What monitor are you using?

NEC PA272 and when needed an older 20" Apple HD cinema display

RoastingPig said:

Your running 7 displays?

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no, both 3 and 4 monitor setups, not 7

thekev said:

Backlit isn't so much of an issue. If you want to perfectly match the brightness you need a small print viewer. You can get a much closer match that way. In any case the perceived luminosity of a print varies somewhat by ambient lighting, because it is a matter of how much light is kicked back in the direction of the viewer.

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Thanks for your feedback. I did purchase a fairly good quality desktop lamp with a supposedly near-neutral color bulb so I can view printed photos with the light at various angles.

What is a "small print viewer?"

michaeljk said:

Thanks for your feedback. I did purchase a fairly good quality desktop lamp with a supposedly near-neutral color bulb so I can view printed photos with the light at various angles.

What is a "small print viewer?"

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Near neutral is a loaded term. There are a lot of aspects to this. When it comes to viewing prints, the best way to make determinations is by standardization. This means the goal for the lamp isn't to be near neutral. It is to use a lamp that is even, bright enough, and similar in color temperature to your display. Print viewers typically provide that with targets of D50 or (what you would want) D65. Your print may be viewed under different lighting later, which is fine because the way we see things is contextual. The concerns over consistency and potential metamerism (appearing different under different lighting conditions) are really for the editing process itself. It's just to get predictable results across several devices for both reflective media and emitted light from the display. Not everyone uses these, but they are useful for print viewing. You can get away without one. Just don't make the mistake of believing the bulbs are near neutral relative to the white point of your display. It will mislead you. You'll want to figure that they could be a bit off. There are in fact stickers that will tell you when a proof is being viewed under incorrect lighting. They're sometimes used with contract proofs. Like I said you can't really factor for every lighting condition, so the typical method is to match display and print illumination.

I should emphasize that I'm not telling you to run out and buy anything. It's just an effort to ensure that you realize you may not be using matching lighting.

going to calibrate 3 apple monitors 2x27 acd and 1 thunderbolt with colormonki tomorrow hopefully the change is significant to justify the 150 price tag. I Just dont like that the 2 acd are blueish and then the thunderbolt is more red and warm.