Changing Monitor Brightness for Printing

[pflower]

I use an iMac with the latest OSX.  In order to get a reasonably accurate measure of the brightness of a print I need to reduce the brightness of the monitor by a certain amount.  By trial and error I have worked out that opening system preferences and moving the Displays slider to a certain position I can get a pretty good estimate of the brightness of the print.  However it only works by moving the slider by reference to the text underneath - i.e.

However that level is not optimal for viewing films etc. etc.  Equally I do find an initial processing of images in Lightroom and Photoshop to be easier if I start with the monitor set to full brightness.  But then I forget to fine tune then monitor for final adjustments for  printing.

Is there any app out there that can adjust an iMac monitor to a specified level or is there some kind of macro type keyboard shortcut that I can use.  I still have to remember but it might be easier than going through system preferences.

Any tips on this from anyone?

Thanks

[Jeremy Roussak]

This is quite technical, but if you're prepared to futz around with the Terminal app (and/or a short AppleScript), you might be able to get something working.

Jeremy

[nemophoto]

To be honest, if you want accurate representation, your monitor needs to be calibrated for printing which is usually a brightness no greater than 150, but you can fudge a little by using a setting of 180, maybe 200, depending upon the monitor. Monitors at default are way brighter than can be used accurately for print. Monitors deal with transmissible color/light while a prints are reflective. As such, the print will always be “duller” by comparison. If you do a lot of printing, you need to dial down the brightness. I do a lot of printing and pre-press work. It’s the only way to make sure things are accurate. I’m sure it’s not what you wanted to hear, but it’s the difference in web vs prints for images.

[digitaldog]

Anything other than a ‘smart display’ system that allows calibration in the panel, and allows via software to switch this calibration and update the profile defining the display is a hack. That’s why such systems exist, to allow multiple (nearly unlimited) number of calibrations for differing needs and the ability to load them and swap the profile that defines them. But it costs a bit more money. IOW, you want something like an NEC SpectraView with their software and supported colorimeter.