Monitor calibration

[Dave Leroy]

Back in May or June I bought a Dell U2711 monitor to work with my laptop. I use EyeOne Match2 calibrator and software and did a calibration and did not think too much about it. The laptop only has VGA and an DMI port so dell is at less than full res. I am using VGA although it does not seem to matter.

This fall I realized the colors were not too good especially anything with RED. So I have been working on it since.
I have read through Roger's website and followed the various links and am still at the same place. Although now I am pretty sure I have the proper setting for color manged Firefox.
And my laptop looks really good.

I have taken a photo I posted a while back in macro. It was a weekly pick of a bee on a flower. There are a few red tones. I have set it as my desktop on both laptop and monitor. I open the photo on BPN using Firefox, and I open on my computer using LR.

On my laptop all three pictures of the bee/flower look very much the same.
On the Dell, the LR version looks very good and does not change from monitor to laptop. But both the desktop version and Firefox version, although the same, are too warm.

I think the ATI card can handle two profiles, and I am checking that out.

I am wondering about the Win7 Color Management settings. I have seen some conflicting things on the web. On the first tab I have use my settings ticked and on the advanced tab Device Profile is set to System default and no other changes.

Any suggestions?

[Dave Leroy]

Just following up I can say that Win7 and the card are managing the profiles. Something else is a bit wonky.

[Roger Clark]

Just following up I can say that Win7 and the card are managing the profiles. Something else is a bit wonky.

Dave,
Could that be a key? If both the card and windows are both managing color, they could be conflicting.

Roger

[Dave Leroy]

I don't think they are in conflict Roger, although it can be pretty confusing.

In the Color Management tabs for Win7 the first tab is Devices. In that tab I have ticked the Use My Settings For This Device. When I then do another calibration and generate a new profile and save it, that new profile becomes the default. I can see an immediate change. It also holds as default after restarting.
There does seem to be differing opinions or instructions on what to do with the Advanced tab. In this tab some say to have the use Windows box checked and some say not. To get it checked there is a series of steps to go through.

To be honest I am not sure which is controlling the settings but the system appears to support two profiled monitors.

One thing I can say is that following your links to do a visual check on Gamma, I cannot even see a coming together anywhere on the charts for the Dell.

So if I say the Windows/card system are all right, the monitor is fine, and the calibrator system is fine what am I left with. Gamma is wonky as well. All I can think of is "Not Native or Full Resolution" which seems to be mentioned as important in several places. Although I don't think you mentioned that.

Also I don't quite understand why the same photo when compared by looking at it through Firefox and LR4.2 would look the same on my laptop but not the same on the Dell.

It's a puzzle.

[Roger Clark]

Hi David,
I understand how confusing it is. It is this kind of stuff that drove me away from windows. You mentioned 2 things that might be an indicator. You mentioned that the system supports two profiled monitors. Perhaps settings are different for the external monitor leading to the different response? Or maybe LR settings are such that it is acting differently on the two displays (not sure how that can happen, but then it is windows). (Yes, I'm grasping at straws here.)

Roger

[Tom Graham]

You might try posting your problem on the dpreview web site. Dpreview is basically a camera gear site but they have a forum about PCs and your question would attract answers from PC people who are into both photography and PCs required for digital photo work.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/1004
Tom

[Dave Leroy]

Thanks guys.
I did try DPreview and got a couple suggestions. It is a good site though with lots of good questions answered. Dell monitor forum was a basic no show. The AMD card company was supportive. The mod there had similar experiences. His opinion was the calibration loader from EYEONE must be working correctly. I confirmed that it is in the startup menu and the monitors seem responsive to changes in calibration.

I know I need a new computer with Display port or DVI-D to get full res. from the Dell. It is just a new OS with the new interface with Win8 and do you have one touch screen and one not and that whole thing.

EyeOne in one of their bulletins, not sure how old, suggest the solution is two graphics cards. There has to be lots of people with two profiled monitors and one card.

[Roger Clark]

EyeOne in one of their bulletins, not sure how old, suggest the solution is two graphics cards. There has to be lots of people with two profiled monitors and one card.

For two monitors to have different calibrations, the graphics card must support two different calibrations. That is in the form of a look-up table (LUT). If the card has only one LUT, only one calibration is supported. Most cards (the last time I bought graphics cards two years ago) only had one LUT. While two monitors are often supported, only one calibration that applies to both monitors will work on those cards.

Roger

[Dave Leroy]

Well perhaps that is the issue.
When I go to the Color Management tabs in Windows I see a set of profiles for Display 1, the laptop, and one of these is set as default. If I go to Display 2, the Dell, I see a different set of profiles and one is set as default. Both displays refer to the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 graphics card. This is where I was getting confused about which, Win7 or card, was assigning profiles.

I will go to AMD forum and ask if my card has two LUT's. Probably not but worth asking.

[Dave Leroy]

AMD has confirmed that my card is capable of having two LUT's. Also EyeOne website confirms that calibrator and software are capable of calibrating and profiling multiple monitors. They also have a small utility program that will confirm if monitor has a profile. Both do. They also suggest that after doing a calibration and profiling prior to saving there is a Before/After button. If the button is pushed and only that display changes then card would have two LUT's.
Win7 also is supposed to load profiles on start up. I turned off Logo calibration loader and rebooted with no problem. In fact if I go to Windows color management and pick a new default profile for either display the change is immediate and only on that display.
I think I will only know for sure is after I can get full res. which will be mid Jan. probably.

[Dave Leroy]

Just checked out Dpreview PC forum. Apparently Eyeone Match 2 calibrator is not recommended for wide gamut monitors such as the Dell U2711.