Problem with Color Calibration of NEC PA 27

[angioman]

Hello,

Just added the NEC PA 27 monitor to my workstation, moving my Apple CD 23" to secondary monitor. I have calibrated the NEC using the SpectraView II with NEC Custom Xrite, in Photo Editing mode, with default settings of D65, Gamma 2.2, Intensity 140. The ACD monitor is calibrated using my old Monoco EZ Color software and Optix XR colorimeter, at 5000, Gamma 2.2.

When I output from LR to Epson 3880, the print is a much closer match to the old ACD. Compared to both the ACD and the Epson output, the NEC has a much cooler WB, with slight green tint.

Any suggestions? I really expected the color calibration to be better on the new NEC.

BTW, my workstation is Mac Pro 2.93 Quad Core with ATI Radeon HD 4870. ACD is connected via DV., NEC is connected to MDP using Display port cable, with NEC approved Display-Minidisplay adaptor.

Thanks,
kurt

[gromit]

I have calibrated the NEC using the SpectraView II with NEC Custom Xrite, in Photo Editing mode, with default settings of D65, Gamma 2.2, Intensity 140. The ACD monitor is calibrated using my old Monoco EZ Color software and Optix XR colorimeter, at 5000, Gamma 2.2.

The ACD is calibrated to 5000K, the new NEC to D65. The NEC is cooler ... and you're wondering why???

[MarkM]

Kurt, you need to understand that out eyes adapt to white points. In typical workspace situations it is quite common to have multiple illuminants and you compound the problem by having displays with different white points. Without really ratcheting down your viewing environment it can be almost impossible to know what state of adaptation your eyes are in. If you turned off all your lights and your ACD then illuminated the print with a D65 light source, you might find that the NEC is right on the money. But if your eyes are adapted to 5000K then the NEC is going to look cool.

It can be a little confusing—an interesting exercise is to fill both monitors with pure white and now compare them with a white sheet of paper. You'll probably have three different whites. If the monitors are perfectly calibrated you WILL have different whites. Which one really looks white depends on what illuminant your eyes are adapted to. Without bringing everything to the same illuminant you can't really tell which is more accurate. Can you get the ACD calibrated to D65?

[digitaldog]

Alter the calibration targets on the NEC until you get a visual match.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/why_are_my_prints_too_dark.shtml

[angioman]

Makes sense Mark, I guess I am just confusing the issue (and my eyes) with the different monitors (hmmm, maybe a good excuse to get a second NEC). The recommended native for ACD is D50. The default photo mode on the SV for NEC is D65. I did try custom calibrating the NEC at D50 but it only seemed to make matters worse.

Digitaldog, thanks for the link. I will try tweaking the target to get a better soft proof.

Kurt

[howardm]

My PA241 seemed to like white point around 6100K (comparing to a 4700K Solux) and it also seemed to mellow out a bit when I got about 75hours of run time on it.