Dell u2711 calibration

[shrakner]

At my new job, I'm using a 13" C2D MBP with a Dell UltraSharp u2711 monitor (27" IPS panel). The UltraSharp makes for a massive beautiful workspace, but I've been having some calibration issues. In particular, a website I'm working on has a subtle brown color (#BABAAE) that shows up as green on the Dell. On the Macbook Pro's screen, it appears as brown as it should. And while the sRGB color profile may be great for print work, I can't use it for web design because it's a bit desaturated compared to most other screens.

Bottom line is, I keep dragging windows over to the MBP's screen to doublecheck color, since I don't totally trust the color on this screen... and the very notion of using a TN panel to check the color of an IPS panel is just wrong.

I've tried the Mac's calibration tools, with no success. Will a calibration tool like a Spyder 3 be able to properly configure my monitor? Or is there something else I'm missing?

 

[GoKyu]

sRGB is definitely *not* the optimal space for print work. Just because many print shops/labs are too lazy to profile their own machines and force you to send them stuff in sRGB doesn't make it better. It has a significantly worse color gamut than either AdobeRGB or ProPhotoRGB.

On the other hand, if your Dell is showing something green that should be brown, there's something wrong there too. Are other colors showing so differently too?

If you don't have a color calibration device, I'd highly recommend one. The Mac's built-in software is relying on your eyes to tell when the color is accurate - a calibrator is way more accurate. I'm looking at getting one of X-Rite's Color Munki devices, since I've been having color management issues ever since getting my new Samsung...

 

[Ommid]

This Dell series seems to be weird tbh, I have the same problem

 

[shrakner]

The Dell UltraSharp also has an AdobeRGB preset- I just gave it a shot, and it's a bit better. More saturated than sRGB, and it makes that brown color a bit less green.

I'm not really sure about other colors- that one was the only one that really stuck out, but other colors are hard to say what's "right" given that every monitor is slightly different.

That Color Munki is a bit expensive for my tastes- I think a Spyder would be good enough, but what I'm a bit concerned about is whether those kind of tools, which are generally marketed for calibration with print, will be of much help for web work. I know all other monitors are calibrated (or uncalibrated) differently, but I'd like to have my monitor with fairly accurate color to hopefully be somewhere around the average of other monitors' color.

 

[GoKyu]

The Spyder series, even the Huey from Pantone should be fine for web stuff.

While they are typically used to match screen to print, what they *also* do is allow you to see accurate colors on-screen, so you know when something that should be brown, actually looks a specific shade of brown, for example.

With a calibrated monitor, you'll be sure that your web graphics look the way YOU think they should look. Of course, the majority of people don't calibrate, so they may have a tinge of red, yellow or blue (these three are most common), but as long as the original graphics are correct, then there shouldn't be much of an issue.