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_Murat_Cuhadar_
Participant
June 19, 2007
Question

What target settings for LCD monitor calibration?

  • June 19, 2007
  • 44 replies
  • 28943 views
I have recently installed Spectraview II to calibrate my NEC LCD 2180WG monitor but have some doubts on which target settings to use as there are different opinions on color temp, gamma and intensity choices.

I use my system purely for photo post-processing and printing on color calibrated printers. I use AdobeRGB color space and have no interest for processing images for web.

- What color temp do you use/recommend? D50, D65 or something in between? I see that some folks use D65 and others swear by D50.

- What about Gamma choice 1.8, 2.2 or L* ? Same here, no common choice here too.

- Lastly what about intensity (brightness in terms of cd/mm2)?

NEC recommends Target Settings for Printing, which are D50, 1.8 gamma and Max. Intensity, but I'm not sure.

I'd appreciate if you could recommend correct settings for my type of work.

Thank You
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    44 replies

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    _Digital_Jim_
    Participant
    June 27, 2007
    Thanks for the clarification, Peter. I'm going to recalibrate and re-profile my monitor at gamma 2.2 right now. Although it may only make a small difference, every little bit helps.
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    _Peter_Figen_
    Participating Frequently
    June 27, 2007
    In a color managed application like Ps, there will be virtually no visual difference overall using gamma 1.8, 2.2 or anything in between. There is, however, a real advantage using native gamma of the display, which usually IS 2.2. The advantage is that less correction is done in the video lookup tables, resulting in a monitor that has visibly smoother gradients. This is a particular problem on most LCD displays that use an 8 bit data path.
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    _Digital_Jim_
    Participant
    June 27, 2007
    Marco-

    No, it's not a typo. I set the gamma to 2.1 when calibrating our LCDs. Why is that so crazy? I've seen some post that they use 2.2, and others even use 2.0.

    The bottom line is: set it to what gives the best screen-to-print match, right?
    A
    Anonymous
    June 27, 2007
    I didn't say it was crazy, did I?

    But unusual it is indeed. I understand: you're splitting the difference.

    If it works for you, fine. That's what matters.
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    _Digital_Jim_
    Participant
    June 27, 2007
    I've been profiling about 10 LCD monitors at our photo lab for a couple years now, using Profilemaker 5 and an Eye-One spectrophotometer. I've settled on D50, 2.1 gamma, 95 Cd/m².

    If this results in whites on screen being too dark compared to printed whites, use a higher target Cd/m².

    If whites on screen are too blue, try a lower Kelvin temperature. If they're too yellow, try a higher Kelvin temperature.

    If midtones appear too light on screen, use a lower gamma (raise the gamma if they're too dark).

    Of course, this is assuming your printer is properly calibrated and you're using an accurate printer profile to soft-proof.

    Hope this helps!

    Jim
    A
    Anonymous
    June 27, 2007
    2.1 gamma? Is that a typo?
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