Dell 2408wfp calibration

This is a wide gamut monitor and I was very frustrated in my initial attempts to calibrate it. Initially it came as part of a Dell Package - a Vostro XP desktop with a dual monitor setup - 2408wfp display and E228wfp display. The video card is Nvidia GeForce 8800GT. Although this card can support 2 monitors it natively supports only one profile. This means that the one profile is assigned to each monitor even if the monitors are completely different. When you recalibrate one monitor its profile is assigned to both monitors and this can lead to unexpected results on the less recently calibrated monitor. Many people choose to install a 2nd video card to allow separate profiles for each monitor. Microsoft also suply a tool which to allows each monitor to have an individual profile using a single video card. http://www.microsoft.com/prophoto/downloads/colorcontrol.aspx.

Out of the box the 2408wfp is very bright and the colours are like neon signs. A definite bit of taming required. My calibration tool was the Spyder3 Pro from Datacolor http://spyder.datacolor.com/product-mc-s3pro.php . I spent a couple of frustrating days trying to get it right. The main problem was a colour shift in the deep blacks towards a crimson hue. I thought I had done everything called for..monitor set for defaults values, subdued lighting etc. Whatever I did the screen looked worse than the uncalibrated profile, and worse than the second display which was cheaper and smaller.

I put the screen through a black point test..http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/Calibration/monitor_black.htm. Much to my dismay the shadows had a deep crimson tint. The site provided the following information "If you see a color cast to the darker patches, this indicates a problem with either the calibration or a monitor that is not controllable in dark shadows. " I repeated the calibration several times with different white points and so on without any consistent improvement.

Was my colorimeter faulty? Was my screen faulty? Was I expecting too much from the monitor? A google search turned up a bunch of unhappy campers with this monitor and this calibration tool. My despair deepened.

Enlightenment was obtained and happiness restored when I finally realised that not only the monitor needs to be restored to default values via its OSD (on screen display), but the video card also needs to be restored to its default values. Control Panel > Appearance and Themes > NVIDIA Control Panel >Adjust Desktop Settings >Restore Defaults.

Once this had been done the calibration led to a profile which gave pleasing results. None of the shadows had a tint (hurray!) For me the take home message is set your monitor AND your video card to default values before recalibrating.

So here is what works for me.

If your computer, software, monitor, video card or colorimeter is different then it may not work for you.

1. Set monitor to default values in OSD.
- Preset Modes - Reset to default color settings
- Display Setting - Reset all display settings
- Other Settings - Factory Reset - Reset all display settings

2. Reset video card to default settings through control panel

3. Calibrate using spyder at gamma 2.2 and kelvin 6500K

4. Check RGB sliders (one of the advanced prefs) and adjust using OSD when prompted. Sets white point.

5. If using dual monitors make sure the correct profile is attached to your monitor. Microsoft color applet may be needed.