OK, so I've got two different methods of calibrating my monitor and they both basically agree with each other.
The problem is, they don't agree with my cameras. Let me explain.
My monitor is an Eizo S2433W. I have two color calibrators, a Huey Pro, and an Eye One Display LT.
Use of both color calibrators yields the same results in terms of how the screen looks. I'll describe the use of the Eye One, since its use is more elaborate.
With that calibrator, you can actually use it to set the whitepoint of the monitor. I like this better than the Huey, which simply sets up the LUT of the card. I use the RGB gain controls of the monitor to set the whitepoint, and with that and contrast set, I can get something that's pretty close to properly calibrated (according to both calibrators).
But here's the problem:
- In order to get the white point set to something that the Eye One thinks is 6500K, I have to use an RGB gain of 74% for red, 80% for green, and 100% for blue. In fact, if I use the color temperature feature instead, even cranking it up to 10K doesn't quite get me 6500K according to the calibrator.
- Here's the real test, and where I think calibration is just outright failing. If I set my camera's white balance to 6500K and take a picture of the screen filled with white, the end result is something that the histogram says is shifted towards blue. In fact, the color temperature in the camera that gets me an even red/green/blue in the histogram is 7500K.
In fact, both of my cameras (a 7D and a 50D) agree on this: "neutral" white balance of "white" on the calibrated screen is achieved at 7500K. To achieve a 6500K white according to my cameras, I have to use gain values of 80% red, 81% green, and 100% blue.
So the question is: are the color calibrators right, or are my cameras right? And why would they disagree by so much, and yet be consistent with each other within a given device type?
For what it's worth, the "calibrated" display looks to have a cold tint to it, even after I've settled into using it that way for a while. That, too, tells me that my color calibrators are incorrect, but why would both of them be incorrect in exactly the same way?
Note, too, that this is true of multiple computers attached to the same display, so it's independent of the video card as well. The only thing that's common to all of this is the monitor.
