Monitor Calibration- It's been awhile and need current targets

[vindibona1]

I brought home a new 4k monitor today that I got on open box special, a Dell s2721QS. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it, but want to give it a shot. [Contemplating exchanging it for an ASUS ProArt 27"]. I have it running in parallel to my older 27" Dell FHD which I've liked a lot but eyeball comparisons are difficult to judge. So out came the i1Profiler Colorimeter by Xrite.

It's been a LONG time since I used my colorimeter and had it set for what is probably an old standard for photos. When I pulled up the program the targets were 300cd/ms and 6500°K. I suspect with the proliferation of 4k video those target numbers might have changed. I'm seeing some yellows that I've not been seeing in my other monitors, but haven't calibrated those in a long time- if ever. But I would have suspected the yellows if the color temp had been set to D5000.

Is there anyone who can confirm those calibration settings or can tell me what the new "modern" targets are? To my eye the calibrated screen looked lower in brightness and contrast than I'm used to looking at so I'm speculating that 300cd/ms is a little low and this monitor might just be showing color that the older and less expensive monitors aren't capable of. I know that years ago I had a very expensive monitor that wanted to be warmer than all my others. I want to confirm that the monitor isn't the problem. That Asus ProArt is intriguing, but is the quality additional $250 better?

Thoughts?

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

If i'm remembering correctly, the Pro Art monitors come calibrated from the factory along with a certificate. The X-rite should have upgraded software available for newer models. Monitors are always a pain to profile since they are all so different. We gave up on that a long time ago since printer profiles are always changing. If you're looking for a color managed monitor, then the extra $250 would be worth it IMHO.

 

[Dave Maine]

There are multiple standards, depending on what your target device uses. Modern TVs are all over the lot brightness wise. Many SDR TVs achieve 500 nits, and HDR gets 1000 nits minimum. A 300 nit tv looks pretty dim in the average living room.

6500 k and a gamma of 2.2 or 2.4 are the color and gamma standards still in use. Rec 709, which is the HDV working standard specifies these.

Digital Cinema projection is close, but slightly different.

As a working video producer, I deliver rec 709 color corrected on a monitor set to 500 nits.

 

[vindibona1]

There are multiple standards, depending on what your target device uses. Modern TVs are all over the lot brightness wise. Many SDR TVs achieve 500 nits, and HDR gets 1000 nits minimum. A 300 nit tv looks pretty dim in the average living room.

6500 k and a gamma of 2.2 or 2.4 are the color and gamma standards still in use. Rec 709, which is the HDV working standard specifies these.

Digital Cinema projection is close, but slightly different.

As a working video producer, I deliver rec 709 color corrected on a monitor set to 500 nits.

Part of the issue is that the i1Profiler software is asking me for what type of monitor I'm calibrating and gives me the choice of generic, CCFL, wide gammut CCFE, White LED, RGB LED. I'm not sure what that means or what impact that has on calibration. Xrite said that it sold off their i1 Profiler to Calibrite and they were no help. I called Dell and they were no help. I just wanted to know which settings to use for this monitor. I chose While LED this morning to see how things would turn out. It's not what I selected yesterday but seems to be an improvement. Yesterday there was too much yellow in the highlights and I paid particular attention to making the monitor's color adjustments to getting as close to D6500 as I could. When all the "checkmarks" for color balance were checked the color balance was around 6400°k rather than 6500.

So I set the target gamma to 2.20, the color temp to D6500 and re-ran the calibration. It looked ok but felt that it needed a brightness and contras bump as well as a little extra sharpening. I am not in a dark room nor in a bright room, so I think it looks pretty good now. I'm retaining more highlight detail than in my old monitor which looked pretty good. The blacks are blacker and as I look at recent footage there is more detail in the tree foliage, though I may reduce the sharpness a bit now. My old monitor, also a Dell had been calibrated, I have both monitors side by side on "duplicate monitor" mode and they look very similar, but the new one just has more detail. As I look at this page right now I can see in the whites the new monitor is a bit warmer than my other two monitors. Perhaps it's in the contrast? I would have to assume that this new monitor is the correct one? I think it's supposed to have some sort of blue blocking to be easier on the eyes which might explain the difference? I don't know.

At first I was tempted to immediately exchange this monitor for the ASUS which has built in calibration and controls and color spaces. But as of this moment, I seem to have improved the look of this monitor, which I got for a very good price as an open box special, where only the external carton was damaged.

It's been a long time since I had to use my colorimeter, but glad I have it. I think over the years I've had 3 of them, each time obsolescence struck and I was forced to buy a new model.

 

[vindibona1]

There are multiple standards, depending on what your target device uses. Modern TVs are all over the lot brightness wise. Many SDR TVs achieve 500 nits, and HDR gets 1000 nits minimum. A 300 nit tv looks pretty dim in the average living room.

6500 k and a gamma of 2.2 or 2.4 are the color and gamma standards still in use. Rec 709, which is the HDV working standard specifies these.

Digital Cinema projection is close, but slightly different.

As a working video producer, I deliver rec 709 color corrected on a monitor set to 500 nits.

Part of the issue is that the i1Profiler software is asking me for what type of monitor I'm calibrating and gives me the choice of generic, CCFL, wide gammut CCFE, White LED, RGB LED. I'm not sure what that means or what impact that has on calibration. Xrite said that it sold off their i1 Profiler to Calibrite and they were no help. I called Dell and they were no help. I just wanted to know which settings to use for this monitor. I chose While LED this morning to see how things would turn out. It's not what I selected yesterday but seems to be an improvement. Yesterday there was too much yellow in the highlights and I paid particular attention to making the monitor's color adjustments to getting as close to D6500 as I could. When all the "checkmarks" for color balance were checked the color balance was around 6400°k rather than 6500.

So I set the target gamma to 2.20, the color temp to D6500 and re-ran the calibration. It looked ok but felt that it needed a brightness and contras bump as well as a little extra sharpening. I am not in a dark room nor in a bright room, so I think it looks pretty good now. I'm retaining more highlight detail than in my old monitor which looked pretty good. The blacks are blacker and as I look at recent footage there is more detail in the tree foliage, though I may reduce the sharpness a bit now. My old monitor, also a Dell had been calibrated, I have both monitors side by side on "duplicate monitor" mode and they look very similar, but the new one just has more detail.

At first I was tempted to immediately exchange this monitor for the ASUS which has built in calibration and controls and color spaces. But as of this moment, I seem to have improved the look of this monitor, which I got for a very good price as an open box special, where only the external carton was damaged.

It's been a long time since I had to use my colorimeter, but glad I have it. I think over the years I've had 3 of them, each time obsolescence struck and I was forced to buy a new model.

 

[vindibona1]

Update:
I had to do a little guess work to try to find what I had to set everything to but I think I guessed pretty well. I've got my two Dell monitors together and think they're pretty close, the right one (older one) right now being just a touch brigher than the new one. I can't decide if it's the contrast or brightness tha I have to adjust; possibly lowering the brightness a hair and raising the contrast a drop or just make the new one a touch brighter? I might have to go into Photoshop and see how things look compared to measured white, black and gray points? Perhaps that could work with a reference photo with known density points. But in the meantime, the photo below shows the monitors side-by-side.

It's interesting because the photo below shows the left image being a bit brighter and/or more contrasty than the right, but in person it's the other way around. The left also has a few more red highlights than the right, but in person it's very subtle and the lake looks brighter on the left in person. It won't take much but a few tweaks to get them closer. I think, because I'm not in a dark room, but one with modest ambient, reflected light from the outside the left monitor's brightness could be boosted a hair, which can't be seen in the photo below and looks opposite.

Yesterday I was already to pack up this new Dell monitor and exchange it for the Asus ProArt. I'm not feeling that way today. Perhaps the draw of the ASUS is that it has lots of settings and it's supposed to be "accurate". I'm sure it is, but I'm thinking my colorimeter leveled the playing field, at least a bit. What do you think?