Eizo coloredge CG246 how do I get the colors right?

[Carole Deschuymere]

I bought a new screen, and the difference is really big with my previous one. Now after calibrating (with built in sensor) I worked on this picture, and printed it, and the colours are almost exactly the same in print. but when I look at some of my older pictures, they seem really over saturated, and more red-orange. now I have no idea what the right colours are anymore. does it have anything to do with Adobe RGB or sRGB? can anyone help me with this?

[Diane Miller]

Others here can help more than I can, but that is a "wide-gamut" monitor, and there are "issues" with colors. (Don't mean that in a bad way -- just more complexity of the situation.) I don't have one yet but I have friends who have discrepancies in Lightroom between the Library and Develop modules, especially with reds, with wide-gamut monitors. I started a thread on the Lightroom forum quite a while ago and found even some very major players were puzzled by the problem. Apparently something that needs fixing in LR. (Was that where you were seeing the issue?)

And there can be differences in the way colors are displayed in different browsers, depending on the profiles tagged to the image and "how" color-managed the browser is. That is more pronounced with a wide-gamut monitor. The last time I checked, Firefox had the most management, if you set a parameter.

A lot of the information on the web is dated and confusing, and this stuff is changing pretty fast. If someone can't give a summary of the state of things I can dig up more information. But others here know a lot more than I do.

[Steve Kaluski]

Carole, Eizo are great and are the way to go IMHO, I have two 24" wide screens. As I mentioned to you before, your camera and Working space should be set up for RGB NOT sRGB, you only use sRGB for things like the web. You have more info in the RGB mode., however you can expand it even more, but that would mean your files will be even bigger. If you have shot sRGB and convert to RGB you will not have the same depth of info compared to shooting RGB.

I would stick to you new monitor, but remember, if it's new you may need to calibrate once a week, as they can drift when new, but settle down quite quickly, then it comes down to hours of how long the monitor has been on for, it will tell you when it needs to be calibrated, but don't leave for months :bg3:.

[Carole Deschuymere]

thanks Steve and Diane!
I notice that the colours of my print are less saturated and less warm. so it seems my monitor gives warmer colours. more red. also the print is brighter. maybe I didn't get the right settings?
I set: target: photography
validation target: basic RGB
then did the calibration.
this picture was taken in adobe RGB. does this mean my pics in sRGB will never be right on this monitor? what do you mean by expanding even more?
I know, lots of questions! but it's all new to me...
and I promise, I will calibrate once a week!!! :bg3:

[Diane Miller]

Mis-statement about file size: 16 bit images are 2x the size of 8 bit (when flattened -- layers make file size even bigger). But color space (gamut) is a different thing and doesn't affect file size. There is more gamut in AdobeRGB compared to sRGB, and still more in ProPhotoRGB, but the color range doesn't make the file size bigger.

Its very true that once an image is in sRGB, converting it to Adobe or ProPhoto, you will still be stuck with the colors in the limited gamut you started with.

If you're shooting RAW, the color space in the camera doesn't matter. It will affect the JPEG previews on the back screen, which doesn't have enough color accuracy to matter. If you shoot JPEGs for comparison, you should set AdobeRGB. And it should be your working space, in Photoshop. There is no working space as such in Lightroom; both it and your camera's raw files work with a wide gamut that is similar to ProPhoto. (Monitors can't do this yet.) But when you export to PS there is a place to set AdobeRGB as your choice. That should match PS's space.

You'll want to convert back to sRGB for any web-based output as most monitors match that space and most browsers assume it.

There are arguments for using ProPhoto instead of AdobeRGB but that's a separate chapter.

I don't have the same Eizo calibration software you do, so can't comment on your settings for "target". For digital darkroom work the standard color temp is 6500K.

[Diane Miller]

Carole, unless I missed it, I don't see what program you are using to view the images when you see the red problem. Or is it several programs? Can you tell us where it shows up?

In particular, if you use Lightroom, is there a difference between appearance in the Lib and Dev modules? If so, what version of LR?

LR 4.4 free update just came out and maybe it will be a bug fix for this issue.

[jaredmizanin]

Can't help you out, but I love that shot!

[Diane Miller]

Carole, I just read your post again and think I misunderstood you. You said your older pictures now shows some color problems, but those would presumably be pictures adjusted with your previous monitor. If it was not properly calibrated and profiled, what you are now seeing in those images could be a better representation of how they really are (how you adjusted them) than what you saw before.

But you could also be describing a common problem with wide-gamut monitors, especially with reds.

Some of my acquaintances have solved the problem by going to the Camera Calibration tab in LR4 and choosing the Camera Faithful or Camera Neutral settings instead of Adobe Standard.

[Carole Deschuymere]

Hi Diane, thank you for the comments. I think I solved the problem. A local photographer came and helped me. now what I see on my screen is almost exactly the same as what comes out of my printer. Thanks for everything! Carole