Monitor Checker from Aardenburg Imaging

[Mark D Segal]

As a subscriber, I received an email this morning from A.I. announcing a new monitor checker tool that looks quite useful. It's available here:

Monitor Checker

[howardm]

Not sure if it's 'free' or not but do consider donating to the cause too.

[Mark D Segal]

I didn't encounter a paywall to download it; but I am a contributing subscriber. I believe it is a free download for any one, but there is a suggestion on the download page to make a contribution.

[rdonson]

I'm not a paying subscriber although I have a login to Aardenburg.  I was able to download the file without issue.

Like you, Mark, I do recommend that people contribute to the ongoing work Mark does if they can.

[Dale Villeponteaux]

My NEC PA272W passes all the Aardenburg monitor checker tests with the except of gamma. I recalibrated with an IOne display pro, changing gamma
from 2.2 to native without noticeable improvement. I'm not sure it matters much since the softproof image is a good match to the print but I'm wondering
how to correct the gamma curve.

Regards,
Dale

p.s. I suscribed to the Aardenburg site since I felt I owed something

[Doug Gray]

My NEC PA272W passes all the Aardenburg monitor checker tests with the except of gamma. I recalibrated with an IOne display pro, changing gamma
from 2.2 to native without noticeable improvement. I'm not sure it matters much since the softproof image is a good match to the print but I'm wondering
how to correct the gamma curve.

Regards,
Dale

p.s. I suscribed to the Aardenburg site since I felt I owed something

Check your zoom settings in Photoshop. Sometimes pixels will be interpolated and the gamma squares will often appear incorrect if the zoom % is not multiples of 100%.  This can also be a problem if your screen settings in the monitor are set to simulate something other than the native resolution. You can also set the zoom value at 200% or 400% then back off from the monitor so you don't seen the pixel patterns. This will even help somewhat if your monitor settings are not set to native resolution. All the squares' diagonals should be look the same level of grayness or at least very close.

[Lundberg02]

I'm a;ready A subscriber, so I downloaded it and it opened in PS 5.1 as a grey image with red lined rectangles and some explanatory text that was of no possible use to me, at 33%. What the heck do you do with it?

[Doug Gray]

I'm a;ready A subscriber, so I downloaded it and it opened in PS 5.1 as a grey image with red lined rectangles and some explanatory text that was of no possible use to me, at 33%. What the heck do you do with it?

Each of the checks are in layers. Active only one layer at a time and view at 100% zoom setting. Instructions are on each layer.

[Lundberg02]

I should have mentioned that aafter t downloaded and before PS opened it there was a Layer Warning that some layers contained data that can't be edited and asking if I wanted to Flatten. I voted to Keep Layers like any normal red-blooded American boy because Layers are the whole point. But I believe what actually opened was flattened because there aren't any f ing layers.

[TonyW]

I should have mentioned that aafter t downloaded and before PS opened it there was a Layer Warning that some layers contained data that can't be edited and asking if I wanted to Flatten. I voted to Keep Layers like any normal red-blooded American boy because Layers are the whole point. But I believe what actually opened was flattened because there aren't any f ing layers.

If you elect to keep layers you should get all the layers in the psd.  I am using CS6 and the download reports issues (this I believe due to missing Helvetica font) , however I believe that all will be well if:

1.  Choose to keep all layers

2.  Select to show just the top Layer Instructions.  Select the down arrow to reveal all layers contained within the folder

3.  By text layers you may find a yellow exclamation mark.  Right click on each one and select either Convert to Paragraph Text or Convert to Point text then OK

4.  Go through each layer section by section and correct all Text exclamation.

Should work now?

[Tim Lookingbill]

I couldn't find the download link. Do I have to register to do this?

If so, (and I tried to register) that process asks for my address and a lot of other information I don't think is worth entering just so I can download and open what appears to be going by other's input here a tricky (for my CS5 PS) .psd file and then trust that to be an accurate representation of the calibrated state of my monitor.

Why couldn't that file be made from a CS5 Photoshop layered .psd I wonder?

[TonyW]

I couldn't find the download link. Do I have to register to do this?

If so, (and I tried to register) that process asks for my address and a lot of other information I don't think is worth entering just so I can download and open what appears to be going by other's input here a tricky (for my CS5 PS) .psd file and then trust that to be an accurate representation of the calibrated state of my monitor.

Why couldn't that file be made from a CS5 Photoshop layered .psd I wonder?

Hi Tim,
I could not find anywhere to d/l this without registration so had to go through the procedure.  I agree that it does ask for a lot of information - some of which imho not really required.  However this seems to be the price of entry !

From what I can see so far the file is a layered psd that works fine in CS6 with the exception of requiring Helvetica font which if not available on your system will require a substitution font for the psd to display correctly.

Not had anytime to evaluate, but assumed going by the source this would be useful information

[Mark D Segal]

On the technical question of using the file, I had no difficulty. I opened it in Photoshop CC 2015.1.2 (the version before the last one) and it worked well. All the layers are there, and one turns them off (not deleting, only turning off) one by one in order from the top down to get another aspect of the testing with notes about how each test works and what one should expect from a well-calibrated/profiled display. I thought it rather useful, especially as my display passed all these tests..........Now, if it had flunked, then I'd have something to be concerned about! :-)

[MHMG]

Mark S, thanks for posting the notice about the Aardenburg Imaging MonitorChecker target.

I've beeen following this thread to see if there was any improvement that could be made to this latest version of the Aardenburg MonitorChecker PSD File. I built it in PSCC thinking it would also be compatible with PS6. In view of some of the comments about warnings popping up in non PSCC versions of photoshop, I went back to a CS6 copy of photoshop I still have on an older Mac in my studio to see check out the backwards compatibility issues. As others have noted a warning sign did pop up, which if navigated with the appropriate choice gives a fully functional MonitorChecker PSD file with the needed layers, but the other choice offered does flatten the file rendering it useless.

Conversely, by saving the MonitorChecker PSD file in CS6, the file still opens seamlessly into PSCC, so I've gone ahead and replaced the MonitorChecker PSD download file on the Aardenburg website with a copy that is more seamlessly backwards compatible to PS CS6. Such is life in this rapidly evolving digital age!  For website link consistency reasons, I did not iterate the version name, but for those on PS CS6, if you download again, you should now get a file that opens without any warning.  For folks using photoshop versions older than CS6, there are indeed likely to be some text substitution issues as well, but you still may be able to get the file to work correctly even if the text is altered somewhat. I can't easily test for any PS versions older than PSCS6.

Also, for anyone using Photoshop Elements, you are out of luck since the Elements doesn't fully support LAB and will insist on converting LAB to RGB thus requiring a flattening move

Lastly, don't expect pure perfection in the gamma square layer, but on a high-end monitor it's going to be really really close when you back away far enough from the screen so as not be able to resolve the interlace lines in the target.  On a lesser display like a Macbook Pro Retina laptop that is nevertheless instrument calibrated (e.g. i1 display Pro 2, Spyder 5, basicColor, etc), it will also be quite good but definitely not quite as good as a high-end monitor. This role of overall monitor quality is what motivated me to create the first version of the MonitorChecker PSD file in the first place over ten years ago.  Essentially, I wanted to know how calibrated is calibrated. Trust but verify

cheers,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com

[digitaldog]

I've beeen following this thread to see if there was any improvement that could be made to this latest version of the Aardenburg MonitorChecker PSD File. I built it in PSCC thinking it would also be compatible with PS6.

No issues, no dialogs popping on this end with CS6 on Mac. But I've seen such warnings in the past due to changes in the Type tool and presumably type layers between CS6 and CC.

[Benny Profane]

Thank you. No issues here, after registering.

[Lundberg02]

I guess what MHMG is aying is hat I'm not going to be able to use it in PS 5.1. Not everyone thinks PS beyond 5.1 is worth it.

[Rhossydd]

I guess what MHMG is aying is hat I'm not going to be able to use it in PS 5.1.

No, it works fine with CS4 and probably most other earlier versions that support layers. It's a pretty simple file, other than it uses a font that may not be installed on many systems, but substitutes work fine.
It will open in PSE 14, although the lack of LAB support is an issue for some aspects as mentioned earlier.

[kers]

... On a lesser display like a Macbook Pro Retina laptop that is nevertheless instrument calibrated (e.g. i1 display Pro 2, Spyder 5, basicColor, etc), it will also be quite good but definitely not quite as good as a high-end monitor. This role of overall monitor quality is what motivated me to create the first version of the MonitorChecker PSD file in the first place over ten years ago.  Essentially, I wanted to know how calibrated is calibrated. Trust but verify

cheers,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com

Mark,
Many thanks for the making of the monitor checker and making it available.
I am working on one of the first, now 6 year old - Dell 2560x1600 displays ; indeed, the first test with the squares could be better on my display...
For final judgement i rely on my HPZ3100... both have been consistent and served me well over the years...
(What was not consistent was the display 2 puck from X-rite)

regards,

Pieter Kers

[Tim Lookingbill]

Went ahead and registered, downloaded the .psd file and opened in CS5.1 Photoshop choosing not to update the font and all worked well as intended.

Passed all tests (?) on a 27" LG LED sRGB-ish monitor bought at Best Buy and hooked to a 2010 MacMini/OS 10.6.8 calibrated with Colormunki Display.

The (?) is about the LAB shadow grade out of black point of the 5432X target where it says the "X" must be barely seen "not easily seen" which I find to be way too subjective of a test especially considering it could be influenced by the visual effect described in the lateral adaptation issue. I can clearly see the "X" but it's darker than the rest of the numbers. Apple's DigitalColor Meter CIE LAB reads the "X" L* at .889.

So can't tell if my display's black point is dense enough or the gamma curve is wacked or my eyes have adjusted to seeing the "X" as lighter.