Friday, May 15, 2009

Monitor Calibration and Profiling

NOTE: Many articles about monitor display calibration exist online, but please be informed that some writers don't distinguish between CRT and LCD monitors when they expand on any given technique. While both monitor types often use the same calibration techniques, some techniques are unneeded or cannot be performed on many platforms that carry LCD monitors.


LCD monitor tests
http://www.colorwizzard.com/lcdtest/index.html

  These tests require Internet Explorer 5.1 or higher, browser options must be set to allow for JavaScript and cookies support.

LCD monitor test images

Welcome to the Lagom LCD monitor test pages. With the test images on these pages, you can easily adjust the settings of your monitor to get the best possible picture quality. Additionally, there are a number of test images that can help you to judge the image quality of a monitor. You can check the images on this webpage or put them on a usb stick and try them in the computer store like I did when I created these test patterns. These test images are much more revealing regarding monitor shortcomings than ordinary photographs.
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

Monitor Calibration and Profiling
http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/monitor_calibration.htm

How to Calibrate Your Monitor
In order to see images the way they were intended to be seen, your monitor might need to be calibrated. If you're a web designer, digital photographer, or graphic professional, this is especially important. You don't want to spend hours choosing the perfect subtle color scheme only to see a mis-matched mess on someone else's monitor or coming out of a printer. Here's how to calibrate your monitor so that what you see is what you get.
http://www.wikihow.com/Calibrate-Your-Monitor


Pantone
Digital designs demand accurate on-screen colors. Even the most advanced monitors require adjustment for different lighting conditions and environments to maximize their performance. Calibrating your display lets you control what you see on your monitor and ensures colors are accurate and consistent day-to-day, image-to-image, or on multiple systems for print, Web or video output.
http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/pantone.aspx?ca=2



Digital Focus: Calibrate Your Monitor
Dave Johnson
Apr 22, 2003 2:00 am
Feature: Calibrate Your Monitor for Digital Images
A friend called me the other day with a digital photo problem. "I just printed a photo on good paper, and it doesn't look like what's on the monitor," he complained. "Why not? How can I get them to match?"

My buddy's problem stems from the fact that the two output devices--the printer and monitor--are calibrated differently. If you want what's on the screen when you edit a photo to resemble what comes out of the printer, then you need to correct one or the other so they're in agreement. It's easier to adjust the monitor (printers don't come with calibration tools), so that's what we'll do.

If you don't mind spending money, there are a few programs designed to help you calibrate your monitor. Pantone's OptiCal is the mother of all such programs--but at around $200, it's probably better-suited for true graphics professionals. LightSurf Technologies' $50 Colorific is a much more affordable color-matching and monitor calibration system
http://www.pcworld.com/article/110070/digital_focus_calibrate_your_monitor.html