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Color difference: Mac OSX UI <> Browsing web
Hi Guys/girls,
So I recently bought a Dell U2410 monitor (Rev. A01) and am thinking about buying my second one to run both in Dual-screen setup on OSX.
But I have a question/problem while using Mac OSX: The colors are a bit different when using different programs.
When I browse the web for example, everything looks more vibrant than the OSX UI and dock icons.
Example #1: Apple iTunes icon on their website looks more vibrant than the one in my dock.
Example #2: When I look at OSX screenshots/screen-grabs from different users on random forums, the red/orange/green buttons at the left
of each window, also look more vibrant.
Example #3: In iTunes, while in album art overview (not coverflow), when I look at the album cover art, the colors are a bit dull. When I enlarge the cover,
the colors are much more vibrant.
My monitor is currently set to the "AdobeRGB" profile and standard U2410 color profile provided by the system.
When I try sRGB mode, everything looks even more dull and a bit greenish.
I heard things about calibrating the monitor myself but I think the problem will remain. Because when I adjust the colors in custom mode, there still is the
difference between the OSX-system UI and colors when browsing the web.
I really don't know where to ask for this problem, hope someone can put me in the right direction.
Thanks already!
[Edit:] Just thought of something weird: when OSX assigns the color profile to the monitor, the colors can never expand the color space of the profile, right?
Because in my case, I think the color space is being expanded everytime I browse the web or run/view things that don't fall under the OSX UI/Dock. Arghh..
I just don't get it.
System: Mac mini late 2009, Snow Leopard 10.6.4. Currently using latest v. of Google Chrome. Tried different browsers.
injectx
5 Posts
1
October 15th, 2010 07:00
Thanks for your help Vladeco.
I think I now have what I wanted.
After few hours of restarting and playing with colors and the dock I now have the "Apple RGB" ICC profile (supplied with OSX) loaded
and monitor colors set to "Adobe RGB".
The dock wouldn't show it's icons in full glory until I removed an icon and put it in the dock again. And what do you know: new color profile
is added!
I know the combination AppleRGB and AdobeRGB is weird and probably not recommended but it now looks the way I wanted and that's just
great, really searched a lot for this.
injectx
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October 12th, 2010 16:00
Gamma is set to PC, rest is the same.
DELL-Chris M
Community Manager
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October 12th, 2010 16:00
Why not use MAC for an Apple PC?
injectx
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October 12th, 2010 16:00
Because I've read before that it had to do with a gamma setting on older Mac OSX systems which uses a gamma setting of 2.2.
Leopard and Snow Leopard both use a gamma setting of 1.6 (which is the PC setting on the monitor).
If I use MAC mode, the screen gets washed out (too bright).
DELL-Chris M
Community Manager
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October 12th, 2010 16:00
Are these your Color Settings?
Input Color Format = RGB
Gamma = MAC
Mode Selection = Graphics
vladeco
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October 14th, 2010 11:00
Actually, it's the other way around.
Older Mac OS Operating Systems (10.4 and before) used a Default Gamma value of 1.8, and from Leopard/Snow Leopard Onwards, they adopted the 2.2 standard.
Now, the reason why your browser displays colors differently than Mac OS is that all of them (Chrome, Safari and Firefox) [most of the time] only apply color management into images. So, because of that, the colors look very very bright (blame that on the extended gamut of u2410).
What you can do, at least in FireFox, to enable full color management (that means, color manage the entire webpage and not only images), is this:
You can look here for further explanations about this functionality: https://developer.mozilla.org/En/ICC_color_correction_in_Firefox
Of course, for this to work, you have to set a color profile to your u2410. If you don't, firefox will render everything with the standard sRGB profile.
Hopefully this will be helpful to you.
Cheers!
vladeco
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October 14th, 2010 12:00
Well, I have no idea why the dock looks dull. But its better to have Dull icons than weird internet colors, right?
I don't have that kind of problem because I have a hardware calibrator, so my workflow is always calibrated and I never pay too much attention to the icons anyway (hidden dock).
I don't know about the LED Cinema display, but I think its kinda bad that you cannot adjust the internal color settings (R, G, B) or change between profiles. I find the sRGB emulation on the u2410 very, very helpful.
injectx
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October 14th, 2010 12:00
Thanks for your answer Vladeco, that kinda solves my problem.
Thing is, I use Chrome all the time so I'd have to switch to Firefox.
Another (weird) thing is that Safari doesn't assign the monitor profile to all images. So now only Firefox works if I want to browse
with correct colors.
But if I want to use my U2410 in sRGB mode and set both monitor and OS X profile to "sRGB IEC61966-2.1", everything looks ok
but the OS X dock looks really dull colored. What is the thing with that dock..?
I've created a screenshot of the dock, then exported it to sRGB and got really spectacular colors (as in oversaturated, but nice).
But that's only the screenshot, I don't know how to get those colors assigned to the dock.
By the way, when using an Apple Cinema LED display, would everything be easier? Because it has no settings on the monitor whatsoever.
speedstep
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October 22nd, 2010 05:00
Getting Precise Color is expensive.
Monitor Calibration - Datacolor - Global Leader in Color ...
The Spyder2 uses a piece of hardware to take color readings from your monitor and then feeds them to the software to create a precise profile.
Monitor calibration is pain in the neck process. First you adjust the brightness, contrast, and tint of your screen. Then you create a profile for those settings so your computer can communicate them to other devices. OS X includes some basic tools for calibrating your monitor. For more-precise results, you can use a USB device called a colorimeter, which reads the colors of your monitor and then works with software to create the correct profile.
No matter which method you use, let your monitor warm up for an hour before you calibrate it. (You should do this before editing photos, too.) Also make sure the room’s ambient lighting is similar to your normal working conditions.
LED Monitors do not need warmup.
Keep in mind that calibrating your monitor isn’t a one-shot deal. Over time, your monitor undergoes subtle color shifts. You’ll want to repeat the process once a month to keep things looking good.