QuickGamma

[Chris C]

Got into my graphics card and adjusted the Green to where the dark Gray on PhotoShop looks normal. Can't imagine how it got changed. My desktop screen images look a bit more normal now. Guess I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and buy a calibrator. (dangit!)

 

[TonyW]

Good to hear you are back to normal

You might be interested as long as you do not mind pink in the Adorama offer https://www.adorama.com/ghcmdpk.html
In addition X -Rite will donate money (20% purchase price) towards a very worthy cause finding a cure for breast cancer.

 

[Chris C]

Thanks, Tony, $99 is pretty cheap..................and I don't mind pink at all. I'll have to see if that's possible considering my present finances.

 

[Chris C]

I went ahead and made the decision to purchase the ColorMunki Display calibrator. I know both my monitor and printer fall far below most peoples standards, but they are all I have...............or will ever have unless a kind benefactor knocks on my door some day with an armload of equipment. So I figure the least I can do is to calibrate the monitors color and then learn to soft proof so I can get uniform images.

This is all very difficult for me. I was a professional photographer for 27 years. Had my own color darkroom. Used a 4x5 Deardorff view camera and Hasselblad equipment for my calendar and post card business. Did a lot of gallery shows with large-large presentation prints. Also shot weddings on the side. Finally put all of my film equipment in the closet in around 1995 or so. Didn't come over to the "dark side" to digital until about 2003. I've had a hard time getting the quality results I did with film equipment, but it's certainly been a lot of fun trying. At least I don't have clients to worry about since it's all for my pleasure only now. (and I no longer have all the chemical stains under my nails!) But it's been frustrating not being able to end up with the same quality I had back in the film days. It's mostly my fault because (as with this "soft proofing" process) I don't really know how to operate PhotoShop. I've recently enrolled in a beginners class at the local Vo-Tech and am finally learning enough that I can make sense out of all the darned books I have. There is a lot to learn and I'm old and slow, but getting there. Hopefully this new calibrator will put me on a path to some improved results.

 

[TonyW]

Good for you Chris. I know that this expenditure is something that many do not account for but if done with care and attention profiling your monitor along with correct procedures for editing, soft proofing and correct viewing lighting for your prints can yield first class and most importantly consistent and predictable results.

Like any complex system setting up may be a case of a little trial and error particularly finding the correct luminosity levels for your editing environment and will involve some cost in ink and materials but should be worth it in the end as you should save you some cash due to less wastage of consumables trying to get a print right. In addition the satisfaction of putting out high quality print images is IMHO worth a lot and a large part of the art and craft of photography. This may rattle a lot of the old or new to analogue school but it is certainly possible to at least match the old analogue qualities and in many ways exceed the possibilities of that medium. BTW not a swipe at the analogue crew it too has its evangelists and I sincerely hope that materials continue to be available and cost effective to introduce others into the delights of analogue imaging and the smells of fresh dev and fix in the morning

It is highly likely that your printer if a model from the last 5 years is capable of giving really pleasing results up to A4 using a decent paper with a good profile. I have had very acceptable results from low end Canon A4 printers - think in terms of $50 with ink replacements costing about the same.

There is a lot to learn and that in itself is wonderful. While I am sure you will have some frustrations along the way I am betting that overall you will enjoy the journey

 

[Chris C]

Thanks for the encouragement, Tony. We'll just have to wait and see if the expenditure is going to be worth it.

 

[Chris C]

Okay, the ColorMunki arrived today and I've calibrated my monitor twice. It's 10 times worse than when I calibrated it through my Graphics card. What a disappointment.

 

[TonyW]

Okay, the ColorMunki arrived today and I've calibrated my monitor twice. It's 10 times worse than when I calibrated it through my Graphics card. What a disappointment.

Then something is very wrong! And could you elaborate on how it is worse?

You do not make any mention of your monitor, OS, graphics card how you calibrated, what aim points you used etc so it is difficult to say anything helpful other than in all likelihood you have introduced errors. Please list all the above and include all the colormunki software choices you made to enable suggestions to get back on track

Have a look
https://nickdjeremiah.com/tutorials-blog/colormunki-display

Also if you have adjusted graphics card defaults I think you should reset.

 

[Chris C]

Yes, "something" was very wrong. Exactly what, I'm not sure. I reset my graphics card as you suggested, then I tried calibrating four more times using Nick's tutorial................still no good, with slightly different results each time! Finally just uninstalled the program and went to x-rite's site to download from there as he suggested. Couldn't download from their site! Went back to my disc and downloaded the program and then was notified of an update (just like the first time I used the disc) and executed that. Tried to calibrate but the program stopped working around the "4 minutes remaining" mark and I had to shut off my computer manually and start over. (the "back" button does not work on my ColorMunki program) (?) Ran the calibration as per Nick's tutorial once again..............only this time, I couldn't get the contrast on my monitor to change manually (?) so I just let the ColorMunki do it for me. All told, I've spent about 3 hours trying to get this thing to calibrate my monitor properly! Finally, this last time, my monitor looked normal. So I printed the Pixl Testimage 2009 and it "seems" to be a perfect match to my monitor........................well, as perfect as my old eyes can tell.

Did I mention I hate computers?

Thanks for the link to Nick's tutorial, it was helpful in that I didn't know quite how to determine some of the settings. I'll see how this works out from here with my photography.