Monitors and color

William Lewis

William Lewis

All-Pro
Location
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Name
William Lewis
I posted a couple of frames from the first roll of color through my Rolleicord III yesterday. On one computer my favorite image from the roll:

HaKzcMYw.jpeg


Looks underexposed. On my laptop, it looks perfect. On my phone it looks a bit overexposed. Not sure which is correct and there's not a whole lot that can be done about it.

Perhaps when I get the negatives back from the lab (they upload the scans) I can pop it on the light-table and check the exposure that way.

Thanks for letting me grouse.
 
There is a way of making things more uniform across devices: monitor calibration. But it requires tools (i.e. costs money) - and in many cases, it's not really necessary, especially since we have hardly any control over the devices our results will be viewed on (mostly uncalibrated screens - and mobile devices which have their own "rules"; they tend towards punchy, contrasty and overly bright).

As far as I can tell, your laptop's screen is probably set pretty brightly - the file looks borderline murky on my calibrated monitor (on the office PC - solid, but not premium quality wide screen). I use calibration because I work on a variety of devices and want to be as certain as possible to find comparable conditions on all of them. That said, quality varies massively and makes all attempts at this quite relative ...

M.
 
And it isn’t just the screens that matter. It is the whole viewing/editing environment. My computer workspace has a large window with blinds directly behind my monitor. My daylight photo edits can vary markedly from my nighttime sessions.
 
Hmm. Turned down the brightness on the laptop (what I'm using to edit currently) and it doesn't look much different.

I did adjust the curves and moved them all right a bit. How does this version look to other people?

x1IcI2jQ.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


Better? Worse?
 
The bench and yes, it's softer than I'd like. I'm working on this one mostly to get to know using film again as well as the quirks of my software. It's the best composed of that roll, pity the focus was off - I was trying to use hyperfocal techniques and was too close for the aperture selected (f/8) on the TLR's lens. Too used to my Leica in that respect 🤷‍♂️
 
William Lewis said:
Hmm. Turned down the brightness on the laptop (what I'm using to edit currently) and it doesn't look much different.

I did adjust the curves and moved them all right a bit. How does this version look to other people?

View attachment 338204

Better? Worse?
Click to expand...
Actually, I think you did pretty well with what probably was quite a high-contrast scene on colour film ... but it's truely difficult to rein in the highlights here (roll-off is fine, they're just really bright). Focus isn't too far off, either. It's a matter of getting to balance out development (it may be a bit "hot"), scanning (again, scanned for colour, not for contrast) and post processing. It's not simple, I do know that.

M.
 
One of the problems I've found with setting up a monitor "just so" for photo editing is that I use my monitor for various tasks and in different lighting.

In the early days with my current monitor I spent a lot of time and effort setting it up with test charts etc so it was just right for photo editing in a room dimly lit by artificial light. All was well until I used the same monitor for working on office documents with daylight coming into the room, and found it too dark and lacking in contrast. All of my carefully established settings were lost as I tinkered with the brightness and contrast until everything looked OK most of the time.

It reminded me of when, in a previous life, I worked for a company which marketed a "videowall" - a big array of CRT monitors you'd see in shop windows, nightclubs and in the background of TV shows. A big image would be presented across 25 or more monitors, or you could have them all showing different things according to the programming. One of my colleagues would spend hours adjusting each monitor with a test pattern and a stick-on sensor until they were all just so. Then we would stand back and look at the combined effect and someone would say "that one's a bit blue" or similar, and my colleague would say a rude word and start tweaking them all again by eye until they looked nice.

-R
 
I'm looking at replacing my aging Samsung S32D850 monitor because it suddenly blacks out for a couple of seconds totally unpredictably. I suspect the power supply has some issues but can't get it serviced without buying a replacement. I use the monitor for both personal and work so uptime is important.
I'm looking a either an Asus ProArt PA329CV or BenQ PD3205U. Both are 4K 32" monitors. Any advice or opinions to help my decision?
 
Recently when my monitor started to die I got the Dell U2720Q UltraSharp 27" 16:9 HDR 4K IPS Monitor (on sale) and couldn't be happier. Had to upgrade my video card to run it. I think they have a 32" version.
 
My current monitor went through a period of blacking out as you describe. But it hasn't done it for years, which suggests that it might have been a software / driver thing (?)

I think there was an earlier discussion about this somewhere here, as I remember one or two other members had experienced the same issue.

-R
 

Similar threads

Inphoto
    • Like
    • Winner
Challenge! The Colors Game
3 4 5
Replies
94
Views
3K
Inphoto
Inphoto
Brian
    • Like
    • Appreciate
    • Vulcan Salute
Manual Lens Highly Color Corrected Lenses: Apo-Chromatic, Ultra-Achromatic, and Beyond
Replies
1
Views
626
William Lewis
William Lewis
M
    • Informative
    • Appreciate
    • Vulcan Salute
Micro 4/3 Color "Science"
Replies
7
Views
1K
BobT
BobT
Back
Top