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Blacks too dark on iMac 27" 2011

X

xrayspecs

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 4, 2011
17
0
London, UK
Hi, I have noticed that pictures which are predominantly black on websites etc seem very black and lose some detail?

Maybe I have been used to my 13" Windows laptop, but I was wondering if any other users have experienced similar?

I am sure there are some settings which I am yet to discover?
 
My parents have an iMac, and I was blown away by the screen quality.

You can calibrate if you really want to in sys pref -> display -> colour -> calibrate

Also, I found the brightness should be set reasonable high to get a better picture.

(PS I laughed at your thread title. Thank God you added "on iMac..." at the end! :D )
 
It's probably because the iMacs have glossy displays which tend to over saturate colors a bit and make things seem more vibrant. some people prefer this. However, I will stick to my antiglare screen.:D
 
xrayspecs said:
Hi, I have noticed that pictures which are predominantly black on websites etc seem very black and lose some detail?

Maybe I have been used to my 13" Windows laptop, but I was wondering if any other users have experienced similar?

I am sure there are some settings which I am yet to discover?
Click to expand...

I dont know. I like screen with deep black level like in plasma compared to lcd hdtv. iMac use LED screen which has good black level. Maybe your old laptop display black as dark grey since there were backlight bleeding?

But if you feel uncomfortable and lose some detail due to black level, you can always increase brightness and reduce contrast a bit
 
I've never heard of anyone advertising a screen NOT touting how deep the blacks are. A screen can reach a blackness limit and not be adjusted "blacker.". A black screen CAN be adjusted brighter. You are complaining about a screen asset, not a liability.
 
I don't think the OP actually means that the black point is too black, but rather that shades of dark grey disappear into black.

I'd agree with the poster above - try a visual calibration of the display through System Preferences > Displays > Calibrate.

If he/she's come from a 13" laptop, the iMac screen is definitely going to be of better quality (unless it's actually faulty); it's not like someone who's used to an Eizo is saying how the blacks are dodgy on the Apple display.
 
Hi thanks for the suggestions, I certainly didn't mean to come across as complaining I just wanted some validation on what I was seeing.

This is still the best purchase I have ever made, and I am not sure how I got along without an iMac before.
 
confirmation, poor contrast between 0-10% black

I can confirm after comparing a test pattern with a MBP and another iMac of the same ilk as my iMac, that my iMac has a different level for blacks on the default display profile that other Macs.

I made a test pattern with 0% black, 10% black, and 20% black. The difference is subtle in all situations, but the difference between 0% and 10% was extremely subtle on my iMac. It clearly popped more on the other two machines.

In addition, I hooked a cinema display as a second monitor to my iMac and that tripped something in my iMac to "load" a different profile or interpret the contrast differently (I did not change profiles). The contrast levels looked distinctly better. They remained so even after disconnecting the second monitor, but returned to their flat levels after restart.

Hoping I can fix this but do not have a solution yet.
 
fixed by creating and using new user account

I created a new user account. Migrating to this account fixed the issue for me.

Unfortunately, I had to migrate some data and setup a new account, it was worth it to fix this issue.
 
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