U2410 Calibration

[ihmcguinness]

I just got mine. No tinting issues that I can see, but it does have dithering in sRGB. I'm using it mostly for regular use and gaming (i.e. no professional use), but I still want to get it as nice as possible. Is there a cheap/free way to calibrate it that you'd recommend? I went to http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/black.php, and i'm not getting ideal results for white/black balance or gamma in any of the presets. 'gaming' seems to give the best results, but none of them are ideal. any help would be appreciated.

 

[Betaboy]

Timely post. I was going to start a thread with the same topic. You don't mind if I jump on this one with info?

I bought a U2410 and I wasn't impressed with the default settings, the RGB modes were good out of the box but the rest were almost comically saturated or exaggerated. So I bought a Spyder 3 Pro and calibrated the monitor. This made a HUGE difference, and also fixed a couple of issues I had.

I used the Spyder 3 Pro with the included software calibration suite. I set the monitor to factory defaults and made sure Adobe Gamma was disabled. I also made sure there were no pre-existing .icm profiles in Windows Color Management (Display Settings - Advanced options). I'm running Vista 32 bit and my current vid card is an ATi X1800XT (though my 5870 arrived today, I haven't installed it yet but I digress... ). I'm connected via DVI.

The Spyder 3 Pro software was very easy to use and it recommended I leave the monitor settings as per factory defaults, so I did. Software did the rest.

A nice feature of the Spyder software is when calibration is complete, you can view a series of images and toggle between before and after to see the effect calibration has had. I was surprised by how much it improved.

I calibrated three modes - Standard, Adobe RGB and sRGB.

Here are my results:


1. Standard mode - After calibration, the brightness and contrast are now perfect. Blacks are deeper, the image is sharper, text crisp. Colors are more balanced overall. In this mode, a white screen before calibration had a prominent pink tint to it (whole screen, not just patches). It is now as white as I can imagine white can get. Since this is a wide gamut mode, the colors are still somewhat saturated, but I imagine the video card saturation setting could help dial this down. Bottom line is that this mode can be used for gaming and office tasks after calibration. Prior to it, I couldn't even use it.

Prior to calibration, I went to the Lagom site and my gamma was way off, especially at 40%. After calibration it was about 2.1, much better.

2. Adobe and sRGB modes - the colors were not as dramatically altered as with the Standard mode, but there was still an easily visible difference. Everything is sharper, contrast perfect and text is razor clear. I don't know if the software touches sharpness, or whether it is simply better balanced contrast but text definitely looks better. Deeper blacks as well. Didn't fix the dithering, but that is to be expected. It does appear less noticeable however. I also don't notice the anti-glare coating as much now, perhaps the better balanced contrast and brightness have helped?

Again, gamma here is pretty much bang on (per Lagom).

3. Adobe Photoshop - Photoshop CS2 has stopped telling me my default monitor profile is incorrect each time I start it.

4. Windows Vista Photo Gallery - prior to calibration, and in all modes, my Windows Vista Photo Gallery showed a very strong green tint across the photo viewing area (not the whole screen). This is directly related to the Photo Gallery in Windows and a wide gamut monitor. It meant I couldn't view photos in the Gallery, which was annoying. This has been fixed in all modes. I'm assuming it is the addition of the .icm profile generated by the software, but in any case pictures (and the background) now look perfect.

So...it seems I am back to loving this monitor again. The colors, contrast and images are incredible. I'm not sure if I'll even bother exchanging it for the new firmware, the calibration helped that much.

With a monitor this highly spec'd, I'm almost wondering if it is MEANT to be user-calibrated. There is obviously so much it is capable of, and so many variables to tweak - a factory default is bound to be off.

It should be recommended that all professional monitors be calibrated with a tool and software. Maybe it is and I just missed it, but Dell should pass the message along.

I'm wondering how many green/pink tint issues could be alleviated with a calibration and an accordingly correct .icm profile? If, as Dell is claiming, all shipped monitors fall within spec, perhaps a calibration and associated profile are all that is required to get them looking proper? Maybe some have legitimate issues, but I'm now wondering if many just need calibration.

 

[Betaboy]

I just got mine. No tinting issues that I can see, but it does have dithering in sRGB. I'm using it mostly for regular use and gaming (i.e. no professional use), but I still want to get it as nice as possible. Is there a cheap/free way to calibrate it that you'd recommend? I went to http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/black.php, and i'm not getting ideal results for white/black balance or gamma in any of the presets. 'gaming' seems to give the best results, but none of them are ideal. any help would be appreciated.

Per my above post, I'd recommend a Spyder or Pantone Huey. You can get the Spyder 3 Express for under $100. Same scanning device, just limited software. With Pro you can do more than one display and there are more settings. However, if you just want a quick calibration, the Express would suffice.

You can try calibrating by eye and using monitor settings, but then you are limited to the custom mode in terms of available settings to tweak.

 

[ihmcguinness]

Thanks for your input. I'll look into a Spyder. I know it sounds cheap to cheap out now, but I just bit on a $414 intel SSD (check out hot deals) and this monitor, and am realizing how poor I am all of a sudden. Any cheap/free utilities for this?