Eizo looks muddy

[Hening Bettermann]

Hi all!

Hope you had a god start into the new year!

I bought myself a CG243W monitor for Christmas and calibrated it with the DTP 94 and the Eizo software. The result is utterly disappointing. The Color Checker looks muddy, as compared to when displayed on my Samsung 193P, which is calibrated with the same puck and an antique version of the ColorEyes software.

First I thought it was due to the 80 cd which is the factory recommendation. So I made 2 additional profiles, with 100 and 120 cd. But there is no difference, no change if I select the different profiles, neither on the Eizo, nor on the Samsung, when I try to apply the Eizo profiles to that.

It could look like the profiles were not constructed according to the target. But the validation document reflects the candelas I specified.

I did not touch any of the physical controls on the monitor.

Any idea of what could be wrong?

Hening.

[Paul Sumi]

Am wondering if your computer is trying to load 2 monitor profiles at the same time, which might be causing the muddy colors.

Also:

Isn't the CG243W a wide gamut monitor?

In what color space is your test image?

Are you viewing your test image in a color-managed application?

Also would help to know which OS and video card you are using.

80 cd is definitely too low for a LCD monitor - 120-140 is a commonly recommended starting point.

Paul

[jjlphoto]

80 cd is definitely too low for a LCD monitor - 120-140 is a commonly recommended starting point.

I have an Eizo ColorEdge CG21. I use Eizo ColorNavigator software with a GMB i1Pro. I used to set to 120, but that was too bright. I now set luminance to 100. Black level set to .4. That gives me a contrast ratio of 250, which is desired for print. (lum / black level). The software should activate the current profile. If it didn't, you have to select it in ColorNavigator with the USB cable connected.

[Hening Bettermann]

Thank you both for your replies!

First the things I failed to state (sorry!): Computer is Mac Nehalem 2.66 GHz running Snow Leopard 10.6.2. Video Card is NVIDIA GeForce GT 120. The test image is the Color Checker, opened in ACR. Working color space is ProPhoto. I think this is then the color space in which the image is? - Yes I think the 243W is considered a wide gamut monitor.

The computer must indeed be trying to load 2 different profiles at the same time, one for either monitor. But isn't it supposed to do that? The user surface at least seems to say so.
---

Today, I discovered, that the impression of muddy colors on the Eizo is greatly reduced if I make the image fill the whole screen! So the problem was that my eye compared the image to the monitor background, which is set to light grey.

With this discovery, I tried to compare the 2 monitor images not only to each other, but to the physical CC chart, illuminated by one of the 2 Solux lamps that were used to shoot it.

The result is, that both monitors - either with its own profile - display a realistic, if slightly different image.

Remaining problem: Regardless which profile I choose on the Eizo (80-100-120 cd), I see no difference in neither image nor histogram (in ACR), nor in the brightness of the monitor background. Need these profiles to be activated for the monitor in some sort of way beyond choosing them in the monitor prefs?

> If it didn't, you have to select it in ColorNavigator with the USB cable connected.

John Luke, you had the answer!
Doing this, I discovered, that I may just have failed to discover the change of profiles. Unlike on the Samsung, the brightness does not change abruptly, but gradually, and I need to see it in the Color Navigator to be sure.

Thanks again! - Hening.