# Monitor calibration with "factory calibrated" monitor



## camner (Aug 30, 2014)

I have a pair of (lovely!) NEC PA242W monitors that are "factory calibrated."  To my eye, out of the box there were no noticeable differences between how the same image looked on the two monitors, unlike the pair of much cheaper "identical" monitors I had before.

I understand that over time, inevitably the monitors will "drift" and there is benefit to recalibrating the monitors using an appropriate colorimeter.

One question I have is whether this "drift" is essentially one directional and slowly over time things get out of whack or whether there are fairly regular "ups and downs" requiring frequent recalibrations?  Or, put another way, how often should one recalibrate?

A second question:  NEC sells a colorimeter which "is a customized version of the X-Rite i1 Display Pro colorimeter for improved color accuracy for NEC wide gamut displays when used with the SpectraView software."  I have the SpectraView software...does anyone know if there is a real benefit to using this "customized" colorimeter vs using the i1 Display Pro, which presumably can be used across a broader range of monitors and calibration software?


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## clee01l (Aug 31, 2014)

Probably no real benefit using a NEC branded i1DisplayPro  The i1DisplayPro actively monitors ambient room lighting conditions which is something a factory calibration can not do.  All monitors decay with age and at different rates.  Periodic recalibration can compensate for this.


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## camner (Aug 31, 2014)

Thank you, Cletus.


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## Tony Jay (Aug 31, 2014)

The i1Pro will work very well with the spectraview software.
Essentially all monitors used for any colour critical work need calibrating every 2-4 weeks.
In fact the spectraview software will nag you to recalibrate regularly.

You have gone to the expense of buying these two fantastic monitors - use them to their best ability!

Tony Jay


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## camner (Sep 1, 2014)

Thanks, Tony...I'll do just that. They really are nice monitors!


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## camner (Sep 6, 2014)

OK, so I received my i1Pro today and started the calibration process.

With my previous calibrator (ColorMunki Display with x-rite's software for that product), the first thing that happened was that the ambient lighting was measured and the intensity was set by the calibration software in relation to the measured ambient light.  Then after calibration there was a background app that monitored the ambient light (say, night vs. day) and adjusted the intensity accordingly.

With the Nec SpectraView II software, there is no ambient light measurement and a subsequent recommended intensity.  Instead, I'm asked to decide upon and set a target Intensity.  They have some presets, and I chose "Photo Editing," which then suggests an intensity of 140 cd/m2, which is VERY bright!

So how am I supposed to decide what is a "good" intensity target?  Simply my personal taste in how bright I want my monitors to be?  That doesn't seem right.  I would think that not only should the intensity level be a function of the ambient light, but that different intensities would impact how bright I'm likely to edit an image to be.


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## clee01l (Sep 6, 2014)

Why not use the i1Profiler app that comes with the i1Pro?  It measures the ambient light and automatically monitors for changes.


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## Bruce J (Sep 6, 2014)

camner said:


> So how am I supposed to decide what is a "good" intensity target?  Simply my personal taste in how bright I want my monitors to be?  That doesn't seem right.  I would think that not only should the intensity level be a function of the ambient light, but that different intensities would impact how bright I'm likely to edit an image to be.



If you want to adjust the monitor brightness manually, a good place to start is in the vicinity of 100 cd/m2.  The actual key is to get to the place where your prints match the brightness of your monitor.  A simple trick that will get you in the right ballpark is to adjust a typical image on screen to your satisfaction.  Print the image by your normal routine.  Then, compare the brightness of the print in your normal viewing light to the image on the monitor.  If the print looks underexposed or over exposed, adjust the monitor brightness to match the print, re-adjust the image on screen to your satisfaction, and re-print.  You should be much closer to a match.  Repeat, if necessary.  Once you find the appropriate brightness setting for your monitor and viewing environment, re-calibrate the monitor at that setting.  Good luck,


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## camner (Sep 6, 2014)

clee01l said:


> Why not use the i1Profiler app that comes with the i1Pro?  It measures the ambient light and automatically monitors for changes.



I suppose because the SpectraView II software came with the monitors and is the software that NEC intended to be used (I'm not claiming this is a compelling reason, just what seemed to make sense at first glance).  Obviously there is no good reason not to use 3rd party software.


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## camner (Sep 6, 2014)

Bruce J said:


> If you want to adjust the monitor brightness manually, a good place to start is in the vicinity of 100 cd/m2.  The actual key is to get to the place where your prints match the brightness of your monitor.  A simple trick that will get you in the right ballpark is to adjust a typical image on screen to your satisfaction.  Print the image by your normal routine.  Then, compare the brightness of the print in your normal viewing light to the image on the monitor.  If the print looks underexposed or over exposed, adjust the monitor brightness to match the print, re-adjust the image on screen to your satisfaction, and re-print.  You should be much closer to a match.  Repeat, if necessary.  Once you find the appropriate brightness setting for your monitor and viewing environment, re-calibrate the monitor at that setting.  Good luck,



Good thought.  Thanks for the tip.  It will be a bit of a tedious task because I'm not intending (at least right now) to do my own printing but to use a lab, and that back and forth will take a while!  But that's not a reason not to do it.


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## Victoria Bampton (Sep 6, 2014)

Yep, Spectraview is more accurate than i1profiler and does hardware calibration too.  I can't remember which software ships in the US, but it's the same as my BasICColor software in Europe last time I checked.

Ideally you fix the lighting conditions - close the curtains and always have the same low light turned on.  Like Bruce, I'd go 100-120 cd/m2 and tweak comparing to a print.


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## shiraz (Nov 4, 2016)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Ideally you fix the lighting conditions - close the curtains and always have the same low light turned on. Like Bruce, I'd go 100-120 cd/m2 and tweak comparing to a print



I have my monitor at 80 cd/m2, and for prints on an epson 2400 en 2880 I have a lightroom adjustment +25
When you use 120 cd/m2, You have +50 or something like that?
And what about external printing services or blurb books via Lightroom?


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## Victoria Bampton (Nov 4, 2016)

You mean when you're printing, you have to brighten the image by +25 to make it bright enough to match the screen? That would suggest your screen is too bright.


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## shiraz (Nov 4, 2016)

Yes, when I'm printing. Screen to bright? 
I use 80cd/m2 and my monitor is at brightness +12. The Xrite software says that brightness +12 equals the 80cd/m2.
Much lover than +12 is way to dark?


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## Conrad Chavez (Nov 5, 2016)

The nice thing about the NEC PA series is being able to have multiple calibration presets. I switch between a preset for mastering and printing that's maximum color gamut at a brightness consistent with my printer/paper, and another preset for editing web graphics that's sRGB gamut at a higher brightness (to emulate what most consumer displays are set to). I also created a Late Night preset that's at low brightness and a very warm white point which I never use for editing photos, but is comfortable for general browsing and writing near bedtime hours (kind of like Apple's Night Shift feature).

So you don't have to come up with only one correct calibration. As long as you've created one correct calibration preset for your most critical output, you can also create other presets tuned for other output or create a "personal taste" preset that can be set to anything you like, for when you aren't editing images.



camner said:


> how often should one recalibrate?


It depends on the display technology. It's gotten a lot better in recent years, meaning you can calibrate less often.

CRTs used to drift a lot because they used a much more analog way of displaying the image.

LCDs drift somewhat less, although LCDs with CCFL backlights can still drift significantly as the backlight bulb fades and shifts as it ages.

Today's LCDs with LED backlights are relatively stable. While I'm not sure exactly how fast they drift, it's nothing like it was with the older displays. With a premium display like your NEC PA242 (or my PA272), it's probably not necessary to calibrate more than every month or two. You might compare the profiles of calibrations done a few weeks apart and see if there's enough difference to calibrate more or less often than that.


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