William,
for a CRT I would consider 100cd/m2 as normal. A good
appearance is achieved if the room light above, left
and right of the monitor is about 50 lux. Measuring this requires a cheap lux meter. At least it’s safe to say that the room has to be dimmed (stabilized as well).
If the room is lighter then the monitor can be lighter
and vice versa.
A printer calibration is tested by synthetical and real
images. This has absolutely nothing to do with the monitor.
A monitor calibration is tested by monitor test patterns. Essential are: the same gamma=2.2 for the three channels, good dark end adjustment and a color temperature near to 6500K. Even if an instrument was used it’s possible that the calibration is wrong. This happens if the manual settings deviate considerably from the final settings, using the LUTs on the graphics card.
E.g. these cannot create negative corrections.
A direct comparison of a monitor image and a printed image side by side is hardly possible.
Adaptation at the monitor is for 6500K, adaptation in a light booth is for 5000K. The light booth should deliver 500lux and 2000lux. Both are standards. 2000lux is perceived as far too light. Much better if the lightness is adjustable.
The final result should be:
The print in the light booth looks like the image on the monitor, as far as we remember. One can check special issues, like the tonal resolution in the shadows.
Much of this may be a matter of opinion. I’m referring only to CRT experiences.
Best regards –Gernot Hoffmann
Thanks Gernot. I understand about the ambient background and that the Monitor and Printer not being directly connected. That is why any old files I have made using my old dim monitor still print beautifully. However its when making a new file that is the problem . It would appear as if there is a false brightness visually beyond the numbers. This causes me to make the file darker than it should be thus the dark print. After trying all combinations of adjustment to the LCD ( ie back light, brightness,and even the individual colour adjustments ) I cant get away from the output curve starting at around 70. This is with a range of luminance between 70 and 140CD!
I have decided that I am not ready for the LCD, love it for everything else ,and as soon as I finish this will be pulling the plug and returning it for a CRT
