Hi,
this is my first post.
Im using an Eizo CG241 for photo editing and design work.
I do more and more digital black and white photo editing, from colour to black and white but Ill start soon to edit from with black and white film and also black and white RAW files from a Leica Monochrom.
Usually I use and calibrate three native targets “Photography”, “Webdesign” and “Printing”, each for the appropriate work in question.
Is there such a things as; is it possible to load/import an additional and specific target into my Eizo specifically for photographic black and white work; without the use of colors?
I hope this isnt a silly question.
Thank you very much.
All help is very welcome.
It isn’t possible to setup your screen to show only b&w on-screen. Eizo do sell some absolutely amazing medical monitors which can ONLY show b&w on-screen, and some of these screens are able to show more than 1024 levels from black to white but that would be the only way to get your screen to show only b&w on-screen.
But really, I don’t think there’s any reason or need to do this as your image is still shown in just b&w when you’re editing it. Also, you should absolutely be using your own custom calibration settings, not just the built-in targets. I use a CG242W, so I’m very familiar with your screen as I had one before the 242 (my 242 is what I received when I had to warranty my 241
If you need some help with setting up your own custom calibration targets, just ask. BTW, what device are you using to calibrate your screen?
thank you so much for your help.
I guess this was a crazy idea. I know about those very expensive and fantastic medical monitors but… theyre really very expensive ,-)
As you say, with these Eizo Adobe RGB monitors its possible to edit with confidence, seeing just B&W tones when the image is in B&W, as long the monitor is calibrated with regularity and free of technical problems; presenting just B&W without color shifting/infiltration.
Ive been using for color and B&W images the custom target for photography and the results are very good even for offset (cmyk) print.
Now Im preparing B&W images to produce digital negatives for platinum/palladium print (first time) and Im trying to be more careful and precise with my images to take the most from that high quality print technique, but Ive never create a custom target of my own and dont even know how to do it.
Maybe now its a good time to start make my own targets?!
How can you help me?
My calibration device is the X-Rite Eye-one Display 2; bought with the Eizo a few years ago. The software is the Color Navigation 6 (6.4.3.6).
Making your own targets is fairly simple in ColorNavigator.
You would start by hitting the Create a new target button, and enter in the values you’d want the software to aim for.
Usually we recommend settings like these to start with: Enter manually, Monitor native gamut, Native gamut, D65, black level minimum, 2.2 gamma.
The brightness setting I can’t give you a recommendation for, since it depends on your situation. This can be higher or lower depending on your room environment and what you’re trying to match. These settings are pretty close to the default settings for the Photography preset. I think the only difference is the brightness. The Photography target has you calibrating to 80 cd/m2, which for most users is a bit dark. Usually, people run somewhere between 80 and 120 cd/m2.
If you are trying to set up your display to match a printer, this newsletter article can be helpful in knowing a few troubleshooting issues: colorwiki.com/wiki/My_Printer_Is_Too_Dark
For those who want an extra level of confirmation, a validation procedure is a good way to go. It’s not necessary, and in most cases it will merely confirm that your calibration and profile were probably made correctly. The validation procedure for any monitor profiling software would be better called a “measurement consistency” report. It throws up a sampling of colors on the screen to measure and compares the result with what it would expect to get through the profile it just made. In most cases, the deltaE difference between the two are very small with some of the larger differences happening in the darker colors (since those are harder to measure accurately). Depending on the measurement instrument and the display in use, you’d expect to get less than 1 dE for most colors (for a quality display).
It’s worthwhile to note that “validation” does not actually validate that your colors are accurate. Because you’re going through the same instrument that was used to make the profile measurements to begin with, the most you can hope for is a confirmation that your measurements are not changing. Still, a final result that shows low delta E’s will provide some assurance that you did not make a really bad profile.
So take it for what it is - and you can probably do fine with the default set of validation patches (ie: Basic RGB). Eizo also offers to validate the profile against a number of European standards. Unless you are working in a press room, you would not have any use for this.
Here’s a new thought. Some industry experts suggest that since modern displays are of such good quality, we don’t need to calibrate them nearly as often. So instead of calibrating them every 3 weeks or so - instead just check them using the validation routine. If they are far off then re-calibrate. But if they are holding true to the previous calibration, then you’re good to go for another few weeks.
The Standard option that comes up by default is the best one to use in your situation. Some displays may have a black point that is not exactly neutral. Most people would not notice this of course. (How can you tell if “black” actually has a little bit of cyan or magenta in it?)
Eizo gives you the option to make use of this if desired. If you want to maximize the contrast between the lightest point and the darkest black, then use Prioritize Contrast to allow it to use the tinted black. If your main concern is getting perfect gray accuracy and you don’t care how light your blacks are, then you can choose Prioritize Gray Balance and it will make sure grays are neutral all the way down to the darkest neutral black. But the Standard setting is a good compromise between the two that gives you the best of both worlds.
It worth the waiting Patrick ,-) Very helpful again.
Now I know the differences between Standard, P. Contrast and G. Contrast.
I made targets with the three options and now I can choose depending on the project.
Thank you very very much.
Regards.
