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11 Posts
1
444204
XPS15 Color Calibration
I recently purchased an XPS15 for my photography business. This laptop was highly recommended for photo editing due to the high resolution screen and processing power. However the screen colors are so over saturated that I am unable to use this laptop for photo editing.
Can someone please advise me how to calibrate the screen colors to commercial print standards.
laserman778
511 Posts
4
January 13th, 2016 09:00
You can right click on the desktop and in the menu click the Dell Premiere Color option. This will give you different preset options such as AdobeRGB, Vibrant (Full), sRGB, and many more. The default setting is vibrant which does produce the oversaturated colors you are seeing. Switching to AdobeRGB should provide you with the appropriate colors for photo editing. However note that the display has a more blue white than a natural white.
If the AdobeRGB preset or other presets do not meet your needs you can open up the application completely and change color settings within that application.
Lucyandgilda
11 Posts
0
January 13th, 2016 15:00
Thank you. I found the setting and changed to AdobeRBG. I did this with an open photo image so that I could see the change. While I did see an increase in brightness, I did not see any change to the saturation so my images are still over saturated on the display. I also went through the Display Color Calibration workflow and while this enabled me to get to true white/grey it did not correct the over saturation.
Can you be more specific about what you mean when you said "change the color settings within the application"?
laserman778
511 Posts
0
January 14th, 2016 09:00
While in the program in the upper right hand corner there is an option to choose between Basic and Advanced mode. Changing to advanced mode will allow you to change the Brightness, Contrast, Gamma, Black Level, and Color Temperature of the display. Those are the only settings within the application once you are in advanced mode.
samos1111
489 Posts
1
March 30th, 2017 07:00
Windows color management is not the most intuitive. Wide-gamut panels such as the XPS UHD are great, but one needs to know how to use them.
Many windows programs are non-color-managed. It is assumed that a sRGB display is used. Viewing on a wide-gamut display, best use the sRGB profile of Dell PremierColor, otherwise the colors will look oversaturated.
In color-managed graphic programs, the AdobeRGB profile of DPC will make better use of the available display gamut. When exporting for the web, images may be saved & tagged for sRGB target gamut, and may be then proofed on display using the sRGB profile of DPC.
Oversaturated colors may also appear in CM programs with untagged or mistagged content.
Calibrating with the ColorMunki or such will produce more accurate colors than the generic AdobeRGB profile of DPC. DPC should be uninstalled when calibration is used, due to likely conflicts.
XPS FHD panel has a smaller color gamut, just about 100% sRGB, so does not require profile switching with DPC.
Lucyandgilda
11 Posts
0
January 14th, 2016 10:00
Thank you. Yes, I see the advanced settings now. So, with the display set to AdobeRBG, my display is still over-saturated and I need to get the display to true AdobeRBG/commercial print calibration. I don't know what to modify to get this result. Can you tell me what settings I need to accomplish that? I know that many photographers use this laptop for editing so hopefully there is a known solution. Thanks for your help!
laserman778
511 Posts
0
January 15th, 2016 07:00
I'm not sure what the settings would be exactly. You could try the Intel Graphics control panel to see what it offers but I am not sure this display allows you to change the settings of each individual color.
Lucyandgilda
11 Posts
0
January 15th, 2016 14:00
Thanks for the suggestion. I really don't want to change the colors because the RBG looks perfect. It is just grossly over saturated.
I broke down and called Dell Technical support today which made me sorry I purchased a Dell computer. I was transferred 4 times, then put on hold in a queue where I waited patiently for 40 minutes until I was disconnected. ARG...
The XPS15 is rated equal to a Mac for photo editing so I know this high saturation can be corrected. No photographer could use it this way so surely someone knows how to calibrate the display. Today I'm wishing I purchased the Mac...
Lucyandgilda
11 Posts
3
January 18th, 2016 16:00
Thanks for pointing me to the Intel HG Graphics Control Panel. In the "advanced settings" tab there is a slider for saturation. I moved mine to -20 and I think I have pretty realistic colors now. I may adjust this to calibrate to my commercial printer after I've tested a few print jobs.
Thanks for your help!
josephcrisp
1 Message
1
April 20th, 2016 17:00
I'm not sure if anyone correctly answered this, but if your looking to calibrate your screen I have a solution that could work with a multitude of devices to make sure your colors are accurate on all accounts. It's called colormunki solutions for calibrating cameras, display, and printers. You can check them out at colormunki.com. I hope this helps.
john925
1 Message
1
April 21st, 2016 10:00
I have the same issue and have been searching the web for an answer. JosephCrisp, you have half of the answer.
To the OP:, you need to use hardware calibration to accurately.calibrate your monitor. Software only calibration just isn't accurate. The ColorMunki products include hardware and software. I've been using the ColorMunki Photo package for years on my desktop computer and it works very well. Second, you'll need to uninstall the Dell PremiereColor software. It will override any calibration you make using the ColorMunki package (or other brand of calibration hardware/software). According to posts from people who have successfully calibrated their Dell laptop screen it is not possible to successfully use hardware calibration with the PremiereColor software installed.
There are a number of sites that describe color management and why it is important. Here's one of them:
https://www.xrite.com/documents/literature/en/l11-176_guide_to_cm_en.pdf
winndzno2
1 Message
1
August 1st, 2016 20:00
Hi Lucy
I bought and returned an xps 15 4k because of the colors and just ordered another to give it one more try. I do design work so I am not so in tune to all of the best ways to calibrate that it sounds you and the others are in this forum. It sounds like you found some good settings you are happy with and I was wondering if you would be willing to share those if thats possible I did a lot of experimenting with the ones built into the system but just couldnt get settings that I loved. The biggest issue I found when I bought it was the whites were not great...they seemed kind of blue as compared to the crisp white on my 5k Imac...I may be expecting too much to be comparing it to a 5k imac but I sure would like it to be close. It sounds like it was almost a deal breaker for you and it pretty much is for me. If you or anyone would be willing to help with some settings suggestions I would be so grateful!
Lucyandgilda
11 Posts
1
August 3rd, 2016 14:00
It is unfortunately too late to return my XPS 15 or I would have. It was recommended as a great computer for photographers but with the crazy colors it just does not work for photo editing. This is my busy season so I have temporarily resorted to using an external monitor that is calibrated to my commercial printer.
I recommend that you try the Intel HD Graphics Control Panel. Hopefully you will have more success than I did with it. You can manage the saturation and color balance there, but using this, I have been unsuccessful getting the monitor to reflect the natural color of my photos. However you may be more successful. If you are, let me know what you did !!!
I have not tried the ColorMunki solution that was suggested yet. Will look into it in the slow season.
bla41
1 Message
1
February 26th, 2017 13:00
I have bought a XPS 13, and it's been lying unused because the screen feels so intense.
You write that "The default setting is vibrant which does produce the oversaturated colors you are seeing."
Do you know how to turn that off?
You also write that "You can right click on the desktop and in the menu click the Dell Premiere Color option. This will give you different preset options such as AdobeRGB, Vibrant (Full), sRGB, and many more."
When I right click on my desktop, there's no "Dell Premiere Color option" menu. I have the default Windows 10 menu called something like "adjustments" where I can click on "advanced", "color settings" and "advanced" again and get to a menu where it says something about profiles (sRGB and stuff, but not "vibrant")
Lucyandgilda
11 Posts
0
February 27th, 2017 08:00
I am sorry to say that I have not solved the problem of the over-saturated screen. I resorted to using external monitors for my photography work which defeats the reason I purchased a laptop - mobility. I have not tried the ColorMunki solution suggested above. If you are a photographer or designer, I recommend you return the XPS13 and buy a Mac. Wish I had done that...
KinOZ
2 Posts
1
March 1st, 2017 14:00
I have an Inspiron 15 5567 and the display was driving me mad. There is not much I could do about the horrendous glare but at least I finally figured out how to calibrate the display and keep it that way.
Calibration with Spyder Pro and Display Cal managed to get the display of color managed photos right but the colors of Windows 10 were all over the place, light green appeared yelllow, light grey was pink especially in scrollbars and buttons.
The screen showed accurate colours when picking the calibrated colour scheme (Settings-Display-Advanced Display Options - Color Profile) until I closed the dialogue and everything changed back to wrong colours.
At fault is the useless bloatware addon "True Color". As soon as "True Color" is disabled the display shows all colours as calibrated.
No idea why this rubbish software is called "True Color" because what it shows is everything but true colours.