Helpful PC Gamma Check / Calibration Chart

[Noel C]

I posted this in response to a thread, but I thought it might be useful for a wider audience, so...

PC monitor settings are often all over the map.

The following chart can help you know if your PC monitor is set so that the gamma response is more or less proper (at gamma 2.2). It's copied from an old web site that's no longer around. Bravo and thank you to Timo Autiocari, who originally created it.

The dark vertical bars along the right contain alternating black and dark gray squares. If you can (barely) see the differences in the dark squares in the upper one and can't really see them in the lower one, then you're pretty much right on. Also, your overall gamma should be set so as to make the larger vertical bars both look like smooth gray gradients, light to dark, with no color or differences side to side. In practice it's hard to get them perfect, but it's possible to get them very close.

NOTE: Make sure you're viewing this chart at 100% zoom or it falls apart. |

-Noel

 

[salBolzano]

Noel, just to check, i presume your monitor is calibrated, so the middle wide bar has white on top and bottom from left to right has light blue, purple and browhish/greenish ?

ALSO the left whide bar has on the left side a gradational grey with like little steps/white lines, and the right part of the leftmost wide bar looks like just gray gradient, YES???
Thank you for replying and posting it too ! Be well !
--
Grazie, Thank you, - Sal

 

[Noel C]

The bars are all gray and appear as smooth gradients when everything's just right. You may be able to see a hint of color.

Proper color calibration doesn't always mean proper gamma calibration. In an ideal world it would, but...

-Noel

 

[NewsyL]

Another useful site for LCD monitors.

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

.
--


Newsy http://newsy.smugmug.com

.

 

[Noel C]

Something like this is what you're supposed to see when your monitors are spot on...





-Noel

 

[Mark Rehmar]

Interesting. When I view it in firefox (with the color management plug in), I can see the black and gray squares on the upper far right strip, but the middle strip has a lot of color in three internal strips.

However, when I view it in photoshop, fast image viewer, ACDSee (all of which are supposed to be fully color managed), or in Faststone or windows image viewer (both of which are NOT supposed to be fully color managed) it looks identical in all, with just a little hint of green in the middle of the middle strip.

My interpretation is that since I see the black and gray squares on the upper right strip, that gamma is good. I don't know what to make of the colors in firefox or lack or colors in other supposedly non managed programs?
--
Mark R
Pbase supporte

 

[Noel C]

You'll likely see colors if any resizing has occurred during the display.

The file is a .png. There is no color management - therefore it is displayed as sRGB by Windows.

-Noel

 

[Mark Rehmar]

You'll likely see colors if any resizing has occurred during the display.

All views were at 100% - no resizing

The file is a .png. There is no color management - therefore it is displayed as sRGB by Windows.

Interesting. That explains Faststone and Windows Picture Viewer. I only get colors in Firefox and IE8, but NOT in Chrome. Anyone have any idea why?????

--
Mark R
Pbase supporter
NAPP member

 

[Deleted1929]

NoelC it would help if you provided some documentation on why a pattern of alternating coloured stripes should not, in fact , be rendered as a pattern of alternating coloured stripes.

Once it's displayed ( correctly ) as a pattern of alternating coloured stripes, why should anyone see it as anything else ? Surely that's as much your own vision system ( "eyes" ) as anything else ?

Where did you get this and what's the basis for the assertion we should be seeing grey everywhere ?

Not being argumentative but before I start recalibrating I'd like to know why I'm doing it .

--
StephenG

Pentax K100D
Fuji S3 Pro
Fuji S9600

 

[Pictus]

http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/Calibration/monitor_black.htm

 

[Noel C]

I didn't invent the thing, but it seems to be crafted to measure the combination of alternating light and dark against a solid color, much as are some of the patterns shown at the Lagom link provided by NewsyL above ( http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/ ). If the light and dark parts add up to emit about the same amount of visible light overall as the solid color, the gamma must be set to 2.2.

-Noel

 

[Noel C]

I don't believe it's a color management problem at all. I believe some of your apps must somehow be presenting the image at a resized resolution and some not. Do you see 100% in the lower-right corner of IE.

Is your display resolution set to your monitor's native resolution?

-Noel

 

[Mark Rehmar]

I don't believe it's a color management problem at all. I believe some of your apps must somehow be presenting the image at a resized resolution and some not. Do you see 100% in the lower-right corner of IE.

Noel,

Your right - I forgot that in Firefox I usually browse with the size bumped up one notch (makes things easier to read on my old CRT 1600 x 1200 monitor). When I corrected that, it looked the same in all apps. I guess the fact that I get just a tad of color in only one stripe means I'm pretty close.

Do you have information on how this image works?

Mark R
Pbase supporter

Noel,

Your right - I forgot that in Firefox I usually browse with the size bumped up one notch. When I corrected that, it looked the same in all apps. I guess the fact that I get just a tad of color in only one stripe means I'm pretty close.

Do you have information on how this image works?

 

[Noel C]

Do you have information on how this image works?

Not in great detail, no. My earlier response to the same question is here:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=35432788

-Noel