Am I hurting my LCD calibration effort?

net1994

Just got a new HP LCD panel and I'm using Spyder3 Pro. During calibration it says to calibrate in a 'dimly lit room.' Right behind the monitor I have a lamp with 40w light bulb. When the device takes an ambient light measurement, it says 'moderately low.' This seems to be fine from what I hear. But while I work on my photos, the wall behind the monitor 'glows' a bit.

Am I making calibration harder? Some folks will say to have the room completly dark when working on photos, but that's too dark for me.

net1994

Anyone?

HarlanBear

I find that calibrating in a "darkened" room works best. And by darkened, I do not mean completely black, since I don't work in a completely black room, either. And I think the "dimly lit room" you reference is like that. The key for most calibration systems, and I use Spyder2 Express, is to make sure there is no direct light reflecting on the monitor, or that hard overhead light is soaking up the ambience.

So I would think you're good. Easy to test by doing the calibration and then look at a finalized image on another machine. Or do a print and see that it matches.

arodney

The ambient light functionally isn't all that useful. Basically it measures to see if the ambient light is too high. It can't be too low! That said, a 40W bulb is hardly an ideal illuminant to have on around this device (you'd be far better off with something like a Solux CCT 4700K for viewing your prints by the display). Bottom line is, don't worry about this report. But do worry about proper illumination that is also totally consistent throughout the day and night.