LAPhotography Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 I am having the absolute hardest time calibrating my monitor. I'm following your directions the best that I can but I'm running into so many issues. I have a Dell S2721QS. The link from the datacolor website on how to lower brightness showed multiple different ways and I'm not sure which one to use. Windows 11 doesn't seem to have a brightness bar, only blue light strength which I believe is just a kelvin scale. When I tried to lower my brightness with my monitor, I couldn't seem to get it low enough to match my prints. (Yes, I just read the thread about adjusting RGB percents) but I'm confused because I can also lower the brightness, adjust RGB, gamma, and more through my graphics card which appeared to help but I couldn't get it just right I have calibrated, what feels like, hundreds of times. I've gotten 100% RGB results and they looked nothing like my prints. My prints were duller, colder, greener, and darker. I followed the directions that about changing settings for brightness first then tried the color alternative setting. My screen still felt like it has too much gamma and too much contrast and vibrancy. I have played around and tried to adjust them using the graphics card. I got fairly close to my test prints after adjusting the contrast, gamma, and vibrancy on my but ended up with a 64% RGB profile after calibrating. The factory settings for gamma on my card are at +1 and I don't know what that means! I don't know how I've gotten so lost. How did I get here? Am I beyond hope? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Symonds Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 Which Datacolor device do you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAPhotography Posted October 18, 2023 Author Share Posted October 18, 2023 I apologize for not including that initially. I am using the SpyderX Pro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Symonds Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 The fact that you're trying to use Windows 11 to adjust the brightness makes me think that you're not follow the right instructions? These are the instructions you need: https://www.damiensymonds.net/cal_S5X_pc.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAPhotography Posted October 19, 2023 Author Share Posted October 19, 2023 I certainly did read all of that before I started. It didn't specify how to adjust the brightness so that was why I searched how. The video I watched started with Windows 11 and that was why I mentioned it, but I also mentioned that you couldn't adjust brightness from there, only kelvin. I did adjust the brightness through the monitor before the first calibration attempt and it didn't match my prints. So, I followed your troubleshooting steps and it still wasn't coming right. Do the "brightness" settings on window 11 not affect the outcome at all? I would assume that anything able to alter your colors on the screen would affect it, but I don't know, that is why I am asking. The only I did through Windows 11 was turn the "night light" strength down to 0% which is 6500k. Same goes for the graphics card, do it's settings not matter? Am I just making this more complicated for myself than it needs to be? After I did a factory reset on my monitor, did the first recalibration following the directions, and the troubleshooting, the prints were still darker, greener, and less vibrant. I have at this point messed with too many settings so my plan is to factory reset my monitor again and factory reset my graphics card, then try again from the beginning. If things are working after that first attempt, or your troubleshooting directions, then I will add an update here and ask for advice before messing too much with settings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Symonds Posted October 19, 2023 Share Posted October 19, 2023 You adjust the brightness ON YOUR MONITOR. Using the buttons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAPhotography Posted October 19, 2023 Author Share Posted October 19, 2023 Yes, thank you. I know that now. I reset everything and started from the beginning. I got a 98% RGB profile. The brightness I guess looks ok. The prints are still duller and greener. My screens images seem to have more luminance and more warmth. this is after following the troubleshooting by changing the setting in datacolor to 6500k. Do you have any suggestions on where I go from here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Symonds Posted October 19, 2023 Share Posted October 19, 2023 Can you show me the print files you're comparing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAPhotography Posted October 19, 2023 Author Share Posted October 19, 2023 thank you for responding so quick. Let me know if these are not what you are looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Symonds Posted October 19, 2023 Share Posted October 19, 2023 Thanks. Are any of them particularly problematic, or are they all showing fairly consistent differences between screen and print? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAPhotography Posted October 19, 2023 Author Share Posted October 19, 2023 fairly consistent. The skin tones have whiter highlights and the images are warmer on my screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Symonds Posted October 19, 2023 Share Posted October 19, 2023 The skintones have whiter highlights on screen, do you mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAPhotography Posted October 19, 2023 Author Share Posted October 19, 2023 Yes, on the screen. The prints look very flat but the screen has more dramatic highlights which makes them look brighter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Symonds Posted October 19, 2023 Share Posted October 19, 2023 Then that would seem to suggest that your screen is still too bright? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAPhotography Posted October 19, 2023 Author Share Posted October 19, 2023 I am not sure. My brightness is at 0% on my monitor. I adjusted the RGB all down to 80% on the monitor. The highlights don't seem to be as bad, but now I am thinking I may have not explained it properly. It looks like my screen has enhanced contrast and luminance or something. The screen images are more vibrant, appear to have brighter highlights like I turned up the luminance on orange, and they are very very warm and orange. The prints are dull, green, flat, cold. could it have something to do with my graphics card? I haven't touched the settings this time around, but when I first attempted to recalibrate I had played around with the settings after many failed attempts. Turning down the vibrance and gamma seemed to get the digital images looking closer to my prints, but were still warm. Could it be that I do need to adjust these? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Symonds Posted October 19, 2023 Share Posted October 19, 2023 Playing with graphics card settings is definitely not ideal, but yes, it might be necessary I suppose. After adjusting, you'd need to recalibrate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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