Calibrating Monitors
Monitors need to be calibrated for a few different reasons:
- To compensate for differences in manufacturing
- To make different types of displays look the same
Guide for Perceptual Color Matching Matching multiple dispalys that use different illumination technologies can be exceedingly complicated as seen by this link.
Ultimately your goal with calibration is that everything looks the same, but this can be tough as there are many variables to control. Also displays may be uneven across the display. No display will be 100% uniform. The center is usually the best with the cleanest white point.
The tools needed to do calibration can be exceedingly expensive, costing upwards of 10-20k. However you can find businesses that will perform the calibration for you. Some times this may be the original manufacturer, but othertimes they can be third party vendors. Its recommended to calibrate your monitor every 3-6 months.
Tools
Basic calibration system consists of colorimeter, a patch generator, and computer with software.
Calibration software Typically windows based. A few calibration programs are: Portrait Displays - Cal Man Colour space
Patch Generators There are a number of patch generators, could be built into the monitor, or output from Resolve or your Calibration software.
If using SDI just be aware that there are rounding errors. SDI will only give you 10 bit values 4-1019 instead of the full range 0-1024.
Probes It is recommended to use a Colorimeter and a Spectroradiometer next to each other to get the most accurate results.
Can use a dual meter mount with cr100 and cr-250-RH so you can have two probes right next to each other.
Common Errors
Screen protectors must be removed
Video card sending limited data, but display detects it as full. You see this as lifted blacks and reduced whites
Video card sending full but display recognizes it as limited. This means crushed blacks and whites that begin to clip too early.
For all SmallHD monitors, they require a full range LUT.
Monitors require 30-45 minutes of warm up and the changes from this time can be significant. Very common to calibrate once its immediately turned on. Can be warmed up by plugging it into a camera. Small monitors are often more temperature sensitive than larger monitors.
Profiles for your probes must also be made as they too must be calibrated.
Need to make sure your meter specifications will match your target display. Can it read as dark as your display can create? Or as bright as it can create? For example for vision monitor you need to be able to read 2000 nits. Can also have issues at the low end for this.
Delta E
DeltaE is a measure of the difference between two colors. The E stands for the German word Empfindung which translates to sensation, or impression. With one color as a reference, DeltaE is a measure of the error of that color from that reference.
