MacBook Pro LCD needs calibration?

[joe6pack]

I have a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014). Is it already calibrated at the factory?

I am asking because I recently hooked it up to a Dell UltraSharp monitor, which is having very good reviews. The Mac automatically created / or picked a Color Profile for the monitor which I see is identical to Adobe RGB (1998). AFAIK, RGB is the right profile for the UltraSharp.

I thought that since I have the UltraSharp, I should not need to do much adjustment. However, side by side, the monitor looks very different from the built-in LCD. What looks like a reddish orange on the LCD appears yellowish orange on the monitor. I start to wonder whether it is my monitor that needs calibration or the LCD.

Any Dell U2413 + Mac users can comment? I'm using the min-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable.

 

[Ellis Vener]

I have a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014). Is it already calibrated at the factory?

I am asking because I recently hooked it up to a Dell UltraSharp monitor, which is having very good reviews. The Mac automatically created / or picked a Color Profile for the monitor which I see is identical to Adobe RGB (1998). AFAIK, RGB is the right profile for the UltraSharp.

I thought that since I have the UltraSharp, I should not need to do much adjustment. However, side by side, the monitor looks very different from the built-in LCD. What looks like a reddish orange on the LCD appears yellowish orange on the monitor. I start to wonder whether it is my monitor that needs calibration or the LCD.

Any Dell U2413 + Mac users can comment? I'm using the min-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable.

If you are doing professional work you should always profile your displays.

 

[joe6pack]

I'm just doing casual work but from time to time I edit photos on my Mac. But the color difference between the UltraSharp is quite significant and I am not sure which one is right. Bottomline is that I want my photos to look good when viewed by others, not only on a specific display.

 

[Mark Alan Thomas]

I'm just doing casual work but from time to time I edit photos on my Mac. But the color difference between the UltraSharp is quite significant and I am not sure which one is right. Bottomline is that I want my photos to look good when viewed by others, not only on a specific display.

Use the default display profile on the Mac Book, which is probably called “Color LCD”, and then configure the DELL to use sRGB. Colors should then be close, but there will probably still be a difference in overall color cast (one being slightly bluer or yellower than the other).

 

[Schroedingers_cat]

I have a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014). Is it already calibrated at the factory?

I am asking because I recently hooked it up to a Dell UltraSharp monitor, which is having very good reviews. The Mac automatically created / or picked a Color Profile for the monitor which I see is identical to Adobe RGB (1998). AFAIK, RGB is the right profile for the UltraSharp.

I thought that since I have the UltraSharp, I should not need to do much adjustment. However, side by side, the monitor looks very different from the built-in LCD. What looks like a reddish orange on the LCD appears yellowish orange on the monitor. I start to wonder whether it is my monitor that needs calibration or the LCD.

Any Dell U2413 + Mac users can comment? I'm using the min-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable.

Perhaps I am misunderstanding your post. If so my apologies.

Profiling and calibration are two different things.

For your Macbook (or your Dell, for that matter) to be adjusted for a professional workflow, you calibrate it and perform an individual monitor profiling specific to your machine. It does have a factory profile installed, but in my experience it will be too cool. In any case, monitor colors drift over time and new profiles should be created at intervials.

Adobe RGB (1998) is a working space, not a monitor profile. It should not be selected as a profile for your monitor, as this may not give the results you are looking to achieve. The factory supplied profile on my iMac, for instance, is simply called "iMac". On my Mac Air it's called "Color LCD". Additional profiles, including Adobe RGB (1998) are installed on the machine and "could" be selected as monitor profiles, but this would not be best practice. A monitor profile is specific to the individual monitor being considered.

Selecting canned profiles is unlikely to result in color matching of two monitors, even if they are identical monitors.

Adobe RGB may be selected as a working space in your color editor, but may not be the default selection. This example is for Photoshop.



A monitor color space may be selected in the software your computer uses to drive your monitor. This example is for an iMac.

Again, if this is not what you are discussing my apoligies.



--
http://www.nightstreets.com
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"Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms such as you have named...but a dying culture invariable exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners is more significant than a riot."
This symptom is especially serious in that an individual displaying it never thinks of it as a sign of ill health but as proof of his/her strength. ...Friday, it is too late to save this culture--this worldwide culture... Therefore we must now prepare the monasteries for the coming Dark Age. Electronic records are too fragile..."
--Robert A. Heinlein in "Friday"

 

[joe6pack]

Thanks for the detailed reply. To be honest, I'm not all that familiar with Macs to start with.

I noticed that no matter what monitor I plug into my MBP. It will always get assigned with a Color Profile and its name matches the monitor and model (tried 3 monitors). Co-incident? My hypothesis is that there is not really a Color Profile for individual monitor but rather the Mac is retrieving the monitor ID from EDID and generates a color profile on the spot.

With my U2413, it happens that its default profile is identical to of "Adobe RGB (1998)" color profile. I see absolutely no difference when toggling between the 2. While selecting others shows noticeable difference.

I found it frustrating that there are two ways to set color. I can adjust the display or I can change the color profile on Mac. Except the built-in LCD has no adjustments besides brightness.

Basically, I have only one goal. Which is to set my monitor with the "right" color. So that my photos look right on properly calibrated monitor. I would hate to find out that the thousands of photos I processed from RAW was done on a poorly calibrated monitor. I understand every monitor is different but I thought the point of buying quality monitor is to get the right color?

 

[Schroedingers_cat]

Basically, I have only one goal. Which is to set my monitor with the "right" color.

Then you're about to fall down the rabbit hole of color management

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www.xrite.com

--

http://www.nightstreets.com

-
"Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms such as you have named...but a dying culture invariable exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners is more significant than a riot."
This symptom is especially serious in that an individual displaying it never thinks of it as a sign of ill health but as proof of his/her strength. ...Friday, it is too late to save this culture--this worldwide culture... Therefore we must now prepare the monasteries for the coming Dark Age. Electronic records are too fragile..."
--Robert A. Heinlein in "Friday"

 

[Ellis Vener]

Thanks for the detailed reply. To be honest, I'm not all that familiar with Macs to start with.

That's okay. We will try to help.

I noticed that no matter what monitor I plug into my MBP. It will always get assigned with a Color Profile and its name matches the monitor and model (tried 3 monitors). Co-incident? My hypothesis is that there is not really a Color Profile for individual monitor but rather the Mac is retrieving the monitor ID from EDID and generates a color profile on the spot.

No it does not. Instead it's taking what ever profile (if any) exists for that display.

With my U2413, it happens that its default profile is identical to of "Adobe RGB (1998)" color profile. I see absolutely no difference when toggling between the 2. While others shows noticeable difference.

just because you can't see a difference doesn't mean it's actually identical to Adobe RGB(1998). Color spaces like Adobe RGB(1998), Pro Photo RGB, or sRGB are called Working Spaces - they are synthetic constructs that are relatively device independent. Your displays are unique devices with their own unique characteristics of rendering colors. You are selecting Adobe RGB (1998) as a profile but it's more likely that the gamut of your display doesn't quite match ithat working space's gamut so you don't see a change.

I found it frustrating that there are two ways to set color. I can adjust the display or I can change the color profile on Mac. Except the built-in LCD has no adjustments besides brightness.

if you use a colorimeter and profiling software (I suggest you go with either the Xrite i1 Display Pro/i1Profiler combination or if for some reason you don't like X-Rite, there's the Datacolor Spyder 5 package) the software sends the display a set of colors with known numerical values, the colorimeter and software then reads how they are remdered by the display and the software generates a set of corrections -a profile of the display- that Apple's ColorSync program uses to adjust the values an ICC aware program sends to the display so they are displayed correctly (within the limits of the display.)

Basically, I have only one goal. Which is to set my monitor with the "right" color. So that my photos look right on properly calibrated monitor. I would hate to find out that the thousands of photos I processed from RAW was done on a poorly calibrated monitor. I understand every monitor is different but I thought the point of buying quality monitor is to get the right color?

These are mass produced machines manufactured within certain tolerances. To get more accurate than that you actually have to profile your individual unique displays.