CRT luminance & SpyderPro calibration

[CharmedEye]

According to the ambient light analysis (moderately low) it was recommended to calibrate to 5800K & 125 cd/m.

I can't turn my 3 - 4 years old Mitsubishi DiamonPro 2020u brighter than 50 cd/m. Does it mean that my monitor is dying or I'm missing smth here?
thank you!


ChE

[pfigen]

You need a bare minimum of about 75 cd/m2 for a CRT, and that's in a pretty dark editing bay. If you're only getting 50 cd/m2, your screen is way beyond its useful life. You can try shrinking the image giving bigger borders next to the bezel, but I doubt it's going to be enough. I don't think anyone ever recommended 125 for CRTs - more like 85-90 and 100-110 for LCDs.

[CharmedEye]

Colorvision SpyderPro 2.x. Very dim room.
An interesting second thought. It's the 1st time I used CV. Until now they've been Eye One products.
I've been quite happy with monitor/printer output (WYSIWYG) consistency. The CV calibration definitely looks too blueish/cold for my taste. Both at 5800 & 6500 K.
Well - I feel slightly lost here.    


ChE

[Kaa]

I can't turn my 3 - 4 years old Mitsubishi DiamonPro 2020u brighter than 50 cd/m. Does it mean that my monitor is dying or I'm missing smth here?

Yes, CRT monitors lose brightness as they age.

I have a DiamondPro 2040 that's about five years old. It's "normal" brightness right now  is somewhere around 45-50 cd/m. However it has a special "superbright" mode that is capable of reaching 85 cd/m -- not perfect, but usable. I set it to 6500K and calibrated with decent results. My guess it that has about a year more of useful life...

Kaa

[Kaa]

The CV calibration definitely looks too blueish/cold for my taste. Both at 5800 & 6500 K.

The point of monitor calibration is not to look pleasant. The point is to make it match the output of other color-calibrated devices, notably your printer.

If you find your images too cold you should adjust the images' white balance, not recalibrate your monitor.

Kaa

[CharmedEye]

The funny thing is that it used to match prints just fine. The blueish look is of the before/after image that COLORVISION offers at the end of the calibration.

ChE

[pfigen]

The point of monitor calibration is to set your monitor to a known and repeatable state. There are different requirements for different purposes, but most people using CRTs for print production are using 5500-6500K, a black point of around .28-.31 and a white luminence of 85-90 cd/m2. Calibration is NOT supposed to make your monitor match any particular device. That's what input and output profiles are for, in conjunction with a good monitor profile.

You may have a defective Spyder if it's giving a blueish tint to your screen. I always set the desktop to a neutral gray as it helps you notice when things are off in your calibration and doesn't influence your color perception for actual images.