Display Calibration Tip

[paddylaz]

Hey guys, so I've been loving my Xperia z3 apart from one problem - the display. I was unhappy with the blue-leaning cold look. What I wanted was a proper, sRGB industry standard, calibrated screen. But I kept failing to get it right.

I've seen a lot of people sharing rgb values for white balance, and the problem with this is having been into a store I've realised that all the displays are a bit different and in some cases require completely different tuning. The only exception of course being that blue should be kept on 0

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I've managed to get my display as close to perfect by doing the following. I'm not a professional so I'm not suggesting this is a sort of gold standard or anything. It's making do:

1) Download this picture to your phone and set your brightness to the bottom instructions: http://www.furthertofly.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/brightness_contrast_setting.png

Why? Because after going wrong several times trying to calibrate my display to my macbook, I realized because the brightnesses of panels are different, this can RADICALLY affect how things look as you adjust the sliders.

2) I went into an Apple store and downloaded the above picture onto an IPhone 5c and adjusted the 5c's brightness similarly. Why a 5c? Because every journalist Ive seen on the web (Erica Griffin and Anandtech to name two) both say that the iPhone is the best calibrated display. Hands down. 5c because anandtech say it has the best white balance of any iPhone. (6 is a tiny bit blue/cold apparently)

3) Making sure x-reality and super vivid are off, I downloaded a pure white picture onto both my z3 and 5c and played with the z3's white balance until my phone was nearly perfectly in line with the iphone. Nearly.

Hope this helps someone, I know that sounds a bit OCD and silly to go to that trouble. But my display looks frickin awesome now, and felt this was worth sharing. Yes I know it's a bit amateur-hour....but so what.

 

[pezlomd]

Do you mind sharing your settings

Sent from my D6616 using XDA Free mobile app

 

[abhinav.tella]

I think it differs, unit to unit some are bluer than others, my phone is already fairly close to the chart OP put up. So OPs settings may or may not work for you.

Its probably better to calibrate to the chart OP gave, by yourself.

 

[paddylaz]

Do you mind sharing your settings

Sent from my D6616 using XDA Free mobile app

I purposely didn't reveal my settings as the point I was trying to make was that this is where everyone is going wrong. Even to the naked eye, two screens that LOOK comparable actually won't be once you start changing the w/b....

But anyway yeah my final calibration is R:70, G:230, b:0.

I have 20:20 vision (ish) and no colour blindness.

AGAIN, these settings should be absolutely irrelevant to your handset.

It will never be PERFECT because the Xperia uses a blue backlight led as opposed to a white one. So there will always be a little blue favouritism....but my point being you can get to 'almost-perfect' from the out-of-the-box ridiculousness that one finds.

Put it this way, my xperia z3 is now better calibrated than my macbook pro, but not QUITE (maybe 90% as good) as an iPhone 5c.

 

[poldie]

I have 20:20 vision (ish) and no colour blindness.

People's eyesight 1) is different to other people's, and 2) changes through age. There's no *right* value. If you go to the same webpage on your monitor, tablet and phone, you'll likely find they all look different.

 

[paddylaz]

People's eyesight 1) is different to other people's, and 2) changes through age. There's no *right* value. If you go to the same webpage on your monitor, tablet and phone, you'll likely find they all look different.

Yes I know I've never suggested otherwise. I only added those details in case someone (such as yourself) might offer them as reasons for unreliable variability. I just added that to rule out any visual eccentricities that might negatively affect the value of what i was saying.

The fact that it changes through age is irrelevant. I am referencing the screen to something else...so the contrasting reference will be consistent. sRGB calibrations are advanced measurements made using (among other things) wavelength. That's why they are a standard.

 

[poldie]

Yes I know I've never suggested otherwise. I only added those details in case someone (such as yourself) might offer them as reasons for unreliable variability. I just added that to rule out any visual eccentricities that might negatively affect the value of what i was saying.

The fact that it changes through age is irrelevant. I am referencing the screen to something else...so the contrasting reference will be consistent. sRGB calibrations are advanced measurements made using (among other things) wavelength. That's why they are a standard.

If you're calibrating your phone so that images you produce in phone are more likely to be reproduced accurately on other people's devices, then you're doing it right.

If, however, you're calibrating your phone to an objective external definition of what is accurate without taking your own eyes into account, you're doing it wrong, because - for example - if you're older and your eyesight is therefore tending towards the yellow then you need to compensate for that, otherwise your spot-on, 100% accurate colour reproduction is going to look too yellow.

Also, bear in mind that absolutely nobodies phone, tablet, monitor, tv etc is calibrated "properly", not are they set to the same brightness/contrast settings, and some people have dynamic this and cinema mode that. Perhaps in the future this'll be handled properly, but not - I suspect- on most consumer equipment.

 

[paddylaz]

If you're calibrating your phone so that images you produce in phone are more likely to be reproduced accurately on other people's devices, then you're doing it right.

If, however, you're calibrating your phone to an objective external definition of what is accurate without taking your own eyes into account, you're doing it wrong, because - for example - if you're older and your eyesight is therefore tending towards the yellow then you need to compensate for that, otherwise your spot-on, 100% accurate colour reproduction is going to look too yellow.

Also, bear in mind that absolutely nobodies phone, tablet, monitor, tv etc is calibrated "properly", not are they set to the same brightness/contrast settings, and some people have dynamic this and cinema mode that. Perhaps in the future this'll be handled properly, but not - I suspect- on most consumer equipment.

Well I did say it wasn't meant to be professional grade. I'm young, decent eyesight, and there is such a thing as proper calibration in the digital/tech world - sRGB is the international standard for displaying content on the internet for instance. Anyway, I posted my methodology because it's something that someone can do very easily just by popping into an apple store on the way to work etc - much easier than spending ages comparing peoples' posted values that are all going to be even more subjective and open to error.

 

[Jonathan-H]

I've got loads of phones in my shop so i've tried to callibrate it to match other phones, but because the blue level on mine is so high, I just can't get it anywhere near other phones. I've tried Iphone 5c's, 5s's, Xperia Z and Z1, HTC One.
Just can't get the display anywhere near them. They always seem too yellow and my device won't match it so i'm trying very very hard to get used to the blue screen.

 

[jayr04]

I think it differs, unit to unit some are bluer than others, my phone is already fairly close to the chart OP put up. So OPs settings may or may not work for you.

You're right. I returned my first Z3 and I compared it to my second and it was a big difference. My second one has much warmer whites and I don't need to calibrate it.

When I did a warranty exchange with my Nexus 5 the screens looked different as well.

 

[marc539]

I'm a little lost, what exactly are you supposed to do once you download this Pic?

 

[abhinav.tella]

I'm a little lost, what exactly are you supposed to do once you download this Pic?

Calibrate the screen so you can "barely" see the separation between the black bars.

 

[poldie]

Calibrate the screen so you can "barely" see the separation between the black bars.

How is this going to address "too warm/too blue" white balance issues?

 

[Eric Violette]

I purposely didn't reveal my settings as the point I was trying to make was that this is where everyone is going wrong. Even to the naked eye, two screens that LOOK comparable actually won't be once you start changing the w/b....

But anyway yeah my final calibration is R:70, G:230, b:0.

I have 20:20 vision (ish) and no colour blindness.

AGAIN, these settings should be absolutely irrelevant to your handset.

It will never be PERFECT because the Xperia uses a blue backlight led as opposed to a white one. So there will always be a little blue favouritism....but my point being you can get to 'almost-perfect' from the out-of-the-box ridiculousness that one finds.

Put it this way, my xperia z3 is now better calibrated than my macbook pro, but not QUITE (maybe 90% as good) as an iPhone 5c.

Green at 230? WOW! lol. Little too dramatic, lol. Try Red 36, Green 8, and Blue 0. But then again, my default whiteness isn't too bad. little cool, but just a small nudge in red and green will do the trick!

 

[Jmakhdoom]

With default settings my phone is showing a bit warmer / reddish colors. I have to increase the blue color a bit in order to make white background pure white.

 

[infinitylook]

z3 dual

what's you're display calibration for z3 dual there, anyone? I guess the z3 dual screen is much better than the single variants.

 

[robbiekhan]

70/230/0 is far too off to be deemed accurate. All my monitors are calibrated with an i1Display pro and I've visually calibrated my Z3 alongside the monitors to match (169/188/47 RGB):

My values won't work the same on any other Z3 as you'd expect but it's a starting point at least I guess.

 

[subhani]

70/230/0 is far too off to be deemed accurate. All my monitors are calibrated with an i1Display pro and I've visually calibrated my Z3 alongside the monitors to match (169/188/47 RGB):

My values won't work the same on any other Z3 as you'd expect but it's a starting point at least I guess.

Robbie, I think you may still have x reality or superivivid enabled, since the red on the headscarf via the z3 is very saturated, I like it like so but the monitor behind it depicts a more purplish subdued red instead.

 

[robbiekhan]

Nope I have all display processing features disabled as I never liked using them^^

 

[KoningPaulus]

If you just look at your phone screen you won't tell it's blue. Until you hold it directly to a good screen, like a mac, then you will tell its kinda blue with bright images. I won't change the white balance, since I cant tell the difference without a 'real white' screen next to it and I like the brightness. Its nice to be able to read your messages directly in the sun.