Contrast Adjustment on 23" Apple Cinema Display

[Photolandscape]

I have been tweaking and tweaking and tweaking my digital photo setup for more than a year. I am so close to getting a great match between a 23" Cinema Display and my Epson 4000 with IP 6.1 RIP on all sorts of papers, but I am off in just one respect.

I had been using an HP2335 monitor, but even with all of its built in correction capabilities, and despite dozens of attempts have never been able to get its output to match the output on my Epson 4000.

The Cinema display is slightly contrastier than my print output. I have read or been told somewhere that while you can't adjust the contrast via any controls on the Cinema Display itself, you can fully adjust it from within the MAC OSX environment. That sounds great, but how? If I can turn the contrast down just a pinch, I will finally be in Color Management Heaven/Nirvana, a place I've wanted to be in all my life.

Thanks.

P.S. I am on a Mac G5, Apple 23" Cinema display, use an Eye-One Display 2 to calibrate with, print on an Epson 4000 via IP 6.1 RIP with Epson inks, and print mostly on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Bright White and some Epson Premium Luster from time to time.

[Schewe]

Soft proofing...that's what will get you a prediction of the dynamic range of the print.

[Scott Martin]

One concept to consider is adjusting the brightness on the display so that a white document is no brighter than a white piece of paper when viewed under your lighting. You may choose to do this with or without paper white simulation turned on but this will avoid the common scenario you describe where the display seems to have more contrast (and a larger dynamic range) than the print you are viewing.

Scot Martin
www.on-sight.com

[Wayne Fox]

One concept to consider is adjusting the brightness on the display so that a white document is no brighter than a white piece of paper when viewed under your lighting. You may choose to do this with or without paper white simulation turned on but this will avoid the common scenario you describe where the display seems to have more contrast (and a larger dynamic range) than the print you are viewing.

Scot Martin
www.on-sight.com
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This is an important step that most people don't realize.  With a 23" monitor at full brightness you really cannot effectively match print to screen.  My 30" screen at optimum brightess for working with images is only 40% of the full brightness, using EyeOne's newest software that measures brightness as part of the calibration process.

I turn the screen to full for everything except Photoshop/Lightroom.  To reset it for those programs I dim it all the way, and then bring it back up 20 steps.  Seems real dim at first but after you work with it a while your eyes adjust, and you'll find the contrast of the screen is now much closer to what the print will be.

I fought this for several years, and just recently found it much easier to get predicitable output.

A side note, we have several artists using Dell LCD screens and most of them cannot dim far enough according to the EyeOne software.  We have to dim them all the way and calibrate.

[Schewe]

I turn the screen to full for everything except Photoshop/Lightroom.  To reset it for those programs I dim it all the way, and then bring it back up 20 steps.  Seems real dim at first but after you work with it a while your eyes adjust, and you'll find the contrast of the screen is now much closer to what the print will be.
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That's a recipe for substantial inconsistencies...you would be far better off sticking to a single luminance settings and locking it. For LCD's the recommended settings is 140-160 cd/m2 (depending on your viewing environment) Since there is no contrast settings on LCDs, you'll need to adjust the luminance so that you still see a clear black in the normal viewing environment...

But constantly changing your luminance settings is something you really want to avoid. There's no way you can be consistent by using the brightness slider to guess at luminance output.

[vandevanterSH]

I am using an Eye-One to Cal my Cinema HD30.  The problem that I am having is that at the lowest brightness setting on the monitor gives a luminance of 106 cd/m2 and ideal level is 90. Using LR and printing to a pro3800, my prints tend to be dark.  My estimate is that a 90 luminance would closely match my printer output.  Is there a way to reduce the brightness of the Cinema 30 more or is there another solution?


Steve

[Schewe]

I am using an Eye-One to Cal my Cinema HD30.  The problem that I am having is that at the lowest brightness setting on the monitor gives a luminance of 106 cd/m2 and ideal level is 90.
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Are you working in a cave? If your LCD is so bright that you have to try to run it under 100 cd/m2 then something is wrong with your working environment. You'll need to increase the level of ambient light-no direct light hitting the display mind you-so that 130-150cd/m2 gives you a proper display.

[vandevanterSH]

Are you working in a cave? If your LCD is so bright that you have to try to run it under 100 cd/m2 then something is wrong with your working environment. You'll need to increase the level of ambient light-no direct light hitting the display mind you-so that 130-150cd/m2 gives you a proper display.
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The ambient light at the screen is 96 lux...should I re-cal the monitor to 130cd/m2? Will this worsen the difference between the monitor and printer.  I am pretty new at this stuff..maybe if I hadn't stumbled onto the LL web site, bought LR..watched the tutorials, etc. etc...I might be a lot happier but not having as much fun.  (Maybe the monitor looks bright because I have new plastic lenses in my eyeballs)



Steve

[ePaperPress]

The ambient light at the screen is 96 lux...should I re-cal the monitor to 130cd/m2?[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Your ambient light level is sufficient per [a href=\"http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/11791.html]ISO standards[/url]. One way to determine whether or not your luminance level is appropriate is to make a few prints. If the resulting prints are too dark this indicates that your monitor is too bright causing you to excessively lower image brightness during postprocessing.

If you're unable to sufficiently decrease brightness with the monitor's brightness control consider the following procedure. Adjust the individual R-G-B controls to about 85% of their full value. Then calibrate as usual and your monitor's brightness control should now operate within range.

[vandevanterSH]

Your ambient light level is sufficient per ISO standards. One way to determine whether or not your luminance level is appropriate is to make a few prints. If the resulting prints are too dark this indicates that your monitor is too bright causing you to excessively lower image brightness during postprocessing.

If you're unable to sufficiently decrease brightness with the monitor's brightness control consider the following procedure. Adjust the individual R-G-B controls to about 85% of their full value. Then calibrate as usual and your monitor's brightness control should now operate within range.
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[/quote>


Thanks for the reply.  I don't know of any way to adjust my Apple Cinema 30 to either decrease brightness below 106 or the change RGB.  Since Schewe thought I was living in a cave, I increased the brightness to 130..it worsened the display/print problem.  I am pretty new at this, so I guess it time for more reading.


Steve

[ePaperPress]

Thanks for the reply.  I don't know of any way to adjust my Apple Cinema 30 to either decrease brightness below 106 or the change RGB.[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=124552\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Ah... didn' t know you couldn't change RGB on the Apple Cinema. Well, if your prints are too dark, and you can't decrease monitor brightness, that leaves one thing you can change.

Do as Jeff suggests and increase ambient light. The brighter the surrounding lights the dimmer your monitor will appear. And the dimmer your monitor, the lighter the resulting prints.