I was taught years ago that photos will generally look darker on PCs than on Macs, because Macs had a built-in correction of "gamma", which lifts the mid-tones, but PCs didn't. Does anybody know if this difference is still in place with modern machines?
Apple changed the gamma in Snow Leopard to match most PCs. Any Mac running Snow Leopard will have the gamma set at 2.2. Macs running OS X 10.5 or earlier will run gamma 1.8 by default.
ReplyDeleteIn System Preferences: Displays: Color: Calibrate, it is easy to created profiles with either gamma for comparison's sake.
Apple has been recommending gamma 2.2 for Aperture users and photographers in general, for a few years.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2026
Yes, and that's what I have had it set up for, for that reason.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know it was default in SN, thanks.
In as neutral a way as possible, I wonder how many readers of this blog would rate themselves as proficient photographers, and how many of those own AND use some form of color reference? Any kind of grey card qualifies, provided it was intended for the purpose it is being used.
ReplyDeletePersonally I think that color reference systems are mainly for product photography, and particularly product photography for print. Otherwise, even just the variations in monitors out there makes the point pretty moot.
ReplyDeleteIn following up to the comment by nonst, I wonder how many readers have color calibration equipment for their monitor. Something like an eyeOne Display or Spyder.
ReplyDeleteThe Apple support article I linked to also recommends a white point of 6500. I'm not quite there yet, having recently moved from 5000k to 6000k. I think that white point is the biggest difference between Mac and PC now, and in fact between one PC screen and another one.
Displays with higher temps tend to look better on a showroom floor, although they can quickly get tiring to use on a day to day basis.
I'd hazard that less than 1% of machines are used with color calibration equipment. Maybe less than 0.1%.
ReplyDeleteI agree, very few people know about color calibration of any kind, much less use it. It's good that Apple has a built-in software tool for calibration. It's far from perfect but at least you can get a gamma and temperature.
ReplyDeleteWindows 7 includes a built-in software tool for calibration as well, which is a nice change.
"...just the variations in monitors"
ReplyDeleteAs an exercise in practical logic, try to think of reasons why the variations in monitors might make it MORE important to color manage.
HINT: [0+1=1] but [1+1=2]
@ Eolake -
ReplyDeleteThe default Gamma setting for my Acer LCD flatscreen is 2.2, and I'm using Windows 7, so it seems this is the industry default setting for everybody.
I miss my Acer. Had it for 6 YEARS! Bought an ASUS, on the advice of an Applehead dude and the fricken hard drive just died...after only 5 MONTHS!! :-( How is yours doing, Ray?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ray.
ReplyDelete