Virtual colour strips

[PeterBreis]

I am a retired designer getting into the Affinity 2 Apps after a lifetime of working with Adobe's Apps.

I got the licences for all 3 Apps for all platforms (I have all 3 + Linux) Apple, Windows and iOS.

Given my varying qualities of displays and that I do not want to go to the considerable expense of screen testing hardware, nor to paint and light a workspace just for this, does anyone have any thoughts on using an on-screen colour strip to help adjust my eyes and use as a reference whilst working on colour images in the Affinity Apps?

I was even thinking of creating a custom neutral grey desktop with an accurate colour strip and sample image.

[henryanthony]

@PeterBreis I use three monitors all with WIN 10. A built in 17” Dell laptop, a stand alone 22” Dell and a 22” Samsung. They range from fairly new, old and who knows. Surprisingly, they match up pretty well, especially the two Dells. I set the desktops all at about a 40% neutral gray and use indirect room lighting as needed. Nothing fancy. An important component is a good pair of single focus eye glasses designed specifically for computer use. I also have a decent Steelcase chair, exercise and do yoga that helps enable me to endure long hours working comfortably. Also have about 12 linear feet of table space to clutter up as needed.

I’ve been staring at computer monitors and Adobe applications for at least as long as you and can’t imagine on-screen color strips would be of any benefit. At least for the type of work I do. Just one man’s opinion though.

[NotMyFault]

Windows has a integrated display calibration function. It will show a series of test images which help you to get the correct settings (black level, brightness, gamma) either using settings in display, or adjusting mapping tables in OS/driver.

I don‘t know if Apple Mac has a similar functions (i use Spyder 5 and hardware calibration of the display).

If you need some visual reference while working on documents: just use on of the many free test images, or make your own.

[Palatino]

12 hours ago, PeterBreis said:

I was even thinking of creating a custom neutral grey desktop with an accurate colour strip and sample image.

Bitteschön. Scaling: 100%

[thomaso]

Grayscale and Gamma desktop background image (scroll down to "Monitor" / and make sure the image does not get scaled for judgement)
http://www.eci.org/doku.php?id=en:downloads

Various Monitor / Colour Management / Gamma / … / test images (German site):
http://colormanagement.org/de/monitortest.html
http://colormanagement.org/de/testimages.html

[henryanthony]

According to the standards and tests thomaso has posted above, my guess is my monitors are probably not as well calibrated as I may assume. I did an interesting (to me) non-scientific test of my Dell 22" and 17" dual monitor setup. I took a screenshot of my desktop and made a new AP file based on the clip board. The color of my desktop as displayed in AP is noticeably different from that of the actual desktop. Same test with my Samsung 22" and the colors are much closer. But I am using different GPUs so...?