Calibrating the new Macbook LED screens

[jtd131]

Anyone tell me how best to calibrate the new macbooks' screens? They are different from the old screens and I have heard a lot of mixed things. I know someone just asked this question about Toshiba, but anyone know anything about the Macbook? Also, if you don't mind me asking without searching first, what is the best in inexpensive external displays? The Apple ones are crazy expensive!

Thanks

[Cuervo79]

From what I've read, TN panels are best for gaming if you're interested in image rendition look at other types of panels, these are the ones that have problems with being darker on the edges depending on the angle you're looking at them, this in term messes up how you judge the brightness and contrast of your photo, I also have a problem that the LCD I have looks warmer than the CRT. After that I know no much else. If you want to have an idea of what panel a specific monitor uses check out this link http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/panelsearch_content.htm

[W.Smith]

Originally Posted by jtd131

Anyone tell me how best to calibrate the new macbooks' screens? They are different from the old screens and I have heard a lot of mixed things. I know someone just asked this question about Toshiba, but anyone know anything about the Macbook? Also, if you don't mind me asking without searching first, what is the best in inexpensive external displays? The Apple ones are crazy expensive!

Thanks

In OSX, goto System Preferences/Displays/Color/Calibrate... and do your stuff.

Apple displays are expensive because they are good. Out of the box. And can be calibrated very easily (see above). Less expensive displays are not and cannot, thus requiring special calibration hard- and software, as well as your considerable time and attention! I.e. money! Whatever you may save on a cheaper display is easily offset by the money you will need to spend to get it working properly. Consequently the COO (Cost Of Ownerhip) of 'cheaper' displays is in fact higher than that of Apple displays.

'Cheap' is indeed cheap.

[SteveB2005]

Hey jtd. I have a MacBook and a DELL monitor I hook up when I do serious Photoshop work. Although I have set the DELL and MacBook into mirror mode so I can see both screens in real time, the calibration between the 2 does not match perfectly, almost, but 2 different display technologies.

Here is an interesting link I found about the Spyder Pro Calibration System available for Mac/PC. A ton of info about this confusing subject. Maybe this will help a bit. Let us know what you think.

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/a...pyder2pro.html

katt

[Cuervo79]

Originally Posted by SteveB2005

Hey jtd. I have a MacBook and a DELL monitor I hook up when I do serious Photoshop work. Although I have set the DELL and MacBook into mirror mode so I can see both screens in real time, the calibration between the 2 does not match perfectly, almost, but 2 different display technologies.

Here is an interesting link I found about the Spyder Pro Calibration System available for Mac/PC. A ton of info about this confusing subject. Maybe this will help a bit. Let us know what you think.

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/a...pyder2pro.html

katt

Cool more info to read about the "confusing subject" Thank you for the link.

Originally Posted by W.Smith

In OSX, goto System Preferences/Displays/Color/Calibrate... and do your stuff.

Apple displays are expensive because they are good. Out of the box. And can be calibrated very easily (see above). Less expensive displays are not and cannot, thus requiring special calibration hard- and software, as well as your considerable time and attention! I.e. money! Whatever you may save on a cheaper display is easily offset by the money you will need to spend to get it working properly. Consequently the COO (Cost Of Ownerhip) of 'cheaper' displays is in fact higher than that of Apple displays.

'Cheap' is indeed cheap.

Just remember, EVEN if you have an apple display you still need a hardware calibrator in order to get accurate results. So its not like buying an apple display will save you money if you want it to be calibrated properly

[W.Smith]

Originally Posted by Cuervo79

Just remember, EVEN if you have an apple display you still need a hardware calibrator in order to get accurate results. So its not like buying an apple display will save you money if you want it to be calibrated properly

That's spreading FUD, Cuervo. Reality is that Apple displays have hard- and software calibration built-in! No need to spend more money on Spyders etc. Unless you need to get rid of it, of course.

[Cuervo79]

Originally Posted by W.Smith

That's spreading FUD, Cuervo. Reality is that Apple displays have hard- and software calibration built-in! No need to spend more money on Spyders etc. Unless you need to get rid of it, of course.

One learns new stuff everyday. I tried searching for what you say, but I didn't find anything specific on cinema displays, do all of them have hardware calibrators built in? Do you have any links that I can read to inform myself better?

[jtd131]

Thanks a lot guys, so when you say mac screens are good, you mean the external displays right? So should I get another monitor other than my new macbook? I mean, I know it would help, but is it essential to getting an accurate image?

[W.Smith]

Originally Posted by Cuervo79

One learns new stuff everyday. I tried searching for what you say, but I didn't find anything specific on cinema displays, do all of them have hardware calibrators built in?

All the iMacs, MacBooks, and MacBook Pros I worked with in the last decade had it. And since it's part of OSX, MacPros and the Cinema Displays have it too.

Do you have any links that I can read to inform myself better?

Nope. Attached a screenshot of one of the calibrator wizard's panels/windows.

You'll need a working copy of OSX if you'd like to study it in detail.

BTW: it's got plenty presets, and you can make/save separate calibration sets for as many individual other displays as you like as well.

[Cuervo79]

Yeah still nothing on the built in one... have you read this http://www.apple.com/pro/color/workflow/basics.html even apple advises that for accuracy buy a hardware calibrator.. So unless its like the Lacie ones that look like the spyder and ARE built in, I'm not thinking the Cinema displays have an actual calibrator for color accuracy.

I checked a video on youtube about the calibration assistant and it looks like everything is done visually http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51gbx...352332&index=9 is this how you've been doing it? Even though you can do it visually I wouldn't count on consistency and accuracy with out the aid of hardware.

So my opinion after looking at this still stands. You STILL need a hardware calibrator if you want accuracy.

[W.Smith]

Originally Posted by jtd131

Thanks a lot guys, so when you say mac screens are good, you mean the external displays right?

Yes. That, and that screen's (quality) management system, which is built into OSX.

So should I get another monitor other than my new macbook? I mean, I know it would help, but is it essential to getting an accurate image?

Depends on a mix of the level of your standards, the quality of your eyesight, the ambient lighting, the quality of the source material, the size of that MacBook's screen, and the contents of your billfold. For starters.

So what MacBook screen are we talking about here? And what kind/size of photo files will you generally be using on it? And what kind of work will you be doing on it? Is it for amateur snapshots, amateur enthusiast, hobbyist, advanced hobbyist, starter pro, or seasoned pro level work? What will the resultant files eventually be used for? Pro (mass media) print? Glossy mags? Grandma's 80th Birthday Photo Album? What?
You've gotta give us some more to play with here.

Very generally, the commonly accepted wisdom for screens, strangely, seems to be: bigger is better.
Well, put a small MacBook screen next to any 30" screen, with the same image on it, and the same drivers drivin' it, obviously, and a toddler can tell you which is the 'better', 'prettier', finer image.
Bigger is, well, bigger! And that's got its own advantages of course. Especially if your eyesight is not getting any better, like mine. But image quality is not automatically one of them.

In the vast majority of situations you get what you pay for. Want a quality big screen? Go for a Cinema Display. If it's for a personal workstation, 24" is probably more than you're likely to need. If it's for presentations to prospective paying customer audiences, go for the best of the really big ones: the 30" Cinema Display. If your MacBook can drive it! Better check that before you go on.
And if your bank account can stand some haemorrhaging...

[grahamdunn]

I'm 99% sure the new Macbooks and Macbook Pro models support dual-link DVI, meaning you can run a 30" monitor if you wanted to.

My 24" iMac calibrates nicely, but my new Macbook pro with the LED screen seems cooler in color temp than the iMac does—they don't match exactly which is a little worrisome. I am interested to find out more about calibrating the Macbook monitors themselves. I know that you DO need to use an external calibration device for the best accuracy. I have a relatively inexpensive Spyder 2, but instead of the default software, I run Color Eyes Display Pro which lets you set your luminance low (110-120) and customize many settings. On my iMac, there's a brightness control in the system prefs for bright and not-so-bright. Color Eyes just handles brightness automatically for you and sets the proper brightness. On the Macbook, it doesn't, because the brightness can go from bright to totally dark, not just dim. Depending on where you have your brightness settings when you calibrate, you will get different results, which is confusing. I'm not sure where to set the monitor brightness and it seems like a lot of people are lost too. Get a calibration device if you can afford it (they use an "electric eye," your built in Mac calibration uses your eyes which aren't all that accurate all the time), and Color Eyes has a 10 day demo to get you started. Hope that helps a little, but I'd love to see if anyone knows about the Macbooks more specifically.