Monitor Differences

[Nerdsrock22]

Well guys, I need some help.

I have noticed a huge difference in my pictures between my home computer (27" iMac) and my work computer (15" Dell Latitude E6500). Basically, I'll edit my pics using Aperture and Photoshop from RAW, save a TIFF, and then upload to Flickr as a JPEG. Any format I view them on iMac, they all look the same.

I'll then drive up to work, check out my Flickr, and be the pics will look completely graywashed. What was a bright, contrasted image now looks flat and dull. :(

Am I going crazy, What gives? How can I get my monitors to display closer to each other?

[oneSLOWex]

It could be that your monitor at home is much better than your work. I know things look totally different on the HD monitor we have on one of the other computers I use here at work.

[Crazy Asian]

Well guys, I need some help.

I have noticed a huge difference in my pictures between my home computer (27" iMac) and my work computer (15" Dell Latitude E6500). Basically, I'll edit my pics using Aperture and Photoshop from RAW, save a TIFF, and then upload to Flickr as a JPEG. Any format I view them on iMac, they all look the same.

I'll then drive up to work, check out my Flickr, and be the pics will look completely graywashed. What was a bright, contrasted image now looks flat and dull. :(

Am I going crazy, What gives? How can I get my monitors to display closer to each other?

Nerd you're kidding right? PLEASE TELL ME THIS BE A JOKE??

But in all seriousness it's a 15" that was probably made when you were in high school. Not worth it and crap. Your iMAC is 10x better due to it being bigger and probably better resolution.

[Nerdsrock22]

Nerd you're kidding right? PLEASE TELL ME THIS BE A JOKE??

But in all seriousness it's a 15" that was probably made when you were in high school. Not worth it and crap. Your iMAC is 10x better due to it being bigger and probably better resolution.

No, no, no I know my iMac is obviously better. I'm not an idiot.

My question is, is there anything I can change on my 15" to more accurately display the colors that I see on my iMac. My 6 year old 15" Macbook Pro matches my iMac, so I feel like this should be able to as well.

My worry is that I'm editing these pictures, and that I think they look good, but in actuality they look much more bland to everyone who doesn't have a 27" iMac.

[Crazy Asian]

No, no, no I know my iMac is obviously better. I'm not an idiot.

My question is, is there anything I can change on my 15" to more accurately display the colors that I see on my iMac. My 6 year old 15" Macbook Pro matches my iMac, so I feel like this should be able to as well.

My worry is that I'm editing these pictures, and that I think they look good, but in actuality they look much more bland to everyone who doesn't have a 27" iMac.

You could tune the settings but other than then I really dont know of anything else. http://www.thescreamonline.com/technology/monitor/monitor_res.html here's a link to get better resolution.

[Nerdsrock22]

Yeah it's not so much resolution as contrast.

[Crazy Asian]

Yeah it's not so much resolution as contrast.

Ahh well then chuck the thing out the window and tell your boss you want a 22" monitor.

[A.A]

na your work looks good on my pc.

It is probably your monitor fariations... the dell 22 1680x1050 I bought two years ago is not as sharp as it use to be and I can't even get it close to the display on my laptop (it just won't get bright, sharp, or cool enough and I am using digital signal HDMI/DVI).

My laptop monitor is super sharp but shows colors pretty cool on the spectrum, so I have to watch out for processing my RAW images too warm... color settings and brightness are a bitch to get right because there are so many variations for display. I'd love to have an external display for my laptop that matched the on-board display, but it is not as easy as it sounds.

try to factor in photo printers and it becomes mind numbing.

[Nerdsrock22]

na your work looks good on my pc.

It is probably your monitor fariations... the dell 22 1680x1050 I bought two years ago is not as sharp as it use to be and I can't even get it close to the display on my laptop (it just won't get bright, sharp, or cool enough and I am using digital signal HDMI/DVI).

My laptop monitor is super sharp but shows colors pretty cool on the spectrum, so I have to watch out for processing my RAW images too warm... color settings and brightness are a bitch to get right because there are so many variations for display. I'd love to have an external display for my laptop that matched the on-board display, but it is not as easy as it sounds.

try to factor in photo printers and it becomes mind numbing.

Thanks a lot man. I'm just tired of editing something real late at night, loading it up to Flickr, and then being disappointed when I see it at work in the morning. As long as such variation is possible, if not common, I'm ok with it. I've generally been pretty happy with my prints, (Flickr to Target pick up).

[A.A]

Thanks a lot man. I'm just tired of editing something real late at night, loading it up to Flickr, and then being disappointed when I see it at work in the morning. As long as such variation is possible, if not common, I'm ok with it. I've generally been pretty happy with my prints, (Flickr to Target pick up).

I think if you are getting the prints right, then you are right on with your color and brightness settings. just get a new monitor for that office.

[ct9a gsr]

Use a monitor calibrator. I use a Pantone Huey Pro to calibrate all my monitors to display true colors. It's useful if you really care about true colors in everything you do... from photos, watching movies, playing games, etc. :D

[boostedb16]

i have a dell 19" flat panel at home and a dell 15" regular one at work and there is a big difference in the two. my boss has a macbook pro and i have him look at pictures i post on here and flickr to see if there are any problems and they look as good on my home monitor as they do on his.

[ct9a gsr]

Every monitor will look like complete shit out of the box to anyone with an eye for color (or who's used monitor calibrators before). You'd be surprised at the discoloration on every monitor... even my $1200+ HP monitor came with colors quite off. Again, invest in a monitor calibrator if you really care for accurate colors. :D

[CHADbee]

Every monitor will look like complete shit out of the box to anyone with an eye for color (or who's used monitor calibrators before). You'd be surprised at the discoloration on every monitor... even my $1200+ HP monitor came with colors quite off. Again, invest in a monitor calibrator if you really care for accurate colors. :D

i REALLY need to do this^

send me something sweetie :ninja:

[Nerdsrock22]

Yeah I had a guy tell me about these once, and I laughed at him.

I'm not laughing anymore. I need one.

[Tarzanman]

You need to do two things, and realize a third thing.

First, you need to get rid of your Dell E6500, or stop using the display on the laptop. The E6500 uses a TN panel for the display. If you want a wider/superior color reproduction then you need to get an IPS, PVA, or old school CRT monitor. TN panels suck. The cheapest IPS monitor on the market is the Dell 2209WA. Its a 22" LCD and usually costs around $250.

Second, you need to calibrate your monitors so that they are balanced similarly. Spend $60 and get a Spyder Pro 2 or something similar.

Third, make sure that you're saving your jpeg images in sRGB color space. If you are converting RAWS over using photoshop, then they are probably being saved with the Adobe RGB colorspace (which holds more color information than sRGB). Most web browsers ignore the extra information in the Adobe RGB colorpace and end up displaying the photo with very washed out, gray colors. I think that Safari is one of the few browsers that reads the entire colorspace.

If you need more info, just google any of the stuff I just mentioned. Lots of people have the same issues you described.




Well guys, I need some help.

I have noticed a huge difference in my pictures between my home computer (27" iMac) and my work computer (15" Dell Latitude E6500). Basically, I'll edit my pics using Aperture and Photoshop from RAW, save a TIFF, and then upload to Flickr as a JPEG. Any format I view them on iMac, they all look the same.

I'll then drive up to work, check out my Flickr, and be the pics will look completely graywashed. What was a bright, contrasted image now looks flat and dull. :(

Am I going crazy, What gives? How can I get my monitors to display closer to each other?

[Nerdsrock22]

You need to do two things, and realize a third thing.

First, you need to get rid of your Dell E6500, or stop using the display on the laptop. The E6500 uses a TN panel for the display. If you want a wider/superior color reproduction then you need to get an IPS, PVA, or old school CRT monitor. TN panels suck. The cheapest IPS monitor on the market is the Dell 2209WA. Its a 22" LCD and usually costs around $250.

Second, you need to calibrate your monitors so that they are balanced similarly. Spend $60 and get a Spyder Pro 2 or something similar.

Third, make sure that you're saving your jpeg images in sRGB color space. If you are converting RAWS over using photoshop, then they are probably being saved with the Adobe RGB colorspace (which holds more color information than sRGB). Most web browsers ignore the extra information in the Adobe RGB colorpace and end up displaying the photo with very washed out, gray colors. I think that Safari is one of the few browsers that reads the entire colorspace.

If you need more info, just google any of the stuff I just mentioned. Lots of people have the same issues you described.

Wow great info. Thanks alot.