Monitor calibration tools and DIY

[michty_me]

I'm toying with the idea of getting a colorimeter and software for doing some calibrations of monitors or TV's at home. I've read of some threads on here where people are doing their own which has pipped my interest. So a few questions:

1 - What is the best cost effective meter and software for doing this at an amateur level? I don't want to spend a lot getting equipment as may be seldom used.

2 - How difficult is it to do in reality?

 

[eeii]

going to follow this one as I’d be interested is this aswell.

 

[michty_me]

going to follow this one as I’d be interested is this aswell.

I spoke with a member on here via DM, They kindly offered to calibrate my monitors but alas, I'm too far away from him.
A friend and I spoke over the weekend, He is interested in getting his monitors calibrated too as he does a lot of photography work so looking likely we will go halfs on a x-rite/calibrite item.

 

[Rroff]

I only have passing knowledge of it but a friend uses Spyder gear ( https://www.datacolor.com/spyder ) and has done some of mine in the past, I've mostly used one of the monitors as a reference to dial in my own settings as close as makes any odds for my purposes.

On a personal level though I don't necessarily find a precisely calibrated monitor necessarily the best settings for general usage, unless you are working a lot with colour critical stuff, I find backing the gamma off slightly from the target 2.2 to ~2.1 much easier on the eyes and dialling in on 6500K (or maybe even slightly cooler) whereas a lot of users might find slightly warmer tones more pleasant for usage especially those who like room lighting closer to 3000K than 5000K.

 

[Mr Evil]

I used an X-Rite i1 Display Pro in the past, which worked well and was reasonably priced. Looks like they don't make them anymore, but you can still find them second-hand, and presumably there's a newer equivalent of some sort. The supplied software is pretty easy to use and powerful enough for most purposes.

I don't necessarily find a precisely calibrated monitor necessarily the best settings for general usage

While it's true that everyone has their preference, you can calibrate a monitor to your preferred colour temperature and gamma - you don't have to adhere to sRGB or whatever. That way you can make sure all your monitors match.

 

[Clairvoyant]

I was going to pick up an Oled.

But my daughter's BF has some kit he uses (he is a wedding videographer). So I'm borrowing his kit to calibrate my Gigabyte M32U 4K.

Then wait to see what the next gen brings in Oled.

 

[michty_me]

I was going to pick up an Oled.

But my daughter's BF has some kit he uses (he is a wedding videographer). So I'm borrowing his kit to calibrate my Gigabyte M32U 4K.

Then wait to see what the next gen brings in Oled.

Let me know how you get on.
I used it on my IPS but now switched to Tandem OLED and a MiniLED. I've yet to Calibrate the new monitors.

 

[Clairvoyant]

Let me know how you get on.
I used it on my IPS but now switched to Tandem OLED and a MiniLED. I've yet to Calibrate the new monitors.

What monitor's did you get.

 

[michty_me]

What monitor's did you get.

I got the LG 27GX700a-b and a MSI MAG-274QPF-X30MV (VA MiniLED). Ideally I wanted an IPS MiniLED but virtually no 2k IPS varients on the market.

 

[Clairvoyant]

Calibrated with a SpyderXPro, its toned down the brightness I had. But is it any better, I wouldn't really say it is. Or my eyes are that bad I dont really notice.

 

[michty_me]

The first time I carried out a calibration it muted a lot of the colours. I then used a third party software which worked a lot better.

 

[joey1211]

There used to be a thread on here many years ago where a calibration tool was available and was posted from member to member.

 

[whitecrook]

Your ambient lighting, and environment will play a part in the calibration setting required as well.

 

[michty_me]

There used to be a thread on here many years ago where a calibration tool was available and was posted from member to member.

It's a good idea. I've offered it to a few members of they covered the shipping.

 

[V F]

Calibrated with a SpyderXPro, its toned down the brightness I had. But is it any better, I wouldn't really say it is. Or my eyes are that bad I dont really notice.

That's the thing, most people aren't used to a calibrated screen. So they think it's wrong. As a calibrated screen isn't saturated. 120cd^m2 is standard brightness. 80 to 100 cd^m2 for dark room.

Or depending on the quality of the screen the settings could be in the ballpark. There are so many variables.

Gamma 2.2 for normal room viewing. 2.3 to 2.4 for dark rooms.

The gamma usually can taper off if calibrated to a curve in the shadows. 2.1 to 2.0. Only problem is is depends what the persons monitor or TV is capable of.

To some people what they've been used to D65 makes them think yellow or warm. Which they've been used to years of a cooler tone on their monitor or TV.

X-Rite has better hardware as they're sealed versus Spyder.

Basic settings to check. Black and white level clipping. Or any tinge that may be showing or settings are being pushed too far. You don't want clipping anywhere. Black level, whites and colour.

www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

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HCFR on https://sourceforge.net/projects/hcfr/

My HCFR Calibration Walkthrough

I hope this will help someone out and that in turn people can help me figure out how to do this better. In the meantime, this is my walkthrough of how I go about calibrating my display using HCFR and an i1Display Pro colorimeter. I am far from an expert but I've always had what seems like...

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[V F]

Your ambient lighting, and environment will play a part in the calibration setting required as well.

The colour of the wall can be a killer as well. If the TV or monitor is relatively close to it or general peripheral vision.

 

[whitecrook]

The colour of the wall can be a killer as well. If the TV or monitor is relatively close to it or general peripheral vision.

Indeed. I painted my walls with RAL 7037 precisely to avoid this problem.

 

[V F]

As well as people using the wrong bias lighting for their TVs. I remember back in 2014 I had to get D65 lighting CCFL tubes from a company in Colorado. Was called Ideal Lume back then. It was the only place you could get the correct 6500K back lights.

Where you then use a 10% grey pattern from a calibration disc to match up the correct amount of light displayed on the TV for optimal viewing in the dark.

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[Clairvoyant]

There used to be a thread on here many years ago where a calibration tool was available and was posted from member to member.

Yeah I remember this, not sure why it stopped. As it was very kind of the owner.

 

[V F]

Doing it for Plasma and OLED was a pain as you had to rest the panel as in change the content to do new measurements so there was no retention on the screen. Plus having the puck 1 inch away from the screen as heat would throw off measurements.

4 hours to do one TV. Daylight calibration and night settings.