Lacie 324 + i1D2 + Windows 7 64-bit

General Color & Graphics Monitor Calibration & Soft Proofing
1

Hello, I’ve been having some issues calibrating my new Lacie 324, which is my first wide-gamut panel. I have calibrated standard gamut panels in the past with no issues, including on the same hardware, which is as follows:

Windows 7 64-bit
ATI Radeon 5770
Pantone Eye One Display 2

The rest of the components in my system are top-notch. I have read up on calibrating wide-gamut panels and how they will overly saturated colors in non-color managed and/or standard gamut only applications. However, I am having issues with the calibration itself.

I am using a system with all drivers updated and the latest version of Eye One Match 3 software, 3.6.2 which is compatible with Windows 7 64-bit. I am trying to calibrate to a brightness of 120, 6500K white point, and 2.2 Gamma.

Setting my monitor for the Photo preset with access to full RGB controls, I am able to get the contrast and brightness just right using the monitor controls. However, for the RGB section, I am neither able to get the right result (as judged by my eye) nor a repeatable result.

To explain, the default RGB values for the Lacie are 128,128,128. I am finding that when the colorimeter first reads the Kelvin temperature, my blues are far too low and my greens are far too high. My reds are slightly low. I can decrease the greens and increase my reds until the calibration tool reads that the temperature is 6500K, but the image is so extremely shifted to red that the result is laughable. I know wide-gamut panels oversaturate reds if the application is not color-managed, but the result is FAR worse than that; something is wrong.

If I begin by trying to adjust the blue channel first, which is the furthest off, I can increase it all the way to max (300 as I recall), which makes the image extremely blue, but the device doesn’t seem to respond or pick up on that, the color temperature remains the same, and the blue channel remains locked at the far left of the spectrum, ie too low a level. Essentially it appears not to be responding to any changes in the blue level when I increase the values, however drastically I do so.

Secondly, I am finding that I get a different hue if I calibrate by starting off my RGB values at something much lower, like a 30,30,30. Is this also normal? Should I be starting off my RGB values at a certain point to get an accurate calibration?

What might be the issue here? I have read that others have successfully calibrated the 324 using the same hardware and software with good results, I am wondering how they did it.

Finally, I have also tried calibrating with a Version 4 version of Blue Eye Pro software that I found online. I think it could be slightly old, but it is indeed version 4. I am getting a different result with this software (but using the same colorimeter) although in the end I am again noticing a red-shift which is objectionable.

Thanks for any help.

2

Hi Ketan,

I have a couple of ideas:

  • It is very easy to do a simple check to make sure your i1D2 is in good working order. X-Rite provides a piece of software called i1Diagnostic which will run the device through its paces and give you a determination of whether it’s good or not.
    xrite.com/product_overview.a … wareID=506

  • There’s an alternative method of calibrating an LCD that many people in the industry recommend. Leave the RGB controls on the monitor at their default (factory) settings. Then, when calibrating, do your normal adjustments to contrast and brightness, but leave the RGB section alone. When you proceed with the final part of the calibration procedure - when all the colors are put on the screen - the software will make the adjustment to the 6500 white point automatically. The benefit to this method is that the graphics card in the computer will end up doing the color adjustment instead of the software in the LaCie. As long as your native color is not too far away from the white point you are aiming for, this method should work well, and might get you better results.

3

Hi Patrick,

Thanks very much for the response.

I will try the diagnostics, I think I have that program on the CD, but I wanted to keep the question open, why might the blue channel not respond at all especially if this colorimeter responds to similar inputs on a standard gamut panel?

Secondly, if I have calibrated using the software’s RGB recommendations and then also with my eye and leaving the rest to the graphics card, and the two results are nothing alike (one has a color shift and the other doesn’t), how can I ever be sure I am seeing accurate color (save making prints)?

4

As an update, I tried the method where I set the RGB by eye then let the calibration software do the rest, but my results are both surprising and disappointing.

I first ran the Eye One diagnostics and everything was reported to be working.

What I found with Eye-Match 3 was that I could calibrate by eye (using the middle grays from the Eye One Match 3 program as well as the grays in color-managed Photoshop CS5) and get it to read 6500K, although the RGB bars would each be way off.

However, in the final stage of the software program, or measurement, it introduced a color shift via the graphics card, so my final calibration again looks to be a red-shift.

To double check I loaded Blue Eye Pro and ran its test, which seemed to corroborate that my color temperature was too warm. However, upon trying to calibrate with that program, I again adjusted it by eye, but then the program software again induced a red shift in the final stage.

Any thoughts on this?

5

The results you are describing certainly are unusual and would indicate something is wrong.

You might get results like this (where the readout for the RGB does not react to your changes) if your i1 device is not placed on the screen when the first 4 colors are splashed on the screen. At the beginning of the “Setting the White Point” step, the software presets squares of color on the screen: white, red, green, blue and then white again. The device needs to see these “calibration colors” in order to be giving you that final readout on the white point correctly. You are placing your i1 on the screen when the software tells you to, aren’t you?

Beyond that, I don’t know what might be going on. If you have access to the Blue Eye Pro software, I would recommend you use that since it has the best chance of connecting with the internal graphics of that monitor.

I don’t quite understand the method you describe where you set the RGB by eye. What I was suggesting was to not change the RGB colors from their default of 128, 128, 128. And then letting the software do the adjusting of color automatically.

6

I tried the 128,128,128 method and the result is much better, although there remains a slight red-shift which is bothersome, but may or may not affect the final output to a great degree (I have to make some prints to be sure).

I forwarded my same concerns to Lacie and got this surprising response:

“I apologize for the frustration with this but I am going to be up front- the 324 is not a good choice for a proofing system display. The lack of uniformity in areas of the the display surface you describe, in your case resulting in some red shift which you can see, is very probably the result of the the panel technology. The display has a 10bit gamma correction processor, which is actually the weakest of the ones we sell.”

I was advised to buy a more expensive model, the 526. I think Lacie’s response is admirably honest, but also disappointing; I don’t see how Lacie can send this then advertise the 324 on their site as being made for photo professionals and color accuracy.

7

Hi, I came across this thread while trying to solve a similar issue. After an upgrade, I have
AT Radeon 5770
Windows 7 64-bit
Eizo monitor

I was unable to calibrate the monitor correctly using an eye-one Match and version 3.6.2 of the software. But unlike the original post, my issue was desaturated reds.

When I did the full advanced profile, the screen showed 100% for red, and virtually zero for green and blue, and it said my white point was at 2700.

After a lot of messing about and eliminating things from the problem, I eventually sent the profile to someone who had the tools to examine it. He said the profile was ‘malformed’.

So I am now fairly certain that this has nothing to do with the monitor but is an issue with 3.6.2 of the software under Windows 7 64-bit, and maybe when there is a Radeon card.

I can’t find many people having issues with this, so it isn’t a common problem. I solved it by buying a new calibration tool. Not satisfactory, but it is a solution.

8

It would be interesting to know what kind of Eizo monitor you are using. If it is a CG series or one of the other versions which can work with Eizo’s Color Navigator - then that would be a preferable software to use to calibrate.

Were you having trouble calibrating using the DDC connection or was the issue just trying to calibrate normally?

9

Hi Patrick

I have an Eizo Flexscan S1910, but I eliminated that from the problem fairly early. I ran the eye-one with two other monitors, one a low-end no-name brand and the result was the same with all three.

The problem only went away when I generated a profile with a different tool.