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Tips on calibrating a Dell LCD monitor?

R

riddle

macrumors newbie
Original poster
I'm having a terrible time adjusting the colors on Dell LCD monitors that I use with my MacBook Pro. The latest is a Dell 1905FP that is driving me nuts.

I started by following the instructions in Mac OS X's Display Calibrator Assistant (under System Preferences > Displays > Color > Calibrate). The result is that pale grays (eg #eeeeee) are washed out to look completely white (#ffffff).

Here's a test page - I can see the gray vs white distinction clearly on my MacBook Pro, not on the Dell:

http://prentissriddle.com/tmp/contrast-test.html

If I randomly muck with the monitor's hardware color adjustment and/or the options in the Calibrator Assistant I can get #eeeeee to stop looking white, but only by skewing the whole display in the direction of blue or yellow.

Is there a dummy's guide to calibrating cheap monitors on a Mac? Thanks.
 
"I'm having a terrible time adjusting the colors on Dell LCD monitors that I use with my MacBook Pro. The latest is a Dell 1905FP that is driving me nuts."

I have a Dell Ultrasharp 1905FP - best monitor I've ever used.

When I was first connecting it, I had it connected via the digital input. The problem was, some of the choices in the monitor's menu screens were "dimmed out" - not "choosable".

I then tried connecting it using the VGA analog input. Suddenly, ALL the menu choices became available.

As the "out-of-the-box" settings seemed too bright to me, one of the first things I did was go into the monitor's "color settings" and set all three values (red, green, blue) down to 81%. Things started looking much better. I then used the "Displays" panel in System Preferences to set up the monitor the way I liked it.
(NOTE: I believe you have access to the color settings ONLY when connecting via VGA.)

I got it set the way I liked it and it's been beautiful for several years now.

Here's the calibration profile that I like:
http://att.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=211052&stc=1&d=1263654195
(first-time file upload here, not sure if I did it correctly)

- John
 

Attachments

Fishrrman, thank you thank you thank you!

Your 1905FP profile is much better than anything I've been able to come up with myself.

On my monitor it was still a little dim and a little green, so I set the hardware RGB to 90/81/90 rather than 81/81/81. Images are now dark and supersaturated, but at least the gray is gray, not green or white.

I appreciate your help.
 
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