EIZO Monitor Owners - How did you calibrate your monitor

[oak3x]

With my recent purchase of a new EIZO CG222w, my next step will be to calibrate the monitor.

From all the reading I have done and speaking with Eizo, the preference seems to be to calibrate the monitor using the Color Navigator Software (Eizo) and the puck from say X-Rite or Spyder3.

For those who have calibrated their Eizo Monitor, which software did you use


-Eizo's Color Navigator Software (and third-party puck)

-Third-Party Software (ex. Spyder3, Color Munki, X-Rite)


Thank you!

[martinreed22]

CG243W, EIZO ColorNavigator software (in order to use the internal LUT), Colormunki puck.

Had previously used a Sypder3 Pro puck, got a heavy red tint. Ditched it.

cheers, martin

[Doug Peterson]

ALWAYS use color navigator. Always.

The Eizo system is one of very very few in the world where the RESPONSE of the monitor is altered. With almost all other systems (e.g. Apple) you are altering the OUTPUT of the video card.

The issue with altering the output of the video card is that you cannot boost a particular color, you can only restrain it. So if the monitor is tending towards red then the red output of the video card is restrained. Since you only have 256* shades of each color to start with in most setups that means as the monitor ages you may drop a significant percentage of one of your color channels range, leading to even more banding, and even poorer highlight and shadow accuracy.

With the Eizo the electronics package behind the screen (the stuff that makes the monitor an extra couple inches thicker than e.g. an Apple Cinema Display) allow the monitor to receive the full range of the video card and then modify (with 10, 12 or 16 bit internal math depending on the Eizo model). The result is that even after several years the Eizo will still have the same range and response - one of the reasons that they are able to offer 5 year warranties with confidence.

The relevant point to all this is that if you use 3rd party software then you are back to altering the output of the video card and you give up one of the reasons you bought such a nice monitor. Only the Color Navigator software can talk to the monitor itself to accomplish the hardware calibration of the monitor's response.

*New display port compatible monitors like the CG243 allow a larger number of shades of color depending on the video card used.

Doug Peterson
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[oak3x]

Thank you DOUG and MARTIN...

Being new to Post Processing, I am still learning (and buying equipment).  

Color Management and calibrating up the computer, monitor and printer is a little overwhelming.  Your knowledge is much appreciated.

Any other thoughts from other members is greatly appreciated!!!!

THANKS!!

[JeffKohn]

I agree, you want to use the Colornavigator software. It's the only software I've found that will use the internal LUT of the monitor for calibration, while leaving the video card LUT alone. Last time I checked, even though Color Eyes Display pro supported the EIZO hardware LUT, it still insisted on changing the video card LUT as well. Mucking about with the LUT on a DVI video card is a guaranteed recipe for banding.

[tho_mas]

BasICColor Display also calibrates the internal LUT of the Eizos CG series (though you have to reset the monitor prior).
Still: Color Navigator is the first choice as the software contains correction tables for the measurment devices.
The use of the Spyder 3 is limited in Color Navigator (you can't calibrate in "gray balance", only in "contrast" mode which is basically just a calibration of the white point). This is why I wouldn't take the Spyder 3 for an Eizo CG. I am using the DTP94 & Color Navigator (CG241W).
The only drawback with Color Navigator is TRC L* - it simply doesn't match the L*-TRC of ECI-RGB V2 (i.e. L-Star) and Pro-Star. With Color Navigator Gamma 1.8 or Gamma 2.2 (or any "Gamma") is the way to go.
If you want to calibrate to L* BasICColor Display does a phantastic job.

[terrywyse]

I agree, you want to use the Colornavigator software. It's the only software I've found that will use the internal LUT of the monitor for calibration, while leaving the video card LUT alone. Last time I checked, even though Color Eyes Display pro supported the EIZO hardware LUT, it still insisted on changing the video card LUT as well. Mucking about with the LUT on a DVI video card is a guaranteed recipe for banding.

I've been using ColorEyes Display Pro and an EyeOne Pro on my EIZO CG211 for some time now and I've only ever seen in modify the display LUT and not the video card LUT. Perhaps you were using an old version of CED.

I've been very happy with this combination on my system. Had a glitch with the software when Snow Leopard was released but they've since fixed that.

Regards,
Terry Wyse

[jackbingham]

"The Eizo system is one of very very few in the world where the RESPONSE of the monitor is altered. With almost all other systems (e.g. Apple) you are altering the OUTPUT of the video card. "


Wow, Doug you need to get out more often. Coloreyes Display and Basiccolor Display both have the full tool kit for eizo displays. Unlike other monitor companies these guys supply third parties like us with the necessary information to calibrate the internal luts. Secondly there are many monitors with internal luts that can be addressed, not just Eizo.
As for the comment below about Coloreyes Display altering the video lut, if the adjustment of the monitor lut is not ideal there will be some final minor adjustments to the card, but suggesting those will cause any banding at all is silly.

[tho_mas]

As for the comment below about Coloreyes Display altering the video lut, if the adjustment of the monitor lut is not ideal there will be some final minor adjustments to the card, but suggesting those will cause any banding at all is silly

to my knowledge this is only the case when you don't reset the monitor prior to a calibration... at least this is what happens here with my Eizo and BasICColor Display. Color Navigator leaves some data in the monitor's LUT that can't be overwritten by BasICColor Display (the same possibly goes for Coloreyes Display as it is an OEM of BasICColor Display, if I remember correctly).

[Doug Peterson]

"The Eizo system is one of very very few in the world where the RESPONSE of the monitor is altered. With almost all other systems (e.g. Apple) you are altering the OUTPUT of the video card. "

 there are many monitors with internal luts that can be addressed, not just Eizo.

Glad to be corrected. Perhaps you could list or link to a list of monitors which provide internal LUT adjustment using your software.

Thanks for your contribution to the community!

Doug

Doug Peterson
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[tho_mas]

Perhaps you could list or link to a list of monitors which provide internal LUT adjustment using your software.

Doug, here's the list of BasICColor Display 4:

Hardware Support List basICColor display 4.1.17
===============================================
November 2009

Colorimeter:
- basICColor SQUID
- basICColor SQUID 2
- Colorvision Spyder 2
- Colorvision Spyder 3
- Monaco OPTIX XR
- X-Rite Eye-One display
- X-Rite Eye-One display 2
- X-Rite Eye-One display LT
- X-Rite DTP 94 USB

Spectralphotometer:
- X-Rite Eye-One Pro
- X-Rite Eye-One Monitor

Display Color Analyzer:
Konica Minolta Display Color Analyzer CA-210

Displays (hardware calibration):
- Eizo CG 18
- Eizo CG 19
- Eizo CG 21
- Eizo CG 210
- Eizo CE 210W
- Eizo CG 211
- Eizo CG 220
- Eizo CG 221
- Eizo CG 222W
- Eizo CG 232W
- Eizo CE 240W
- Eizo CG 241W
- Eizo CG 242W
- Eizo CG 243W
- Eizo CG 301W
- NEC SpectraView 1980
- NEC SpectraView 1990
- NEC SpectraView 1990p
- NEC SpectraView 2090
- NEC SpectraView 2180
- NEC SpectraView 2190
- NEC SpectraView 2190p
- NEC SpectraView 2490
- NEC SpectraView 2490-2
- NEC SpectraView 2690
- NEC SpectraView 3090
- NEC SpectraView Reference 2690
- NEC SpectraView Reference 3090
- NEC SpectraView Reference 21
- NEC MultiSync P221W

Displays (combined hard- and software calibration):
- Apple monitors*
- NEC MultiSync LCD 1980
- NEC MultiSync LCD 1990SX
- NEC MultiSync LCD 1990SXi
- NEC MultiSync LCD 2090UXi
- NEC MultiSync LCD 2180UX
- NEC MultiSync LCD 2190UXp
- NEC MultiSync LCD 2190UXi
- NEC MultiSync LCD 2490WUXi
- NEC MultiSync LCD 2490WUXi2
- NEC MultiSync LCD 2690WUXi
- NEC MultiSync LCD 2690WUXi2
- NEC MultiSync LCD 3090WQXi

Displays (software calibration):
- all other displays, LCD and CRT

Other Devices:
- basICColor diLIGHT
- JUST Color Communicator 2
- manroland Press Console


* only Apple monitors supported with a brightness slider
in the monitor preferences pane.

[budjames]

I have a 3 year old Eizo ColorEdge CE240W connected to my MacPro 8-core running SL 10.6.2. I've been using the EyeOne Display i1 (least expensive model) colorimeter and the Eizo ColorNavigator software with excellent results.

I calibrate my monitor about once a month. I used to do it weekly, but I never noticed any differences so I reduced the frequency to monthly.

I was printing to an Epson R2400 using Epson papers and their canned profiles. Three months ago I replaced my R2400 with a new 3880. I use Epson, Red River, Ilford and Hahnemuehler papers with their respective canned profiles.

99% of my images are printed directly from Lightroom 2.6 with standard output sharpening applied. The results are awesome!!!

Cheers.
Bud

[jackbingham]

Coloreyes does a full reset automatically on the monitor before each profile.

[Ellis Vener]

I've been using ColorNavigator with both an EyeOne Pro (primary tool) and a Spyder3 (in testing) for the CG222W. In terms of results it sort of like deciding which flavor of neutral you prefer.

[tgipson]

I use the ColorNavigator software and Color Munki and works well

[Doug Peterson]

"The Eizo system is one of very very few in the world where the RESPONSE of the monitor is altered. With almost all other systems (e.g. Apple) you are altering the OUTPUT of the video card. "

Wow, Doug you need to get out more often. [...]

Glad to be corrected. Perhaps you could list or link to a list of monitors which provide internal LUT adjustment using your software.

Thanks for your contribution to the community!

Doug

Doug, here's the list of BasICColor Display 4:

Hardware Support List basICColor display 4.1.17
===============================================
November 2009
[...]
Displays (hardware calibration):
- Eizo CG [... several Eizo CG series monitors]
- NEC SpectraView [...several NEC SpectraView monitors]
- NEC MultiSync P221W

Guys, I'm confused. You put me down for not getting out enough when I say "Almost all other systems are [software calibration only]" but the list of supported hardware calibration monitors in BasICColor is Eizo and NEC.

What am I missing? Honest question. I assume there are brands I am not aware of that offer their own proprietary-only adjustment of hardware LUTs then.

Doug Peterson
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[George Marinos]

Eizo CG221 with Color Navigator and Eye one pro works fine for me.Very simple to calibrate ,very accurate and it is possible to change profiles on the fly if you want to make
comparisons or if you want to edit for different situations(web,photo printing or prepress) !
A part NEC and EIZO,QUATO is another brand with the possibility of hardware calibration.

[geossl]

What fine adjustment colour mode when calibrating the monitor?  

Picture mode or sRGB?

[Ethan_Hansen]

One advantage I see to ColorNavigator over third party software is that it is indeed easier to change profiles on the fly with it. BasICColor and ColorEyes both allow you to switch profiles but doing so takes dialog diving through either the profiling software, the O/S color settings, or both. The other advantage to ColorNavigator is that it is included free with many Eizo monitors. If, however, you make your living based on what your display presents, spending a small amount of extra cash for superior results makes sense to me.

Both ColorEyes and BasICColor allow more flexibility in choosing calibration settings and the sensor used for the measurements. Tho_mas notes that BasICColor does not always reset the monitor prior to beginning the calibration. We have seen this behavior on at least two DDC-capable displays. ColorEyes, on the other hand, always performs a full reset. Note that BasICColor and ColorEyes are completely different products -- the software diverged in 2005 or thereabouts.

The majority of graphics monitors now offer hardware adjustment via DDC. Examples include the aforementioned Eizo, NEC, and Quato as well as HP, Samsung, Sony, Dell, Lenovo, LG, Viewsonic and others. Although the various revisions of the DDC protocol are all standards, monitor manufacturers appear unwilling to follow them faithfully. Not all "DDC capable" screens really are. Monitor profiling software vendors must either perform reverse engineering or get SDKs from the monitor manufacturers. Some manufacturers see themselves as hardware vendors and are willing to share their secrets while others *cough* NEC *cough* appear to see monitor calibration software as a major revenue stream. Dell is a special case. Some of their screens have panels made by more than one manufacturer, so no consistent software is available.

As Doug pointed out, there are definite advantages to calibration software being able to adjust the monitor directly as well as simply munging the video card outputs. The majority of newer, high-quality graphics displays have at least 10-bit internal color processing if not higher. This allows the calibration software to perform finer adjustments, therefore reducing the risk of posterization, color crossovers, or banding.