Samsung 2433BW

Calibrating the monitor makes it show the true colors of a color graphic...say a RAW image. But unless you have a really high end color graphics monitor, you're mostly wasting your time. And I mean the type used by Hollywood studios and professional photographers and the like costing thousands of dollars. I've calibrated my monitors only ending up reversing the effect because the changes didn't suit my main use of the computer.

I don't recall the message being an error. Photoshop's default wants you to run the calibration; you don't have to and you can disable the nag. You can always uninstall Photoshop, scrub the registry and reinstall.

 

You can download driver (which usually contains colour profiles) from the Samsung website. Apart from this, Windows comes with an inbuilt calibrator. This definitely needs to be run, as most monitors are not calibrated perfectly to the display adaptor and every other possible combination of factors.

The driver (which is just an inf file saying the capability of the card and what the colour profile file is, if available. This colour profile is used so what you see on the screen is the same as viewing it on another screen or output device. The Windows calibration tool calibrate thes the monitor to the display adaptor. This is the simplest way of describing the two functions.

Anyways, to access the Windows calibration, which I very highly recommend because it can actually make a bigger difference than what you may realise initially, do the following steps:
- Access the control panel
- Click on 'view by' in the top right hand corner and select 'small icons' or 'large icons'. The category view is useless
- Click on 'Display', and select 'Calibrate Display' from the left pane
alternatively to the above method, click on 'Color Management' and select the advanced tab, then click on the 'Calibrate Display' button.
- When the calibration window appears, move it to the screen you want to calibrate. Windows knows what display you have the window on and will adjust things accordingly on that display. If its on the correct display already (or you have only one display), click next.
- Adjust the gamma according to the examples given. Make sure you get it perfect so there is no central dark or white point. This should be perfectly possible on your screen. On some cheaper type/more limited screens, such as a laptop screen, or in other particular cases, it may seem impossible to get rid of the central dark/light area so it blends perfectly. If this is the case, balance the slider so there is no fine point of dark or white, even if there is that permanent circle. Its hard to explain, but if you see it, which you shouldn't on your monitor (but saying it for the benefit of others), you'll know what I mean.
- Click next when done, and adjust the brightness and contrast. Most people don't have these right, for the brightness you should just be able to see the big X, it shouldn't be highly visible and it shouldn't be pitch black. On certain output types this may not be possible either - but in the case of a typical computer monitor, such as yours, it definitely should be easily adjustable so the X is just visible.
- Clcik next and adust the contrast. Most people tend to have this too high if anything, and its pointless. You should be able to see the buttons and wrinkles clearly, having to much contrast just washes everything together, so you actually get a worse picture. Set this correctly (You have to set it using the monitor buttons on the face of you screen, like with the brightness) and you will get a better picture.
- Click next, and a red/green/blue adjuster is shown. The grey bars should actually be perfectly grey, note any slight colour. I've noticed on several monitors blue seems present. If this is the case, just move the blue slider back slightly so you get a good proper grey, not a grey with a tinge of colour! If the other colours are visible, adjust them accordingly. You should only have to move the sliders back one or two spots if required. I haven't seen a monitor where I didn't have to move the blue back a fraction, and the most I had to adjust was the blue back 2 spots and the green back 1.
- Click next, and you can click on 'previous calibration' and 'current calibration' (which is your changes) to compare, and click through to have it saved. This will be utilised when you log in to Windows. Once completed, a cleartype adjuster appears. You can cancel this, or you can navigate through and choose a different text window if you find it better. That will affect all text in all programmes, so make sure you get it right! (default settings are generally ok, as like I said cancelling it won't affect the colour calibration).

Even though you may think you haven't changed much by the above changes, it can actually make a very nice difference and can really make the screen look better, especially on certain windows or pictures

 

Great post; very thorough. My sole comment is Windows calibration is not the same as Adobe Photoshop calibration. i.e. Adobe Gamma Loader (AGL). The OP says he keeps getting an error message whereby Photoshop is telling him he needs to calibrate his monitor. The message is not really reporting an error, Adobe Photoshop is nagging him to use AGL to calibrate. Unfortunately AGL, like Windows calibration, works at the system level to provide a consistent view of all images on the monitor. This means it impacts all programs, not just Adobe programs. That being the case, what you do in one may undo what you did in the other.

If you want to use Windows built-in calibrator, it's generally a good idea to stop the Gamma Loader from running at startup via a program such as autoruns. To me, Windows calibration is rudimentary compared to the AGL, but to each his own.

 

The Windows calibration is fairly rudimentary, but it does cover the main things which are commonly mis-set. If the gamma is off, brightness too bright/dark, contrast too high (so you get flaring and lose details), and the grey has a tinge of colour, and its almost a certainty that one of these isn't right, then calibrating is a good thing! You're correct, it does affect everything from desktop to games and programmes, and thats exactly what you want if its not right in the first place :

 

Very true. But that's the really nice thing about all these pretty well written programs. Lots of choices and we all get to pick what's best for us. I prefer the AGL, but I've used the Windows 7 calibrator too and the fact is, a lot depends on the monitor. One or the other will work better and that's the one I choose. It's kind of like choosing which ice cream you like best ... try 'em both!!