i-Mac users out there:::

[R1titan]

Im another covert to the Mac scene.
Just set up my 27inch i-Mac and its such an upgrade to my last system
(i'ld go as far to recommend it to anyone else...)
My only gripe is that the built in speakers dont handle bass well; but i've overcome that with the addition of speakers and a subby

A question that i have;
Does the monitor brightness/colors need to be calibrated for print/etc as they look fine out of the box. I'm thinking all monitors need to but was curious on what other Mac users already do.
Any advice here?

[DAdeGroot]

A question that i have;
Does the monitor brightness/colors need to be calibrated for print/etc as they look fine out of the box. I'm thinking all monitors need to but was curious on what other Mac users already do.
Any advice here?

Yes, calibration is definitely recommended.

[coolie21]

You can use the in built calibration in systems preferences if you don't have a dedicated hardware one, its better than nothing

[Calxoddity]

Hi,
YES - calibration is definitely recommended. Generally the colour of the iMacs is pretty close out of the box, but they're all too bright. This results in your prints always appearing too dark.

You have two options for calibration:

1. Mk 1 Eyeball - not really calibration but cheap and gets rid of the most glaring colour problems. Use the Mac's calibration utility in advanced mode to establish a baseline. Print a test photo. Compare to screen after 30 mins (to allow print to dry and set to final colour densities). Adjust brightness, calibration, print again. Rinse, later, repeat. If you have good colour vision you can get quite close indeed after 3 iterations.

2. Buy an Eye 1 Display 2, Spyder, or Huey. My pick would be the Eye 1. Alternatively, the COolorMunki Photo will do both the screen and the printer, but is $600+ (eeek!)

Regards,
Calx

[mcdesign]

I calibrate with an Eye One but I use another monitor as I found the iMac was far too bright and shiny, I couldn't match prints either, you can change the way the sound is through iTunes, Window - Equaliser. hope this helps.

[Calxoddity]

I calibrate with an Eye One but I use another monitor as I found the iMac was far too bright and shiny, I couldn't match prints either, you can change the way the sound is through iTunes, Window - Equaliser. hope this helps.

Yes - the previous generations of iMacs couldn't have the brightness reduced to correct levels except by 3rd party software. Fortunately, the new 27" iMacs can adjust brightness to the correct level due to the use of led rather than cold cathode backlighting.

Regards,
Calx

[R1titan]

Thanks for the advice guys and gals.
Advice taken, my friend has given my a Huey calibrator so i hope to set it up soon.
I was actually gonna buy one of the Spyder 3 calibrators but i hardly print so i'm hoping it will do for now.

Calx, i've turned down the brightness of my screen slightly since you mentioned it could be done easily, thx!!



On another i-Mac note;
I've just posted a few photos and it seems that its appearing oversharpened

If you're an i-Mac user can you please view this thread an let me know if you too feel its oversharpened and by how much...

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/for...ad.php?t=49405

also, does native resolution affect the web sharpness cos now i dont see jaggies on some web photos which was obvious previously??

[Big Pix]

....... you WILL need this

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/27646

[Calxoddity]

....... you WILL need this

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/27646

No he won't. The new iMacs can lower brightness levels to almost darkness.

Regards,
Calx

[R1titan]

....... you WILL need this

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/27646

Thx for the linky
i just checked it out but dunno if i'll be needing it

No he won't. The new iMacs can lower brightness levels to almost darkness.

Regards,
Calx

yep, on the lowest brightness setting its approx 10% intensity

[kaiser]

Just following on from R1titan's question - if you don't need to print at home and use a print lab exclusively is colour calibration still essential? I know some print labs can send you their ICC profiles for their printers so I guess you would still need calibration to get good results?

[Analog6]

I calibrate mine fortnightly with Spyder Pro 3 but the initial adjustment it made was minute, hardly any difference.

[jev]

if you don't need to print at home and use a print lab exclusively is colour calibration still essential?

Yes. Calibration is the only way to make sure that what you output (to a commercial lab or to your home printer, that doesn't matter) is consistent and conforms to a norm.

Try this once: put on a pair of coloured (sun-) glasses and than try to get an image as close as possible to what you think is the original scene. Save and close. Look at it again without sunglasses after an hour or so. Compare to the original. Editing with an uncalibrated monitor is very much like wearing sunglasses all the time

[latino]

Very interesting thus was a good read. I thought the iMacs had perfect calibration and only the built in calibrator was neccesary. Will be keeping my spyder 3 the for when I finally upgrade.

Just a question to people with the imac 27" are you guys getting the notorious screen flicking issue that has been reported?

[jameslagden]

I recently calibrated my new 27" iMac and it wasn't far off to start with. First thing you should do before calibrating is turn down the brightness!

[R1titan]

When i setup the Huey calibrator, i'll check in here again to update on how much calibration was required.
Hopefully not too much, or i'll have to go back and re PP too many images!!

@ latino, i havent noticed any flicking issue on the monitor

[R1titan]

Okay, i installed the Huey over the weekend...

However, the colors dont seem as accurate as the originally before the install (yes i can toggle it on and off to see the difference).
There now seems to be pronounced Yellow Tint when the Huey is active !!

I'ld much prefer the colors with the Huey off.
I tried to google this problem and couldnt find much info on it....
So does anyone know if the 27 i-Mac has problems with this particular color calibrator? is there a solution? or should i be looking at other software like Spyder 3 Pro?

[Calxoddity]

Hi,
Before you assume there's a problem, consider whether your monitor was previously too blue, and you are now seeing it correctly for the first time. The real test is whether your prints look more like the screen - have you printed yet?

Oh, another thought - try calibrating again in a dark room. I've heard stories about the glass layer confusing some calibration tools where ambient light backscattering off the glass affects calibration (not sure how true this is).

Regards,
Calx

[R1titan]

Thx for the reply, Calx its much appreciated.
No it looks white by default, no blue but certainly after the calibration everything looks yellowish.
I did read elsewhere on the net something about the glass perhaps throwing things out as you mentioned.
Its much the same in the dark as it is during the day

Yeah, i guess the real test will be from a test print.
No printer at home unfortunately...so for the meanwhile i've put colors back to default.

[Calxoddity]

okay - as a quick check, you should be using Gamma 2.2 and around 6500K. Without a printer to test the validity of the calibration, we can only speculate for the moment.

Or... Plan B - post a photo that you believe is too yellowish under the Huey profile, and let us view and give an opinion. Using the Huey profile, adjust the pikkie to look right for you. Then, using the standard profile, correct for best appearance also, and post both.

Regards,
Calx