Calibration trouble

Last year when I first calibrated this LCD monitor with my Spyder 4 Pro, the calibration was perfect. Everything I printed looked as it did on my monitor plus when I used Nations for printing, everything printed just as it did with my own printer.

The problem started when I didn't recalibrate on time which made me do a full calibration again. Unfortunately I haven't been able to come close to what it used to be. I've followed the directions to the letter starting with an Ambient reading then selecting the recommended settings. Everything looks too dark, and even when I raise my brightness to its lightest settings, it is still too dark. My photos now print out too light when the images look good on my monitor.

I have brightness and contrast controls but nothing to set the color temperature. That is determined by the software. The calibrated reading sets the brightness at 71, but it is still too dark. Again...after the calibration, I reset my brightness to the lightest setting, but it is STILL too dark. Is there any way to override the brightness? I can't figure out what I did differently last year the very first time I calibrated this monitor. Everything was perfect.

The software has a recommended setting of Gamma 2.2 although I can change it to either 1.8, 2.0, or 2.4. The white point is set at the recommended level of 6500k although I can change it to either 5000k, 5800k, or native. And the brightness is set to LCD which is the recommended setting (and it's an LCD monitor) although I can change it to CTR or native. And the Ambient light is set to On after taking an Ambient reading.

I am stumped as to what else to do. Please help! Thank you!

EDIT: I used this on my laptop over the weekend without any problem so I don't think there is anything wrong with the Spyder 4 Pro. This monitor I am using is a larger LCD monitor attached to my desktop computer, and the calibration problem has existed since December.

Did you reset your monitor to factory default first ?

Did you recalibrate at the same time of day/same lighting conditions as the first calibration ?

Cheers, Don

Yes to both questions, Don. Monitor was reset to default (brightness of 75), then it requested that the monitor's brightness be set to the middle which is 50. I did that. Once it was done calibrating, the brightness was so dark that I raised it to 100, but it's still rather dark. Photos still print out too light compared with what I'm seeing on my monitor. The printer has never been a problem...plus I can tell a big difference in brightness between this monitor and my laptop's monitor that was just calibrated over the weekend. This one is still darker.

Maybe uninstall/reinstall the monitor's most recent driver??? I'm assuming this is Windows, ???

Hmmmm....

When you went through the calibration did it ask you to balance the contrast/brightness until the bar was in the middle ?

IIRC I went through a full calibration (Spyder3 Pro) and that option was missing as was the option to calibrate my second monitor.

Again IIRC I installed the latest update and all was well...

Cheers, Don

BTW > Dell U2412M, brightness and contrast both @ 75.

FredKingston said:

Maybe uninstall/reinstall the monitor's most recent driver??? I'm assuming this is Windows, ???

Click to expand...

I will look into that. Thanks for the suggestion!

Don Kondra said:

Hmmmm....

When you went through the calibration did it ask you to balance the contrast/brightness until the bar was in the middle ?

IIRC I went through a full calibration (Spyder3 Pro) and that option was missing as was the option to calibrate my second monitor.

Again IIRC I installed the latest update and all was well...

Cheers, Don

BTW > Dell U2412M, brightness and contrast both @ 75.

Click to expand...

It only requested that the brightness be set to the middle not the contrast as they are independent of one another. What is IIRC, Don?

Hark, does Spyder Pro have a firmware update or anything of that nature? What about updated drivers for your monitor? I'm just grasping at straws here, as I don't have a clue what the problem could be.

hark said:

It only requested that the brightness be set to the middle not the contrast as they are independent of one another. What is IIRC, Don?

Click to expand...

If I Remember Correctly

Something is definitely not right...

As you go through the calibration process a window will appear with a bar graph, not sure if it's brightness first or the contrast but..

Basically you adjust the parameter up or down (+ or -) until the bar is in the middle, when you click "next" the other parameter is available to adjust.

By trial and error and back and forthing you adjust each one until both are roughly in the middle.

When you first start the program go to the top left "File" > "Preferences" and check the box "check for updates".

Cheers, Don

I updated my monitor's driver then reset the monitor to factory default and went through a full calibration again. It is definitely better although still not quite as bright/light as it should be. I'll try it again tomorrow to see if I can get a better reading, but it is a big improvement. Thanks for the suggestions!

Here's another thought; how old is your monitor, and maybe it's failing?

fotojack said:

Here's another thought; how old is your monitor, and maybe it's failing?

Click to expand...

That is always a possibility. This monitor was 4 years old in December although for 2 of those years, it wasn't used (this is a second computer that is seldom, if ever, turned on). Just this past week I got my laptop running, but that monitor/screen is a little smaller than this one.

This room has one window which faces south so although there is light, it isn't overly bright. What I've noticed is when the room is brighter, my monitor winds up being brighter/lighter after it is calibrated, but when it isn't as bright (like on an overcast day), then the calibration comes out darker. Maybe I will look into getting some type of daylight light bulb to light the room without the light being directly on the monitor. Perhaps that will allow the calibration to achieve a somewhat brighter overall appearance.

Ideally you want to calibrate your monitor under the same lighting conditions In The Room that you will be doing your editing.

For me that means I do any serious editing in the evening with the same set of artifical lights turned on.

That eliminates the effect of varying degrees of sunlight.

Cheers, Don

Don Kondra said:

Ideally you want to calibrate your monitor under the same lighting conditions In The Room that you will be doing your editing.

For me that means I do any serious editing in the evening with the same set of artifical lights turned on.

That eliminates the effect of varying degrees of sunlight.

Cheers, Don

Click to expand...

I understand that. However, this monitor and my laptop's screen display different brightness levels even though they are calibrated in the same room and in the exact same spot. As fotojack said, perhaps this monitor isn't working quite right.

Anyway thanks to everyone for all the suggestions and comments! Your input is greatly appreciated!