can't get it to have a sensible white point at all.

Even testing before calibration the white point is around 4300k but even setting it at that results in a way off white balance.

Using the i1Match software I can set it to use the monitors natural white balance, and then it looks good.

What am I doing wrong if I set 2.2/120/4500-9500 and none of them look ok!? :confused:
 
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What about them doesn't look OK? And how are you determining what is 'way out'? Is the calibration report confirming the target colour temp has been achieved? Remember once you've calibrated you will likely need a good days worth of use for it to appear normal. Switching between how it was and calibrated will always look different, most people are often just very used to it looking wrong, so when it looks right it's odd.

Worth trying Color Eyes Display Pro. As far as third party software goes I've not used anything I prefer.
 
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I might of missed something while I'm riddled with manflu but providing your calibration device and graphics card are capable of independent ICC profiles for each display then just follow the standard process.

I have 2 identical dells and a spyder 3 pro and a pci-e card that supports multiple profiles, the spyder software lets me calibrate each screen inpendantly.
 
Adrianr said:
What about them doesn't look OK? And how are you determining what is 'way out'? Is the calibration report confirming the target colour temp has been achieved? Remember once you've calibrated you will likely need a good days worth of use for it to appear normal. Switching between how it was and calibrated will always look different, most people are often just very used to it looking wrong, so when it looks right it's odd.

Worth trying Color Eyes Display Pro. As far as third party software goes I've not used anything I prefer.
Click to expand...

I suppose it just looks... weird.

I guess I will calibrate it and leave it and see if I get used to it.

This is on Mac OS X, and I can set individual profiles.

Only real stumbling block is that the older screen doesn't accept manual colour adjustments via the OSD, just a few presets.


Overall tho, once the screens are calibrated, I need to use them for a few days to get used to it and then they won't look weird?

Boggles my mind that something can be technically right when it looks so wrong :p
 
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Concorde Rules said:
I suppose it just looks... weird.

I guess I will calibrate it and leave it and see if I get used to it.

This is on Mac OS X, and I can set individual profiles.

Only real stumbling block is that the older screen doesn't accept manual colour adjustments via the OSD, just a few presets.


Overall tho, once the screens are calibrated, I need to use them for a few days to get used to it and then they won't look weird?

Boggles my mind that something can be technically right when it looks so wrong :p
Click to expand...

Well there is a chance it is wrong, but without looking at it myself it's impossible to say. There is a chance your calibrator is borked, which would cause a correct calibration report but is in fact an inaccurate profile. I would suggest trying to get hold of another device to cross-check results, trying Color Eyes Display Pro, or just getting used to the profile for a bit and seeing if it still looks weird.
 
If I took a photograph of it, next to a piece of paper and then set the white point of the photo as the paper, would that show it to you on your screens?

A long shot but I'm hoping it's not the calibrator, annoying if a £100 device is broke after a dozen calibrations. :/

Edit:

Before
before_HZ26WI.png


After
after_HZ26Wi.png
 
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Ok, i've come to the conclusion that my Eye 1 Display 2 is in fact, broken.

tft central with the HZ27WA came out with

Brightness: 10
Contrast: 100
RGB: 30, 17, 25
ECO Mode: 25

I've come out with

Brightness: 14
Contrast: 40
RGB: 18, 65, 36
ECO Mode: 50

Green is WAY too high, it's like my calibrator can't detect green!

Is there anyone in Bristol who could test my eye-one against a known good calibrator?
 
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