Monitor won't calibrate?

Dr. JDr. J Registered Users Posts: 4 Beginner grinner
edited September 23, 2010 in Finishing School
Hi - I've noticed a strange calibration issue which in my set-up.

I have a Macbook and external monitor on which I run Lightroom 2.

Both screens have been calibrated using Eye One display 2.

However, I have noticed that not everything matches:

Laptop screen: LR, Firefox & Safari all match.
External screen: LR matches all programs on the laptop screen BUT Safari and Firefox don't match any of the other programs (including LR, which is on the same screen). For some reason, both browsers, when displaying smugmug, show colors as oversaturated and with a greenish hue on the external monitor only.

I also checked on a windows set-up and colors seemed fine.

I hope I'm clearly relaying the problem. In a nutshell, Smugmug looks wrong on one but not both of my screens. On the screen where there is a problem, LR looks fine so the screen does seem capable of displaying proper colors. Is it possible there is a hardware issue with the monitor?

For reference, the monitors are calibrated at 2.2 and 6500K. I am uploading in sRGB.

Thanks for any thoughts you may have.

Rgds,

Comments

  • arodneyarodney Registered Users Posts: 2,005 Major grins
    edited September 21, 2010
    In a nutshell, Smugmug looks wrong on one but not both of my screens. On the screen where there is a problem, LR looks fine so the screen does seem capable of displaying proper colors. Is it possible there is a hardware issue with the monitor?

    The data is in sRGB and you are using a color managed web browser (Safari, FireFox)?

    You may need to calibrate them to different calibration targets to result in a visual match. They are different displays.
    Andrew Rodney
    Author "Color Management for Photographers"
    http://www.digitaldog.net/
  • Dr. JDr. J Registered Users Posts: 4 Beginner grinner
    edited September 21, 2010
    arodney wrote: »
    The data is in sRGB and you are using a color managed web browser (Safari, FireFox)?

    You may need to calibrate them to different calibration targets to result in a visual match. They are different displays.

    Thanks for the response. What would I use as a different cal. target? Just manually adjust in order to get visual match?

    I had considered that, but what doesn't make sense is that Lightroom, on both monitors, is the same (LR on the external screen matches the laptop screen). The only thing which doesn't match from laptop to external screen is the browser, so I imagine calibrating the external screen to a different aesthetic would then through off LR on that screen. Unless I'm missing something else?
  • arodneyarodney Registered Users Posts: 2,005 Major grins
    edited September 21, 2010
    Dr. J wrote: »
    Thanks for the response. What would I use as a different cal. target? Just manually adjust in order to get visual match?

    Yup.

    IF LR is the same, that’s good and points to the issue being the use of a non ICC aware app.
    Andrew Rodney
    Author "Color Management for Photographers"
    http://www.digitaldog.net/
  • Dr. JDr. J Registered Users Posts: 4 Beginner grinner
    edited September 21, 2010
    arodney wrote: »
    Yup.

    IF LR is the same, that’s good and points to the issue being the use of a non ICC aware app.


    Are Safari and Firefox not ICC aware (they are the apps in question)? I thought that at a minimum, Firefox 3 and later support ICC profiles.

    I am considering manually adjusting the monitor but wouldn't this affect LR, which is currently showing colors correctly on the monitor in question?

    Perhaps creating a second profile that shows smugmug properly is an option, but switching back and forth sounds annoying.

    Thanks again Rodney,
  • arodneyarodney Registered Users Posts: 2,005 Major grins
    edited September 21, 2010
    Safari and FireFox are ICC aware (depending on how old your version of FireFox is).

    Display calibration targets should be set to match a print, while soft proofing, to the viewing conditions next to the display. I’d work on that for the main display, then if necessary, slightly tweak the calibration for the 2nd display. Depending on how different they are, they may never perfectly match (and on some Windows configurations, dual display access to profiles is iffy).
    Andrew Rodney
    Author "Color Management for Photographers"
    http://www.digitaldog.net/
  • Dr. JDr. J Registered Users Posts: 4 Beginner grinner
    edited September 23, 2010
    arodney wrote: »
    Safari and FireFox are ICC aware (depending on how old your version of FireFox is).

    Display calibration targets should be set to match a print, while soft proofing, to the viewing conditions next to the display. I’d work on that for the main display, then if necessary, slightly tweak the calibration for the 2nd display. Depending on how different they are, they may never perfectly match (and on some Windows configurations, dual display access to profiles is iffy).
    ________________

    Makes sense, and the external display is currently producing prints which are accurate (and therefore the only issue is Safari/firefox when viewing smugmug). Given that, it seems that there is really is no solution (as tweaking the display settings would then fix safari but in doing so, affect Lightroom and prints). Does that make sense? I am using a Mac.

    Still doesn't make sense to me how a display can show lightroom properly and clearly be properly calibrated since the prints (from West coast imaging) match perfectly, yet smugmug looks way off (despite the fact that smugmug looks fine on the laptop's own screen and on a windows machine I use at work.

    I don't fully understand how to resolve this, but still I appreciate your time. Certainly let me know if you have any other thoughts,

    Best,
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