Display Calibration 201: The Science Behind Tuning Your Monitor

How-to
By Christian Eberle
published

Calibrate Your Monitor For A Better Picture

Since we spread the calibration steps out among all the science, let’s sum up with a quick walk-through.

  1. Warm up your monitor for at least 30 minutes before taking any measurements. You want to be sure the backlight is completely stable.
  2. Choose a picture mode that provides a good starting point for levels, gamma, grayscale, and color, giving you all of the adjustments you need.
  3. Set levels with PLUGE and step patterns, taking care not to clip at the darkest and lightest extremes of the brightness scale. You may want to use your meter to determine a maximum light level. We always use 200 cd/m2.
  4. Set your gamma control to 2.2, if you have one. And set the color temp to user or custom to unlock the RGB sliders.
  5. Verify the gamma is close to or right on 2.2. If not, change the preset until it is.
  6. Using an 80-percent white window pattern, adjust the RGB sliders using your meter and software. We like bulls-eye and bar charts but you can use whatever method you prefer to set your white point to 6500K or D65.
  7. Measure your color gamut using window patterns. Record the CIE coordinates so you can create an ICC profile. Some software packages will do this for you. If you have a monitor with selectable color gamuts, choose the one that best suits your purpose. sRGB/Rec. 709 is perfect for games, movies, and general computing. Adobe RGB 1998 is the choice for photo editing as long as your camera records the same gamut.
  8. Verify your results with a final measurement run. Then, you’re done!

The main advantage to this method compared to a software look-up table is consistency. With LUTs, it can be very easy to chase one’s tail trying to dial in color, especially when you throw in the additional variable of ICC profiles. Every application does things a little differently, and a subtle change in color on your monitor might mean big changes later when you go to print. When your display is set up correctly using its own controls, there is no need for a LUT, and you can use a single ICC profile that is either on or off depending on the application. When we create graphics for reviews, for example, we don’t use a profile, since everything is created for the Web.

If you're trying to figure out which monitor to buy, creating your own benchmarks is easy if you just follow our steps. Then you know exactly what areas of performance are weak or strong. Just as we cover brightness, gamma, grayscale, and color, you too can test these parameters to see what display is right for you.

If this article has raised questions, be assured that there is more help on the way. Our next focus will be on a subset of the CalMAN package we use here at Tom’s called CalPC. SpectraCal has several bundles with value-priced meters and a client module that generates patterns for around $300. And if you already have a meter, you can buy their software for $149 online.

We hope you now have a better understanding of the principles behind monitor calibration and how the built-in controls can be used to make your display better. By following the same procedures we use in our reviews, anyone with the basic tools at their disposal can achieve the same results we do.

Christian Eberle
Christian Eberle
Contributing Editor

Christian Eberle is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He's a veteran reviewer of A/V equipment, specializing in monitors. Christian began his obsession with tech when he built his first PC in 1991, a 286 running DOS 3.0 at a blazing 12MHz. In 2006, he undertook training from the Imaging Science Foundation in video calibration and testing and thus started a passion for precise imaging that persists to this day. He is also a professional musician with a degree from the New England Conservatory as a classical bassoonist which he used to good effect as a performer with the West Point Army Band from 1987 to 2013. He enjoys watching movies and listening to high-end audio in his custom-built home theater and can be seen riding trails near his home on a race-ready ICE VTX recumbent trike. Christian enjoys the endless summer in Florida where he lives with his wife and Chihuahua and plays with orchestras around the state.

See more Monitors How To
26 Comments Comment from the forums
  • expl0itfinder
    Interesting article. Very detailed and well written. Kudos to the author.
    Reply
  • MANOFKRYPTONAK
    For TVs CNET posts the color levels they use to test each TVs picture by model. They also give great advice on how to adjust too! I used there settings with my 50" vizio and could not be happier. Don't get me wrong loved this article, but you can never get too much info, am I right?
    Reply
  • yolosweg
    I've adjusted the gamma on my laptop but it keeps reseting. Does anyone know how to fix this? (I used the default windows program btw)
    Reply
  • Vladimir83
    Fantastic article.....TomsHardware style!
    I have no idea how my monitor was off until i saw the patterns ;)
    Now perfectly set for brightness/contrast:first,third,and fourth pattern(although on this i notice cliping on the blue).
    However second pattern couldn't set it right.Darkest bar which should be almost cliping to the background is too "black",and the next "12" bar is more closely match to the background in colour.
    Any thoughts someone? I use Philips 227Eqha IPS monitor.
    Reply
  • rezzahd
    Great display calibration guide. I would recommend this to anyone new to display calibration.
    Reply
  • clonazepam
    Every time I took a support call for pro graphics products, and it centered around getting accurate color, I started off with "Color is a 3-dimensional space..." It was just my way of saying we might be here for awhile.

    I love these articles. =)
    Reply
  • ojas
    Second page, second last photo, article should say that you've set the black level too low, not too high.

    Seems to be an interesting read so far, and I've really wanted to read an article like this, so thanks in advance!
    Reply
  • ojas
    Doesn't the first picture of Gavin on the 3rd page have low gamma and the second bright one is where the gamma is too high?

    It's written the other (incorrect?) way around in the article, i think.
    Reply
  • ojas
    Now we’ll make the color temp too warm; in other words, below D65.

    Shouldn't it be "above D65"? :/
    Reply
  • gwolfman
    11718866 said:
    Doesn't the first picture of Gavin on the 3rd page have low gamma and the second bright one is where the gamma is too high?

    It's written the other (incorrect?) way around in the article, i think.
    It's opposite. Lower gamma makes the dark areas of an image brighter, hence the entire picture looks brighter. Higher gamma makes the lighter areas darker (i.e., it takes a lot brighter white in the image data to actually be displayed white). Check here for a great tutorial on gamma, especially the section titled "Display Gamma."
    http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/gamma-correction.htm


    11719001 said:
    Now we’ll make the color temp too warm; in other words, below D65.
    Shouldn't it be "above D65"? :/
    That's incorrect. It actually works backwards/opposite from what one might think. Color temperature originates from the color a flame radiates in relation to the temperature at which it burns. Think back to grade school and playing with the Bunsen burner... the hottest part of the flame (i.e., higher Kelvin) is in the darkest blues, not the reds (i.e, lower temperature/Kelvin). This simple picture helps explain the difference.

    Reply