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How do I to calibrate my monitor (using maybe something to help me ?) so the images I get with my digital dslr is shown on monitor correctly - at least on monitor.

When I say, something to help me, I imaging from a digital photo on Internet that I can use it to make the calibration up to a robot that comes to my office and make the calibration :)

In 1995 I was have create this page for calibrate my monitor. You need to blur your eyes to compare the colors, the outside is 18% gray shade between your black and white of your monitor. The Is this correct or not ? Did this page works ? I still think that is correct. Some infos for that page - just blur your eyes and try to not see the cycle to get the middle tone on each color and on all together.

mattdm
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Aristos
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2 Answers2

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Essentially your web page is correct.

Display Calibration depends on your operating system.

By far the easiest, least error prone way is to use a colorimeter, like the Eye-One or Spider systems. These plug into your computer, then you place the sensor on your montior, run it's software, wait a minute or too, and it'll generate a proper color profile for your display. The downside is colorimeters are not cheap. I think I paid $150 for mine, and it was used.

The next way, on a PC, is to use Adobe Gamma. It has you walk through a series of steps, much like your web-page with the eye blur, and lets you eye-ball set the calibration. It's not as accurate as a hardware based setup, but it works better than the default.

On a Mac, under System Preferences->Display->Color there is an option to calibrate your display, again by eye, using a setup similar to your page.

This is a decent article on color management.

Alan
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  • I have adobe gamma wizard, but for me I think that have an error (and I do not wont to play it fancy). The error is on gamma calibrate, they do not have 18% gray, but 50% gray compare it with 18% (in the middle). The pattern that they have made is not correct, compare it with my patter - they are different. You that you have a calibrator, how do you see them ? – Aristos Jul 23 '10 at 06:33
  • Indeed, use one of the monitor calibration tools available. I've got a DataColor Spider and calibrate my monitor every month. It takes about 5 min and you're done. – Marc Jul 23 '10 at 08:17
  • @Aristos: It doesn't really matter if you calibrate gamma at 18% or 50%. A 50% raster is easier to blur out by squinting than an 18% raster, which is probably why they chose that point. – Guffa Jul 23 '10 at 10:48
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    Very late comment for anyone searching: "18% grey" is not 18% grey, it's a grey that corresponds to an illuminated target with 18% reflectivity for all colours in the visible spectrum. An 18% grey card is a card that happens to be grey and reflects 18% of the incident light. Photographically speaking, it's roughly halfway between a matte black (which reflects considerably more than zero) and a matte white (which reflects considerably less than 100%) under the same illumination, or a "50% grey" target. Pedants will argue whether 18% should be considered "middle grey"; let them argue in peace. – user28116 Jun 28 '14 at 22:48
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To calibrate your monitor you need a calibration device like a DataColor Spyder or X-Rite DTP94, or a monitor with inbuild calibration device like the Eizo CG245w.

These will calibrate the colors of your monitor, but usually not the brightness. To really calibrate brightness you need to take the lighting of your working place into account, you need controlled lighting, which might be overkill for your situation. Simplified you can use some calibration tools to set the monitor brightness to around 100cm/m2, which is quite good for working on pictures (most monitors are way too bright).

Sam
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