Datacolor User to User Support Group.

Dear Mr. Tobie,

I'm sorry for my late response and thank you very much for your comments. They are very helpful, specially about creating a stable working environment.
 
See comments below.
 
Thank you very much for all your assistance.


Regards from Sacramento,

Jorge

jorgegaj@...m  or pegasus@...





________________________________
 From: CDTobie <CDTobie@...>
To: "datacolor_group@yahoogroups.com" <datacolor_group@yahoogroups.com> 
Sent: Monday, September 3, 2012 7:02 AM
Subject: Re: [datacolor_group] Dark pics and dark color targets 8x10
 

  
>>Yesterday, I purchased a desktop 5000k lamp. Hopefully this lamp should provide me with a good light to review my soft proofing. 

Good, it never hurts to have a proofing lamp.

A couple days ago I received my new desktop 5000k lamp. Wonderful tool to view my prints. I purchased the  Rosewill RLDL-11001 3W LED Desk Lamps, 240 lumens, 5000K. 


>>I'm not sure what do you mean to calibrate my "display to a defined brightness, not to native brightness"? 

In the calibration process you can define a brightness to calibrate to. The default for desktop displays is 120 candelas, while the default for laptops is native. That's because laptops are used in uncontrolled lighting, and their brightness is often adjusted after the fact for current conditions.

Thank you for the explanation. I always try to follow Datacolor's recommendation of 120 candelas and gamma of 2.2. 

But for proofing, you should be sure your ambient light is low, without being dark, and your display I'd appropriately low as well. A moderately dim room and 120 candelas is okay for most LCDs, but if you keep your room very dim, it's still too bright. Using the option Ito have the Spyder read your ambient level, tell you what it is, and suggest settings to go with it, can assist in getting that right. 

I always work with a my room having a low ambient light and having the Spyder indicating how is the light in the room is very helpful.  


>> Also, shall I have the my 5000k lamp on when I calibrate my monitor and when I read the 225 patch High Quality Target with the Spectro?

Lighting when reading printed targets is not a factor; they read the same in the dark or in sunshine ( though most anywhere in between those extremes would be more appropriate). For monitor calibration you should ideally have a stable, controlled, low light level. People are sometimes surprised to ear that aging a couple of nice windows with the sun shining in is not an acceptable environment for doing image editing. Drapes, plus blinds or shades to tr degree that you can barely tell if the sun goes behind a cloud is about right. Then things stay reasonably stable, and are about the same noon and night. Get your sunshine on breaks, not during imaging work. 

Typically, with windows sufficiently darkened, and a single desktop proofing light on one side, aimed at a backdrop that is perpendicular to the display, so that you pivot your head to see it, not having it lit up right next to the screen, provides an appropriate light level, without creating glare. No other lights would be on in the room while doing color managed imaging work, just the proofing light. If its a big room, there might be a second, similar proofing bulb elsewhere in the room, but not behind the display, or in front of it, off to the side. 
 
Great tips for creating a working environment. Thanks.

If that all sounds drastic, and any of you are unwilling to make your imaging area as controlled and sunless as this, you may have you rethink things. It's not as extreme as the old CRT days when we worked in the dark, but we still need to work in fairly dim, fully controlled lighting to get consistent and predictable light. Some people make the choice to never do image editing except a night, since they love their bright sunny studio, and don't want to black it out. 

C. David Tobie
Global Product Technology Manager
Imaging Color Solutions
Datacolor inc. 
cdtobie@...
www.datacolor.com

On Sep 3, 2012, at 8:43 AM, Jorge Gaj <jorgegaj@...> wrote:



>
>Yesterday, I purchased a desktop 5000k lamp. Hopefully this lamp should provide me with a good light to review my soft proofing. 
>
>
>I'm not sure what do you mean to calibrate my "display to a defined brightness, not to native brightness"?  Also, shall I have the my 5000k lamp on when I calibrate my monitor and when I read the 225 patch High Quality Target with the spectro?