ColorSync Profiles

[AppleIIGuy]

So I recently got a Spyder4 and made some calibrated Profiles for my IPS Displays

Attached are my profiles for my Achieva Shimian QH270 & Yamakasi DS270

Enjoy..

 

[flexmanta]

For those profiles to be of any use to anyone but you, using your computer, with your monitors, they'd need to be using your computer, with your monitors.

...in other words: Display profiles are only for the computer they were created in (unless we're talking about hardware calibrated displays like Eizos and NECs, which calibrate directly their internal LUT, instead of in the GPU's LUT.

I use both NEC and EIZO displays and the profiles I create are only good for about a month. After that, validation fails and new calibration and profiling have to be performed, because even these >1500€ monitors aren't 100% stable.

 

[AppleIIGuy]

These are HW calibrated displays You affix the usb dongle to the screen. And run a calibration. So show me proof why it wont help other people with the same models of displays. And graphics card doesnt matter they all output the same digital signal.

 

[flexmanta]

This is part of what I do for a living...

In color calibration, we differentiate hardware and software calibration on different terms, although both are performed with a colorimeter or a spectrophotometer.

"Software" calibration:
You use a colorimeter to calibrate the video card lut to adapt it to what you want from the monitor (response curve, white point, gamut). The software will help you set up the monitor in terms of brightness and white point, but that's only to help the process of video card calibration. After calibrtion is done, then the monitor is profiled and an ICC file describing what the monitor does is created. That file is used by color managed applications in order to send modified RGB values to the monitor so that the correct RGB/working profile values are displayed.

Hardware calibration:
You use a colorimeter or spectrophotometer as well but this time the video card signal is not modified. Instead, the internal LUT of the display is calibrated. This time, the calibration software will not ask you to modify the display's brightness or white point, as it'll do it automatically. After calibration is done, then profiling is performed.

In other words:
Software calibration: Calibration on the video card LUT. You have to set the monitor brightness and white point manually to help the GPU calibration.
Hardware calibration: Calibration of the internal display LUT. It's fully automatic.

In both cases, a profile describes exactly how a particular unit responds and what RGB values have to be sent to it in order for it to display an exact LAB value. The profile you create for your monitor is only good for your monitor, with your calibration curves. Those calibration curves are very very specific. In fact, the curves will vary depending on many factors like room temperature and monitor age.

 

[AppleIIGuy]

Ok now I understand what you are saying.. Thanks for explaining it to me. So I basically have to re-run my calibration every so often to keep my displays calibrated.

 

[tonyvm]

When I export a graded video out of Davinci Resolve, and I open it in different players, like Quicktime 7, Mpeg Streamclip or Elgato Turbo.HD, the colours look different in every application.

I've been searching and it seems that in Windows it is possible that different applications use different colour profiles. How is that on Mac?

Is there a way to manage those profiles?

Also, those profiles are used by the GPU, in my case that's a GTX780 with native drivers of 10.9.2.
On my Macbook Pro I don't have this problem, so I'm starting to think its Macx86 related...

 

[flexmanta]

Ok now I understand what you are saying.. Thanks for explaining it to me. So I basically have to re-run my calibration every so often to keep my displays calibrated.

Yes. When I first started using professional monitors, I would calibrate and profile them every week. I realized shortly that these monitors are very stable and that validation of a monitor which calibration and profile were about 2 weeks old, was still valid and would even certify. Now I calibrate whenever I start a new job, overkill. That's when I work at home. I also work at a studio, and we have 8 eizo monitors there, and calibrate them every 2 weeks... It takes a long time because we only have one spectrophotometer and one colorimeter.

When I export a graded video out of Davinci Resolve, and I open it in different players, like Quicktime 7, Mpeg Streamclip or Elgato Turbo.HD, the colours look different in every application.

I've been searching and it seems that in Windows it is possible that different applications use different colour profiles. How is that on Mac?

Is there a way to manage those profiles?

Also, those profiles are used by the GPU, in my case that's a GTX780 with native drivers of 10.9.2.
On my Macbook Pro I don't have this problem, so I'm starting to think its Macx86 related...

All applications that perform color management should only use the color profile that has been selected in the color department of your OS. In mac, that is the color tab in the display preferences. In windows, it works the same way, but it's more confusing and less stable. Sometimes, in windows, the profile won't be loaded at startup and you'd have to unselect it and then select it again for it to work.

There is no point in having applications use different profiles, after all, your monitors stay the same. If what you are triying to do is simulate other devices, then that's an option that you'll have to find in whatever program you're using. For example, in photoshop, you can simulate other devices or CMYK profiles by using "proof colors". We use it constantly, if not all the time. Although my image is in RGB (ECI_RGB_v2, or AdobeRGB), my final goal is magazine paper, so during the whole work process, I need to see my image as close as possible to what it'll look like on paper (Fogra39 CMYK), without converting it to CMYK. I assume the same concept applies to video. You might be working in a color profile that suits color work with parametrics and layers and all, but that doesn't mean that's the best profile to use for broadcast once the file is bounced, rendered and delivered... so you use proof colors or whatever they call it in that software so that, although you are working in a working color profile, you're simulating the output profile.