Wendy, do a search for ‘monitor calibration Barbara Brundage’. I did that a little while ago, and a number of posts showed up by Barbara and others. Susan also posted some tips for the way she went about calibrating her iMac CRT monitor. The "good parts" were spread out all over, and since I’m not sure exactly what you might be remembering I thought it would be better to just tell you what search criteria I used and let you review what’s in the archives.
Your CRT shouldn’t be quite as challenging as it would be if you had an LCD; there are still some problems getting those right under Panther. I also remember Barbara saying she had better luck when she did NOT choose the advanced option in ColorSync, but I think that could have been in a private e-mail to me rather than in a forum post and also relevant to LCDs.
Hi, Beth and Wendy.
Wendy, go to system prefs>displays>color and you will see the calibrate button. For a CRT you definitely want the "advanced" option if it’s there because you need to adjust your phosphors separately. (Beth is right–for my LCD I found the panther calibration utility always came out too green, but if I used the simple version where I couldn’t adjust color channels separately it was fine.)
Just be sure to choose either the imac setting or a generic setting as your starting point, not your previous calibrated profile.
I think Susan had a lot more helpful info on calibrating a CRT screen than I did, but not sure which thread it was in. Susan?
I’m not sure I’ve ever said anything that interesting on the topic! Perhaps it was someone else…. I’ve mentioned just following the prompts in the mac displays callibration page…I think I’ve moaned a bit about not being able to get my screen really bright enough to start the process off (I can’t see the little circle within a box even with brightness on maximum) – I think that needs a hardware/screwdriver solution, beyond my capabilities, and it’s not so far off that I want to be without my mac while it is done. I’ve also mentioned what choice of gamma I use – I’ve recently switched to using gamma of 2.2 (Windows standard) rather than the mac standard of 1.8 (for various reasons).
I do find the 10.3 callibration is easier to use than the one on 10.1
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for all the information … situation is:
(iMac G4 CRT now using 10.3) I will have to give it another go …. Have tried it a few times but the profile is not as good as the one I had using 10.2.6. So have copied that profile over and am using it until I sort it out.
The advanced option has me totally fooled it keeps on showing these little apples on a background then asking me to do things … trouble is I don’t what I am doing and they are all starting to look the same 🙂 :).
iBook (LCD) … well still trying to get that looking OK … for now I have stuck with the 2.2 Gamma and that does seem to give a better profile. Thanks Susan!
Once the headache 🙂 wears off I will try again (and come back with more questions)
Thanks all
Wendy
Wendy, if you have an ibook you probably won’t be able to get a calibration to stick if you are running 10.3. There was a big problem with monitor profiles for ibooks in 10.3. Upgrade to at least 10.3.1 if you have just 10.3.
EDIT BTW, Panther doesn’t respect/see earlier system profiles, so I’d double check what profile you are really using for the imac.
Hi Barbara,
Now upgraded to 10.3.2.
Funny thing about the profiles … I have carried it forward from 10.2.6 and it works on the iMac (G4 .. CRT) but not on the iBook. The iMac sees it in displays (and uses it) but the iBook doesn’t see it at all.
Only difference between the two is that the iBook is new and started off as 10.3 (Upgraded to 10.3.2) and the iMac has had many OS upgrades last was 10.2.6 (Upgraded to 10.3 then to 10.3.2)
Very odd ….
Wendy
Well, Wendy, the other difference would be that your iMac has a CRT and the iBook an LCD. I don’t know for sure, but I’d think the CRT profile wouldn’t be compatible with an LCD anyway. ???
Hi Beth,
Maybe the CRT / LCD thing is the reason …. over the weekend I will have another try at calibrating the iBook.
It looks fine for normal use but when you sit it side by side with the CRT the colours are nowhere near as bright. Seeing that I am not going to use it for actually working on photos I don’t suppose it matters too much.
Wendy
You will notice quite a difference in the displays between the two – totally different technology. You might also notice the display of your iBook varies depending on the angle at which you’re viewing it. I know that’s true of my PowerBook, but it has an older display. I haven’t looked at anything modern lately! 🙂
Beth,
The iBook is just the same … tilt the display and the whole thing changes.
Wendy
Wendy, that’s ’cause the pixels are actually full of liquid and it drains out…
😉
Chuck,
Does it make puddles on the desk … on that note I will say goodnight.
Wendy
Wendy, those puddles accumulate inside your monitor case; eventually it will bulge so much it’ll look like a…..CRT monitor!
🙂
Oh Chuck,
I didn’t know you could grow your own CRT monitor 🙂
Wendy
