Imac screen calibration

[Mike Nagel]

Honestly, I used use a Spyder 5 Elite with some of my own settings for backlight and it's been translating very well between different mediums - including a DCP theater release. Every time I double check my calibration, my eyes are set ablaze with blue light when the calibration is turned off.

I'm sure other have more professional means, but I'm fairly happy right now. Just turn off the ambient light sensor. Backlight at 100, D6500, 2.2 Gamma, advanced grays.

u're "grading" DCP releases on that screen, calibrated with a Spyder (out of all probes) ?

Wow.

I'm gonna be the first one to say: DO NOT DO THIS. ;-)))

 

[Anton Shavlik]

How do you calibrate an iMac screen?

In the past no matter what profile I use, VLC, Premiere and Resolve will ignore it (resolve has a check box at least).

 

[Steve DiMaggio]

u're "grading" DCP releases on that screen, calibrated with a Spyder (out of all probes) ?

Wow.

I'm gonna be the first one to say: DO NOT DO THIS. ;-)))

so here is my question, as I don't do this type of critical work, is it better to leave a screen like the imac stock or to use something like a spyder? Like its better to not use any filter rather than using a crap one type of thing

steve

 

[Steve DiMaggio]

How do you calibrate an iMac screen?

In the past no matter what profile I use, VLC, Premiere and Resolve will ignore it (resolve has a check box at least).

I only use fcpx, never use a calibrating software, I (probably incorrectly) assumed that when using calibrating software either you would save/load a preset that you make into your display settings or use a lut in your NLE of choice

steve

 

[Anton Shavlik]

I can tell you that by default those 3 apps ignore changes to apple's "system preferences - display - color" in their preview windows. Calibrations changes from there will effect things like youtube on web browsers and quicktime player etc, but not those professional apps. Resolve has a checkbox under "project settings - color management - use mac display color" which will disable that and actually use your mac calibration, I'm unsure how FCPX works.

Good to know that if someone sends you a clip its best to watch in VLC if you're on an uncalibrated screen. Never watch in quicktime, and for more reasons than just that.

 

[Steve DiMaggio]

I can tell you that by default those 3 apps ignore changes to apple's "system preferences - display - color" in their preview windows. Calibrations changes from there will effect things like youtube on web browsers and quicktime player etc, but not those professional apps. Resolve has a checkbox under "project settings - color management - use mac display color" which will disable that and actually use your mac calibration, I'm unsure how FCPX works.

Good to know that if someone sends you a clip its best to watch in VLC if you're on an uncalibrated screen. Never watch in quicktime, and for more reasons than just that.

that is why I ask, thanks! I had no idea

steve

 

[Steve Sherrick]

Here's one way to do it with Resolve.
https://hub.displaycal.net/wiki/3d-lut-creation-workflow-for-resolve/

 

[Mike Nagel]

so here is my question, as I don't do this type of critical work, is it better to leave a screen like the imac stock or to use something like a spyder? Like its better to not use any filter rather than using a crap one type of thing

steve

Steve,

reality is, and it'll never change:

once u decide to do color work - may it be "critical" or not, may it be for theater release or for your uncle's iPad - u need to work off a calibrated screen. U cannot make color decision on a non-calibrated screen. Theoretically speaking, if (!) the screen is somewhat in a decent state calibration wise (which u do NOT know) then ur color decisions will be better (as in: more accurate). But in order to know whether ur screen is in a decent state, u need to run a verification profile, and once u do all of that (and have the necessary gear), u can rather just calibrate the damn screen. ;-)

in order to calibrate the screen - that is: as good as possible, and that iMac screen is not built for that, meaning the hardware itself, the panel, is just no up to par no matter what u do - u need probes (plural, a colorimeter and a spectro) and a good calibration software (LS|Argyll|CM|CP|etc) and then... hopefully find a way to calibrate the display output via a 3D LUT... NOT (!) using .icc profile or Mac color management because that is a major disaster...

as I said in the first post: ur bare minimum entry is to use a cLUT (a calibration 3D LUT, which some of the major calibration software packages can create from a display profile) inside Resolve as the viewing LUT... and then u will only deal with panel problems such as uniformity issues... understand what that means. The probe reads and therefore calibrates in a center spot on the screen (this is where u will be best calibrated), not in the top left where u will also possibly be making color adjustments.

if doing this bare minimum setup, u need to work as much as possible full screen in Resolve - avoid "grading" in the little viewer window above the timeline...

 

[Steve DiMaggio]

Steve,

reality is, and it'll never change:

once u decide to do color work - may it be "critical" or not, may it be for theater release or for your uncle's iPad - u need to work off a calibrated screen. U cannot make color decision on a non-calibrated screen. Theoretically speaking, if (!) the screen is somewhat in a decent state calibration wise (which u do NOT know) then ur color decisions will be better (as in: more accurate). But in order to know whether ur screen is in a decent state, u need to run a verification profile, and once u do all of that (and have the necessary gear), u can rather just calibrate the damn screen. ;-)

in order to calibrate the screen - that is: as good as possible, and that iMac screen is not built for that, meaning the hardware itself, the panel, is just no up to par no matter what u do - u need probes (plural, a colorimeter and a spectro) and a good calibration software (LS|Argyll|CM|CP|etc) and then... hopefully find a way to calibrate the display output via a 3D LUT... NOT (!) using .icc profile or Mac color management because that is a major disaster...

as I said in the first post: ur bare minimum entry is to use a cLUT (a calibration 3D LUT, which some of the major calibration software packages can create from a display profile) inside Resolve as the viewing LUT... and then u will only deal with panel problems such as uniformity issues... understand what that means. The probe reads and therefore calibrates in a center spot on the screen (this is where u will be best calibrated), not in the top left where u will also possibly be making color adjustments.

if doing this bare minimum setup, u need to work as much as possible full screen in Resolve - avoid "grading" in the little viewer window above the timeline...

ok cool, I don't use resolve, tried it, not good for my work flow, I need faster turn around time. I guess since I use RED as a problem solver (raw, temp, ect ect) rather than an artistic tool (color work) I view alot of things differently, I need to move fast on location and not worry about temp ect, which is where raw comes in.

I had no idea that a calibrating software literally maps to the screen and reads the "geography". Very cool and it makes me understand my a good monitor is needed. Flanders=Earthworks. Thanks again for all the help y'all.

Thanks to all and I think I understand now

steve

 

[Steve Sherrick]

Steve,

if doing this bare minimum setup, u need to work as much as possible full screen in Resolve - avoid "grading" in the little viewer window above the timeline...

And therein lies the problem with that particular workflow. I think it's worth doing to have a relatively okay GUI viewer to look at but ultimately you just end up with a bit of a kluge to work with. Better than no calibration but if one can afford it, the calibrated external display is such a more enjoyable experience.

 

[Mike Nagel]

I had no idea that a calibrating software literally maps to the screen and reads the "geography". Very cool and it makes me understand my a good monitor is needed. Flanders=Earthworks.

okay, I think I confused you ;-)

the cal sw does not account for any of the screen's uniformity - it only knows what the probe reports. And the probe is usually positioned in the center of the screen. so when u're finally calibrated, what is actually calibrated is the center of the screen, where the probe took readings and the cal sw created offsets for.

On consumer end, lower end displays, the uniformity deviations of the panel will cause the calibration to be way less good once u move off that center spot.

so, if u're grading somebody in your shot on the far left it may be that the contaminated skin tone u're seeing is because of ur screen, not necessarily because of the capture.

 

[Steve DiMaggio]

okay, I think I confused you ;-)

the cal sw does not account for any of the screen's uniformity - it only knows what the probe reports. And the probe is usually positioned in the center of the screen. so when u're finally calibrated, what is actually calibrated is the center of the screen, where the probe took readings and the cal sw created offsets for.

On consumer end, lower end displays, the uniformity deviations of the panel will cause the calibration to be way less good once u move off that center spot.

so, if u're grading somebody in your shot on the far left it may be that the contaminated skin tone u're seeing is because of ur screen, not necessarily because of the capture.

you actually made things very clear, when I would ring out my studio I would always thought "well the mic is here that is calibrating but what if I lean back"

Nothing is perfect I just want better if possible, if not, I am cool with that also

steve

 

[Björn Benckert]

What I dont understand is why the resolve dongle is not a probe. Imagine if that usb stick was a probe and just held to the monitor and resolve could play up a series of calibration color patches under choosen color space. Done.

As of now the screens are pretty good. My LG 5k screen I bought from apple is good I would say in most ways better than any existing screen like 3 years ago. So things are getting cheaper and better at a speed thats crazy.

 

[Steve DiMaggio]

welp just got the imac set up, holy crap this thing is bright!

steve