iMac 24" (2009) - can't get below 200cd/m2

[patricklavoie]

<p>On another note, do you have the chance to test the new Eye-One Display LT? i wonder how it does against is big brother the i1D2 or a spider 3 pro?..i m igth have a chance of testing it in a near future but would have like to have your oppinion on it.</p>

[digitaldog]

<p>The EyeOne D-2 hardware is identical (short of those OEM'ed with special filters for wide gamut displays). So the differences here are software and the various options provided. </p>

[howard_m]

<p>my understanding is that the LT hardware is the same as the D2 hardware so if you're using a 3rd party piece of software to calibrate (BasicColor, Coloreyes, etc), and not the iMatch s/w, then why pay more?</p>

[Tim_Lookingbill]

<p>Back in the last months of 2008 I had the chance to check out the 24" iMac at my local Best Buy. Don't know if this is the same model as the OP's. The desktop had a scene of some forest landscape with a cabin and a lake. Looked great. Eyeball calibrated it using Apple's calibration utility and it looked even better.</p>

<p>It didn't look that bright to me and didn't strain my eyes even cranking the brightness all the way up, but I had to account for the fact that Best Buy like all big box stores are very well lit at a brightness level that allowed me to see the smallest spec of dust into the darkest corners of the store. Even the emergency "Exit" doors are well lit and can be seen viewed from the other side of the store. My eyes adapted quickly to the store's ambient light level which I'm sure accounted for the perceived brightness on the iMac. So I'm assuming this is the ambient brightness level that has to be duplicated at home to make for comfortable viewing at extended periods of time.</p>

<p>For a typical 12'x14' living room or bedroom studio this shouldn't require that many light fixtures to achieve the same light levels.</p>

[brad_smith8]

<p>Without a comparison or measurement device it's hard to tell if it's too bright until you're in front of it for a while and your eyes start hurting.</p>

[Uhooru]

<p>@ Patrick and Andrew- When using Spyder 2Pro and their software to calibrate, the time to turn on shades is during the calibration, not after. If you use the calibrating process with "setting your own luminance" and use the ambient room light method of calibration, which some say is less accurate than not using ambient light, but which has not been true in my case, there will come a time during the calibration to set the lut. Program will read the light level and suggest a luminance value for your room. In my room it suggests about 120. Calibration process will then go through allowing you to change luminance and keep remeasuring until you get your chosen value. This is the time to turn on shades and use it to get your brightness to the desired setting. It's trial and error method, adjust - remeasure, and so on. when you get where you wanted, you accept that setting and continue on. The program then goes and calibrates the color. Once the brightness levels are set, you can't change the brightness level on shades or the monitor or it will knock out you accuracy, but given that, the monitor does profile correctly and prints are relatively accurate when soft proofed. Unlike what several have said, the time to use shades is during the process not after. Unfortunately, don't know about results with other calibrating programs. Another caveat is, that this method works for me on a "white" matt screened 24. I've never had the opportunity to use it on a Al, glossy screen version.</p>

<p> </p>

[Uhooru]

<p>All ambient light does is measure the amount of light in the enviorenment, it's where you will view most of your prints. To truly match lighting, what you need and which very few home studios will have because they can be expensive, is a "viewing box" and a hood on your monitor. The viewing box is a recessed viewing box with a light source that has both the brightness value AND the color tempeture setting on your monitor. This is so you have matched lighting to ameliorate the effects of metamerism. this is a whole area of color management. Like I say, most people don't have this at home and many get very fine prints anyways.</p>

[patricklavoie]

<p>Barry i agree that this is the standard procedure normally..but i discover, or it append more than once, that depending of the OS / Hardware use to calibrate that the Shades software kind of panic.. i mean when i tried it with a spider3 and turn it ON before, when the spider read the luminance, the screen was going before / after / before / after and so on during calibration..then i simply turn Shades OFF, calibrate then turn Shades back ON and it work flawlessly, this is how i got the 75_80% number.</p>

<p>If when you turn it ON before calibration it doestn cause a problem, use it as it should..but at least the other method is bullet proof ; )</p>

[Uhooru]

<p>I don't turn it until the section of the calibration occurs that is for the purpose of setting brightness value. So the Spyder reads the value, and then you turn shades and trial and error. What's good about it is, you now know that your luminance value is exactly where you want it, no need to guess. </p>