Accurate Calibration - is it possible?

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Level 1

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Accurate Calibration - is it possible?

I'm a graphic designer who recently switched from an "old fashioned" tube display monitor to a flat screen display iMac (I'm not sure what year the iMac is though). I'm getting frustrated with the new screen for a few reasons. My old screen displayed color that matched the pantone colors and cmyk mixes pretty accurately to how it would be printed at a professional printing company. The new flat screen on the iMac does not. Also, the colors change depending on how the screen is tilted ... so if the screen gets bumped the color is off. Also, let's say I have Pantone 72 at the top of the page and at the bottom of the same page. The same color looks lighter if it's closer to the bottom of the display. I can't judge tints or transparancies well anymore in relationship to colors around it. I've tried playing with the display settings in System Preferences, but I don't know what profile to use or how to figure out the numbers I need to make my own profile. Does anyone else know what I mean? Does anyone know how to fix my problem. I'd rather not go back to a tube display because I know they're becoming obsolete, but I need to know how to calibrate my screen to show accurate colors.

iMac Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Posted on Apr 25, 2006 2:58 PM

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Answer 1

Dah•veed

Level 9

66,547 points

Apr 25, 2006 4:24 PM in response to oia

Are you familiar with this article;
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/colorsync/

and this OS X utility
Apps/Utilities/ColorSync Utility

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Answer 2

Apr 26, 2006 6:02 AM in response to oia

You could always buy a calibrator and then calibrate it. Colorvision sells one as well as a number of other vendors.

glor

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Answer 3

oia Author

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Apr 26, 2006 6:18 AM in response to Dah•veed

I read the article (thank you for the link). I have OSX 10.4.6 and I have Tiger. So, now I'm even more confused why the color isn't consistent and why it doesn't display accurately. Another designer at my work has the same problem with her iMac screen. The colors are accurate when they print ... I need them to be displayed accurately while I'm designing so I can see if the color tint behind text is really going to be light enough to read the type on top of it or if the blue tint I used is really dark enough next to the other blue tint. I'm used to being able to judge how light and dark to make colors and transparencies by looking at it on screen while sliding the tint value bar and viewing it "live" so to speak as I build and tweak things. When I do that now it doesn't turn out right and I'm never sure which angle to tilt my screen because each way shows the colors differently.

I'm not real familiar with the ColorSync Utility ... is that where you go to customize a calibration setting? I wasn't sure which numbers to put in. Last night I view what my old monitors settings were ... do you think it would help to plug those in?

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Answer 4

oia Author

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Apr 26, 2006 6:23 AM in response to Glorfindeal

Thank you for your reply ... have you bought a calibrator before? Do they work well? How would you rate Colorvision?

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Answer 5

Apr 26, 2006 6:58 AM in response to oia

I'm not in a position where I need to calibrate my computer monitor. It works fine for what I do. I have purchased Colorvision's calibrator for my High Definition DLP TV called SpyderTV. It works great. I had friends over for the superbowl and they immediately compliemented the TV on it's color rendition and clarity.

Glor

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Answer 6

Dah•veed

Level 9

66,547 points

Apr 26, 2006 7:17 AM in response to oia

I realize that using computers, especially calibrating displays, probably wasn't the main gist of design school. But since they are certainly stock-in-trade now, you might need to find a forum of your fellow artists who know a lot more about such things than the computer geeks and Mac enthusiasts that you will find here in Apple Discussions, just trying to lend a hand when someone is having Mac software or hardware related issues. Don't know where you would find such a community.

As far as your iMac display goes, I'm sure Apple intended your display to be directly in front of your face at a comfortable distance to be able to take in the whole view at once, with eye level in the middle of the screen and the screen parallel to your face, in order to see accurate colors without gradation from top to bottom. So as the user, it will be up to you to figure out a way to achieve that minimum in your work environment.

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