# Whites look really bad after Spyder4Pro calibration



## phnoob (Aug 21, 2012)

I just purchased a Dell U2412M IPS monitor and tried calibrating it with the Spyder4Pro that I also just purchased. After calibration, everything looks darker, which I've heard is normal, but pure white looks *really* bad. I don't quite know how to explain it, and of course there's really no way I can _show_ you what I'm talking about, but I really don't believe that whites look like they should. 

Here is a picture I snapped off on my phone showing the cursor against a white background: 

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/8752/withcalibration.jpg

For whatever reason, the cursor is not affected by the Spyder calibration, so you can see the contrast difference between the background and the cursor.

I would say that the screen with the calibration looks almost like a laptop screen does when it dims. Pure white no longer really looks white and is very, very dim.

I just can't image that that is the way it should look. What do you think? Should I return the Spyder4Pro and get something else? If so, what is a better alternative?

Thanks for your advice


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## MTVision (Aug 21, 2012)

phnoob said:
			
		

> I just purchased a Dell U2412M IPS monitor and tried calibrating it with the Spyder4Pro that I also just purchased. After calibration, everything looks darker, which I've heard is normal, but pure white looks really bad. I don't quite know how to explain it, and of course there's really no way I can show you what I'm talking about, but I really don't believe that whites look like they should.
> 
> Here is a picture I snapped off on my phone showing the cursor against a white background:
> 
> ...



Have you tried editing (or even opening) a picture since you calibrated?


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## phnoob (Aug 22, 2012)

MTVision said:


> Have you tried editing (or even opening) a picture since you calibrated?



Yes, of course  Colors look much more natural after the calibration, so pictures look much better overall, but whites are very soft and dim.


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## cgipson1 (Aug 22, 2012)

if you are still comparing the Dell to your other monitors.... DON"T! lol! They probably have the brightness turned up MUCH higher, and so are not accurate. The shots you have posted from dell look good. Stop worrying about it, and shoot, and edit, and practice....


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## phnoob (Aug 22, 2012)

cgipson1 said:


> if you are still comparing the Dell to your other monitors.... DON"T! lol! They probably have the brightness turned up MUCH higher, and so are not accurate. The shots you have posted from dell look good. Stop worrying about it, and shoot, and edit, and practice....



I'm comparing how the screen looks with the calibration turned on and off. With the calibration turned off, white colors look bright and vivid; with the calibration turned on, whites look very dim and more like a light grey.

Maybe it's right, but I just can't believe that it is. I read that 2/3rds of Spyders are deemed inaccurate, so I'm wondering if I should buy another calibration device and see what happens.


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## KmH (Aug 22, 2012)

Which is why I recommend X-RITE's products, as do most print labs.


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## phnoob (Aug 22, 2012)

KmH said:


> Which is why I recommend X-RITE's products, as do most print labs.



Which product specifically do you recommend?

Also, I don't print anything, so I only need a tool for monitor calibration (not printer calibration).


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## Garbz (Aug 23, 2012)

I'm more wondering why you have a screen which shows a different white point for the content than the background. 

Your colour profile should not be determining the white point, your video card should, and as such everything on the screen should have the same white point regardless of what profile it is using. Sounds like a software setting issue to me.

The easiest solution though, don't adjust the white point. You actually have very little reason to mess with the white point anyway providing you're in a sufficiently dark room. Our eyes will adjust to various shades of white quite well. They adjust to the brightest object influencing them. This should be your monitor. If it is then don't adjust your white balance at all, and instead let the spyder calibrate your monitor so your white is consistent across all shades of grey, but the white point remains unchanged. If that's not an option try measuring the calibrated screen and set it very close. I.e. if you measure your uncalibrated screen at 5600k set the white point during calibration to D55 or 5500k which should be the closest option if you can't specify exactly.

The other reason to do this is unless your monitor has a internal colour lookup table the further you deviate from the natural white balance of your backlight the worse your monitor performs. I.e. if you need to calibrate your screen to be more blue, then your video card can no longer display 255 shades of red, as it needs to turn your maximum red output down.


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## xnaron (Sep 27, 2014)

phnoob said:


> I just purchased a Dell U2412M IPS monitor and tried calibrating it with the Spyder4Pro that I also just purchased. After calibration, everything looks darker, which I've heard is normal, but pure white looks *really* bad. I don't quite know how to explain it, and of course there's really no way I can _show_ you what I'm talking about, but I really don't believe that whites look like they should.
> 
> Here is a picture I snapped off on my phone showing the cursor against a white background:
> 
> ...



Phnoob,

In a subsequent thread you mention ". I found out that I was making a mistake during the calibration process that really screwed up how whites looked (I knew it looked terrible ), but I'm still not happy with the calibration results."  I searched both threads and can't see you mention what mistake you were making.  I am having the same issue with the whites looking terrible after calibration.  What mistake were you making that caused it?

thanks


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## KmH (Sep 27, 2014)

Whatever mistake that had gamma set to the wrong value.

The member you are trying to communicate with started this thread over 2 years ago and hasn't logged onto the forums in over a year.
*Last Activity*:
May 20, 2013


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## unpopular (Sep 29, 2014)

Racism is a problem among some monitors. Try to be patient, understand where it's coming from, and lead by example.


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## ruben_c (Oct 2, 2014)

phnoob said:


> I'm comparing how the screen looks with the calibration turned on and off. With the calibration turned off, white colors look bright and vivid; with the calibration turned on, whites look very dim and more like a light grey.
> 
> Maybe it's right, but I just can't believe that it is. I read that 2/3rds of Spyders are deemed inaccurate, so I'm wondering if I should buy another calibration device and see what happens.



It's normal that the white looks less vivid, because the goal of a calibration is to get near to the output, and an output (print-out) has less contrast than your monitor.
Most displays are too bright and have to much contrast, because this will sell better. This is nice to view, but not correct.

Anyway if you think your Spyder is not working right contact their support. They have a good support I already had to use to replace my Spyder due to a hardware default. 
So if you have bad colors, it's not just Spyder beeing badly, there can be several reasons.


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