Monitor Calibration - Dark Monitor

[Gulf Coast Girl]

So I got my Xrite i1display 2 monitor calibrator today and calibrated both of my monitors. Now they are so dark I feel like I'm looking at them through sunglasses. Also, even though they are both calibrated the colors aren't the same. My Outlook email looks blue on one monitor and purple on the other.

I did the advanced calibration and followed the steps carefully. One thing I noticed.... I ended up adjusting my brightness on one monitor from 80% down to 25% and on the other down to 18% Obviously this is why they seem so dark.

In the demo video they say that the most common complaint is pictures coming back too dark from the printers because their monitor brightness is set too high. OK, but does 25% sound right? Can others here with calibrated monitors tell me what your setting is?

Also, my monitors are identical make / model (Acer P206 HL)... yes cheapies but they are each on different video cards. The one where my email looks more purple than blue is the monitor running on the on-board video card. The other monitor, where the email looks the correct blue is running on a better video card (Vision Tek Radeon 7000). No it's not high end either but better than the on-board one.

So do you think if I bought 2 high end video cards the monitors would calibrate to the same colors? If so.... anyone have recommendations for good video cards (I'd rather not spend more than $200 each).

Any help is appreciated

[oldwolf]

Yep. Brightness is pretty low on my monitor. Best way to test this out is to process a picture to your liking and then getting it printed and your professional printer of choice and see if it matches your monitor.

The different colored Outlooks could be due to the different video card(s) (on-board and discrete). I run two monitors on one video card and there are some differences even after calibration but it's not that severe. That could be due to one monitor being older than the other but the one that looks slightly off isn't used for processing pics.

[ravncat]

what was the ambient light in the room in which you calibrated the monitors like?

[Gulf Coast Girl]

Originally Posted by oldwolf

Yep. Brightness is pretty low on my monitor. Best way to test this out is to process a picture to your liking and then getting it printed and your professional printer of choice and see if it matches your monitor.

The different colored Outlooks could be due to the different video card(s) (on-board and discrete). I run two monitors on one video card and there are some differences even after calibration but it's not that severe. That could be due to one monitor being older than the other but the one that looks slightly off isn't used for processing pics.

Thanks for the reply. You've confirmed what I suspected... the video cards are playing a part. The monitors are identical... bought them both on the same day, same store, same time so I suspect they are from the same lot manufactured (just a guess on my part). I couldn't stand the low brightness on the secondary monitor (the one using the on-board card) so I upped it and will just use my primary monitor for photo editing until I can get 2 new higher quality video cards.

I also got the icc profile from the lab I plan on using and have set that in Photoshop. I'll give it a whirl. Thanks again for the reply

Originally Posted by ravncat

what was the ambient light in the room in which you calibrated the monitors like?

I didn't test the ambient light when I calibrated.... but suffice to say it's crap. I have those yellowy compact florescents in my office. I plan on changing them out for Daylight whites very soon. Thanks for the reply

[ravncat]

I`m not sure about your device - I use an Xrite color munki. It takes a reading of the brightness and color of the ambient room light - I have different calibrations for different rooms - as the light you are viewing the screen in matters. If your ambient light level is too low, or too high, it will affect the brightness of the calibration.

I also wouldn`t be surprised that the different video cards have something to do with it.

[Gulf Coast Girl]

Originally Posted by ravncat

I`m not sure about your device - I use an Xrite color munki. It takes a reading of the brightness and color of the ambient room light - I have different calibrations for different rooms - as the light you are viewing the screen in matters. If your ambient light level is too low, or too high, it will affect the brightness of the calibration.

Good point! I have the Xrite i1 Display 2 and you have to check the "check ambient light" checkbox and put the little cover on the device (which I didn't do). I'll change out my bulbs for the daylight whites and re-calibrate to include the ambient light check. Thanks again for the reply, your advice is very helpful