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Color Calibrating Imac 24 inch Glossy screen?

I see that I am not reading the same colors on my screen as is being seen on other screens, according to colleagues of mine. I see yellow/gold, and they tell me it's closer to orange. Can this be corrected by color calibration? I also use shades to dim the light, but I still think even without shades the color could use correcting, if possible. I read about Huey Pro, but I don't really know much about how to do this. I would like to buy the simplest and not too expensive way of improving the color. (Maybe this can be done within the color calibration that comes with the computer, but perhaps I need to buy something else.
Any simple easy to use solutions? Or perhaps I can't do much about this. I love the screen but eventually I would like to print a few photos or work with video and want fidelity if possible.
Thank you

imac 24" alu 2.4 ghz, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Oct 29, 2008 2:29 PM

19 replies

Nov 7, 2008 2:17 PM in response to Steven Adamson1

When calibrating with the hardware, where to you leave the brightness level. Is the factory default on maximum or can you turn it down to minimum brightness? I ask this because I already have the Imac turned down to minimum brightness and then use Shades to further dim the screen. I currently use the Imac default calibration in display colors, but with minimum brightness. Does one still choose the 1.8 gamma over the 2.2 because I use mac and not a windows pc?

PenRules

Level 1

145 points

Nov 7, 2008 5:13 PM in response to Steven Adamson1

Turn Shades off. Use 1.8 gamma. Calibration software should prompt you to set brightness and provide visual feedback when it's properly adjusted. I've already indicated where my brightness is set. The calibrator needs to read and display the actual luminosity of your display. When prompted to lower it, using the keyboard command.

Luminosity/brightness is only one variable within the color calibration equation. Arguably it's the least important. I say this because it is relative to the amount of ambient light which likely changes over the course of the day. Get the hue and saturation corrected.

I just read this comment about Shades on VersionTracker:

"I've been using Shades for a while, and like it a lot. But when I made a screen profile resently (with Color Eyes Display Pro) I noticed that changing profiles in Screen Preferences acted strange. I then turned Shades off, and the newly made profile made the screen turn green!
I made a new profile with Shades turned off, and things work now.
So if you don't care about profiling your screen, then Shades is very nice. But if you calibrate your screen, then I think it's a no good, at least for the time being."

PenRules

Level 1

145 points

Nov 8, 2008 6:44 AM in response to PenRules

Perhaps I should not have made it sound like brightness is inconsequential. Graphics professionals are concerned about the glossy screen trend. Apple attempts to minimize glare by pushing more light though the screen. A 20" LED Cinema Display is brighter than the current glossy iMacs. If this trend continues on all displays, it will be even more difficult to calibrate them. We actually prefer matte screens with the ability to dim to 120 L.

Nov 8, 2008 9:58 AM in response to Steven Adamson1

I am more interested in just seeing correct or true colors on the Imac than in printing photos as this point. I know that printing what one see on the screen involves printer calibration as well. But will a calibration radically change what I see on the screen? If not, maybe a calibration kit would be a slight waste of money. I talked with the people at Spyder and they said that I would need Spyder 3 Pro for the Imac glossy screen. Anyone have advice on which calibration system works with this computer screen and is not too expensive?

Color Calibrating Imac 24 inch Glossy screen?