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Author Topic: Monitor brightness  (Read 2683 times)

AS1

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Monitor brightness
« on: April 17, 2013, 01:22:57 am »

I have two monitors, a NEC wide gamut with it's own puck tied to SpectraView calibration software, and an Eizo monitor calibrated with an iOne and Color Navigator software. I calibrate the displays to be d65, 120 brightness, and 2.2 gamma.
My question is about monitor brightness; if I open two identical white documents in Photoshop on both monitors, the Eizo display reads (on my light meter) f11.8 and the NEC reads f8.8....... I readjusted the brightness on the Eizo to be d65, 100 brightness, 2.2 gamma, and it reads f11.3 now, still almost a half stop brighter than the NEC which is calibrated to 120....?
Why don't both monitors have equal brightness (I'm using a spot meter to measure, and both monitors were turned on for an hour or more).

Thanks for any insight!

Alan.
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Schewe

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Re: Monitor brightness
« Reply #1 on: April 17, 2013, 02:17:48 am »

I have two monitors, a NEC wide gamut with it's own puck tied to SpectraView calibration software, and an Eizo monitor calibrated with an iOne and Color Navigator software.

Two different devices, two different profiling software is the likely answer...the NEC with it's puck is doing it's calibration and profiling based on internal LUTs, the Eizo is being profiled by the i1 and Color Navigator software...which is a recipe for differences...
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digitaldog

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Re: Monitor brightness
« Reply #2 on: April 17, 2013, 09:40:15 am »

The numbers are pretty meaningless if your goal is a visual match of two differing devices.
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AS1

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Re: Monitor brightness
« Reply #3 on: April 17, 2013, 11:33:47 am »

Andrew (and Jeff),
But, am I crazy to think that two monitors which are properly profiled (to the same ct, gamma, brightness) would "look" the same in terms of brightness (and color)? I thought that was the point of profiling, to try to achieve a uniform standard across different devices?

Thanks, appreciate your input,
Alan.
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digitaldog

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Re: Monitor brightness
« Reply #4 on: April 17, 2013, 11:37:53 am »

Andrew (and Jeff),
But, am I crazy to think that two monitors which are properly profiled (to the same ct, gamma, brightness) would "look" the same in terms of brightness (and color)? I thought that was the point of profiling, to try to achieve a uniform standard across different devices?

You certainly are not crazy. But this isn't a prefect world.

I recall a few years ago, calibrating and profiling a display using an instrument but two different software packages, both set to the same targets. I figured I'd get the same results. I didn't. Now take two differing software packages and even the same instrument and add another display into the mix. I'm not at all surprised that they don't match.

Now IF you had say two of the same Eizo or SpectraView II models. Same software. You'll get a strong match if the instruments and such are up to snuff. That's why it's kind of a good idea to select a make and stick with it IF your goal is a collaborative viewing system.
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AS1

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Re: Monitor brightness
« Reply #5 on: April 17, 2013, 11:57:05 am »

That's amazing!
I have one workstation I use in the studio to shoot tethered to, and another that I use to do retouching and and other image work.

What I'm noticing is that after I have output files from the tethered shooting workstation I'm finding that I usually end up brightening the final image after I've viewed it on my retouching workstation. It seems to me this is happening because of the different brightness in the two monitors, so would the best solution be to adjust the brightness when I calibrate the individual monitors (i.e. set the NEC to 120cd, d65, 2.2 and set the Eizo to (say) 80cd, d65, 2.2) to try to get the brightness to match.
Or have I just opened another can of worms....
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digitaldog

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Re: Monitor brightness
« Reply #6 on: April 17, 2013, 11:58:51 am »

Or have I just opened another can of worms....

You have but you need to get those worms back in the can. Maybe move both systems next to each other, figure out what settings produce a visual match, then move them back into place.
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AS1

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Re: Monitor brightness
« Reply #7 on: April 17, 2013, 12:09:02 pm »

OK, sounds good.
I can put the workstations together to compare, it's getting the worms back in the can that's going to take some time....

Thanks Andrew, appreciate your input,
Alan.
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Chas

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Re: Monitor brightness
« Reply #8 on: April 21, 2013, 02:05:10 pm »

I have found that old slow cds light meters match readings better among different displays. I think it's because modern meters that are fast enough to read flash can conflict with the refresh rate and persistence differences among monitors. I keep a vintage meter around for this. But as Andrew said, it's still not perfect.
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