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All iPads The Color Gamut Thread

C

comatose81

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 17, 2009
585
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I wanted to make a place where all of the hardware engineers of the board could come and wax poetic about the most important topic related to the new iPads: COLOR GAMUT!

Please enlighten us with your expertise in screen manufacturing and quality control.
 
Ok, I own both an air and retina mini, and ima. Photographer so I'll run a calibrated test tomorrow. Basically calibrating my retina pro MacBook with the latest spyder and then visually compare.

Initial observations. First off on any image with an embedded color profile, there's next to no difference.sot hat said these are observations on non profiled pics, or at least generically profiles, I'm not sure what iOS does, I've never looked.

iOS photos taken with say an iPhone are night and day.


The blues of the air are spot on for some things and garbage for others. I drive a rising blue golf r. With a shot from an iPhone 3GS the car looks teal on the mini and a bit too purple but much closer on the air.

From a 5s The sky of a shot in my back yard heads to straight purple on the air and looks good on the mini

Overall
Reds are more saturated on the air side by side
Browns appear more green on the air
Blue is the most drastic difference.

It's difficult to photograph images on a screen. But there is obviously a large difference. That's said from years of photography I wouldn't rush to call the more saturated one better.

I'll recall rate tomorrow and compare. It's important to understand that you can cover 100 rgb and not have accurate colors. So let's not start talking gamut percentages.

I can also post an image with embedded profile for others to compare if desired.
 
Anandtech fully tested the Air display for colour gamut here. I'm sure there will be a similar test for the Mini up soon. Not sure why this needs more debate given that the tests have already been done?
 
alFR said:
Anandtech fully tested the Air display for colour gamut here. I'm sure there will be a similar test for the Mini up soon. Not sure why this needs more debate given that the tests have already been done?
Click to expand...

The original mini also had subpar color gamut as seen in those charts. It's successor the retina mini has apparently also inherited the same gene.
 
Agh I seen now. Anandtech talks about color gamut in his reviews... that's why everyone on here throws that word around like it's some everyday thing. I should have figured.
 
comatose81 said:
Agh I seen now. Anandtech talks about color gamut in his reviews... that's why everyone on here throws that word around like it's some everyday thing. I should have figured.
Click to expand...

Thankfully average consumers probably aren't visiting this forum before they make a decision to purchase. Because if they did they wouldn't own an iPad and would be missing out on a fantastic device. I swear some people here have no time to enjoy their iPad because they're spending all their time trying to find flaws.
 
Yay! My favorite thread! Gamut. Gamut. Gamut.

So how do you test your gamut, other than eyeballing it? Is there an objective gamut measure? What is the range of gamut?

Did I just use gamut four times in one paragraph? Yay!
 
The Color Gamut Thread

ZBoater said:
Yay! My favorite thread! Gamut. Gamut. Gamut.

So how do you test your gamut, other than eyeballing it? Is there an objective gamut measure? What is the range of gamut?

Did I just use gamut four times in one paragraph? Yay!
Click to expand...

Hardware tools

Average computer monitors don't cover srgb I actually don't think the retina pro does 100%, I don't know why people are talking about gamut rather than accurate reproduction and color calibration. Different subject
 
Last edited:
The iPad 3, 4, Air and iPhone 5,5s,5c have full 100 percent standard Color Gamuts. The iPad mini & mini w/ Retina Display has smaller 62-65 percent Color Gamut.

Period.

Next refresh Apple will probably improve the screen as a predecessor's advantage.
 
What I find funny in all these gamut threads are....these are the same people that don't calibrate their computer display and likely just pump up the brightness till it comes close to burning their retinas!

Suddenly they are color experts!

-Kevin
 
The Color Gamut Thread

So I hust ran a rill recal on my rmbp. Converted and profiled an image from raw, and the blues of the mini are awful, just teal. Given I show work on iPads, I doubt I'll be keeping this mini. It's not minor. It's absolutely not going to work. A deep blue sky looked turquoise.

All that said, the mini could have 99% coverage like the rmbp and really bad profiling at the factory with no way to correct it.

Gamut and color representation are different subjects.

I can illustrate that by changing calibration profiles on my rmbp. Same hardware same capabilities. One properly calibrated the other not.

Now to put some gas on the fire I have a lot more light bleed on the mini
 
comatose81 said:
Agh I seen now. Anandtech talks about color gamut in his reviews... that's why everyone on here throws that word around like it's some everyday thing. I should have figured.
Click to expand...

Everyone seems to be talking as if the word "gamut" was some bizarre technical term. It's a general word that's been in the English language for centuries and means the "whole range of something" (keeping it as simple as possible).

When used in reference to displays, the colour gamut thus refers to the range of colours that can be reproduced and obviously more is better. The wider the gamut, the more able the display is to accurately represent the full range of colours that our eyes can perceive. Anyone who's run IPS and TN monitors side by side will be able to attest to the difference the wider gamut of the former makes to images.

Calibration is a separate issue and is of course important for accurate colour rendition, especially when your workflow depends on this, such as image or video processing or graphic design work.

From what I've seen in reviews, the iPad in general and the Air in particular has one of the widest gamuts and most accurate factory-supplied calibrations of any tablet device available. Of course there's always scope for improvement.
 
People were expecting the mini to be a no compromise smaller version of the Air and instead there are compromises in color. This is why there are so many threads related to the color gamut.
 
ZBoater said:
Source?
Click to expand...

Vinny Gambini: How could it take you five minutes to cook your grits when it takes the entire grit-eating world 20 minutes?

Mr. Tipton: Um... I'm a fast cook, I guess.

Vinny Gambini: [across beside the jury] What? I'm sorry I was over there. Did you just say you were a fast cook? Are we to believe that boiling water soaks into a grit faster in your kitchen than any place on the face of the earth?

Mr. Tipton: I don't know.

Vinny Gambini: Perhaps the laws of physics cease to exist on your stove. Were these magic grits? Did you buy them from the same guy who sold Jack his beanstalk beans?
 
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