Lowering Contrast on PowerBook

kanpachi · Mar 6, 2005

Hello,
Does anyone know how to lower the contrast on a PowerBook? I have tried going to Universal Settings, but the options only allow me to enhance/increase the contrast. I have also toggled the brightness setting using F1 and F2, but the contrast is still high.

Also, on a less important issue, does anyone know how to adjust the sleep light brightness -- the new 15" AlBook sleep light can get so bright at the apex of illumination.

Would very much appreciate a response! Thank you.

jackieonasses · Mar 6, 2005

kanpachi said:
Hello,
Does anyone know how to lower the contrast on a PowerBook? I have tried going to Universal Settings, but the options only allow me to enhance/increase the contrast. I have also toggled the brightness setting using F1 and F2, but the contrast is still high.

Also, on a less important issue, does anyone know how to adjust the sleep light brightness -- the new 15" AlBook sleep light can get so bright at the apex of illumination.

Would very much appreciate a response! Thank you.

Calibrate your monitor... go to system prefs-> displays -> and then calibrate...

Adjust it to how you like.... unfortunately you are stuck with the sleep light. Cover it up i guess!

kyle

mkrishnan · Mar 6, 2005

kanpachi said:
Does anyone know how to lower the contrast on a PowerBook? I have tried going to Universal Settings, but the options only allow me to enhance/increase the contrast. I have also toggled the brightness setting using F1 and F2, but the contrast is still high.

For this, have you tried the "Calibrate" option under Display / Colors in system preferences? The procedure is not explicitly designed to reduce contrast, and wow, but you're the first person I've ever heard who asked for that

, but if you go through it, and align everything to your liking, you are probably going to be happier with the contrast than you are now.

I don't have an answer to the sleep light issue, short of opening up the case and putting some kind of filter between the LED and the body.

But I am newly aware of the issue, because many of the kids at camp this weekend were really photosensitive, because of lupus, and I made the mistake of taking a flash photo with one and hurting her eyes.

kanpachi · Mar 6, 2005

Thanks a lot for the responses! I tried adjusting the contrast via the Calibrator, but it looks even worse than the standard contrast (especially if I use the 2.2 gamma). Also, it seems like such a pain to go through expert mode ... is there any software out there that could make this process a bit easier?

mkrishnan · Mar 6, 2005

kanpachi said:
Thanks a lot for the responses! I tried adjusting the contrast via the Calibrator, but it looks even worse than the standard contrast (especially if I use the 2.2 gamma). Also, it seems like such a pain to go through expert mode ... is there any software out there that could make this process a bit easier?

Hi again, Kanpachi! I don't know of any way to make this process easier. I can give you a couple of pieces of advice, though. First, make sure to turn on the expert mode in the calibration tool. Second, when you get to the target Gamma screen, you want a *low* gamma number, because gamma is proportional to the amount of contrast, essentially. So 1.8 is the default, and you went to 2.2, making the contrast higher than normal. You want a number lower than 1.8. You may find that you have to follow this process, and then adjust the brightness again. But you should be able to get what you want.

kanpachi · Mar 7, 2005

mkrishnan said:
Hi again, Kanpachi! I don't know of any way to make this process easier. I can give you a couple of pieces of advice, though. First, make sure to turn on the expert mode in the calibration tool. Second, when you get to the target Gamma screen, you want a *low* gamma number, because gamma is proportional to the amount of contrast, essentially. So 1.8 is the default, and you went to 2.2, making the contrast higher than normal. You want a number lower than 1.8. You may find that you have to follow this process, and then adjust the brightness again. But you should be able to get what you want.

Thanks a lot for your help, Mohan!

The reason I went to 2.2 is because the contrast actually looks lower since the screen gets darker, but you're saying that screen contrast is directly correlated with gamma, so I will definitely lower it. Are the PowerBook screens normally supposed to be this bright? The top bar on the screen (where the Finder, Apple Icon, Help and all that stuff) is really bright and looks like the contrast is too high, but maybe this is just typical of PBs? Anyways, I just bought this laptop a couple days ago, so I just want to make sure everything is OK. Thanks again!

andrewfee · Mar 7, 2005

If you've come from a CRT system, then that's probably why you're finding the contrast too high. I love the screen on my Powerbook.

People are often tempted to turn up the brightness too high on LCD screens, so you might want to just try turning it down a bit. This also seems to make the contrast lower.

As for calibration; I would definitely recommend it. My screen was far too "warm" by default, and it looks so much better now. I am planning on buying a proper calibration device soon, but this will do in the meantime.

mkrishnan · Mar 7, 2005

kanpachi said:
Thanks a lot for your help, Mohan! The reason I went to 2.2 is because the contrast actually looks lower since the screen gets darker, but you're saying that screen contrast is directly correlated with gamma, so I will definitely lower it. Are the PowerBook screens normally supposed to be this bright? The top bar on the screen (where the Finder, Apple Icon, Help and all that stuff) is really bright and looks like the contrast is too high, but maybe this is just typical of PBs? Anyways, I just bought this laptop a couple days ago, so I just want to make sure everything is OK. Thanks again!

Please try decreasing the gamma in the calibration, *and* decreasing the brightness. When you increase gamma, it gets darker, because fewer of the light-colored elements on the screen saturate at the brightest color, but if you compensate with the brightness so it looks equally bright to you, then the contrast will actually be higher. So when you lower it, it looks lighter, but if you also lower the brightness, the contrast appear to be lower, I think.

It does not sound like there is anything wrong with your laptop, but you may need to adjust these settings for some time, to find what you like. To me, at the "right" level of contrast, you should be able to see the stripes in the menu bar at the top fairly clearly, for instance.

kanpachi · Mar 7, 2005

mkrishnan said:
Please try decreasing the gamma in the calibration, *and* decreasing the brightness. When you increase gamma, it gets darker, because fewer of the light-colored elements on the screen saturate at the brightest color, but if you compensate with the brightness so it looks equally bright to you, then the contrast will actually be higher. So when you lower it, it looks lighter, but if you also lower the brightness, the contrast appear to be lower, I think.

It does not sound like there is anything wrong with your laptop, but you may need to adjust these settings for some time, to find what you like. To me, at the "right" level of contrast, you should be able to see the stripes in the menu bar at the top fairly clearly, for instance.

Thank you very much to all of you who posted. My display looks nice now!

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