The one thing nobody tells you about color calibration on a budget

I was messing around with my monitor settings last month and found out that even a cheap $30 color calibration tool can be way off if your room lighting changes. I tested mine at night with the desk lamp on vs off, and the difference in the reds was huge like 15% off. Found this out by accident while watching a streamer who builds gaming rigs he mentioned ambient light messing with sensors. Has anyone else run into this problem with their own setup?

3 comments

3 Comments

ryan_shah3815d ago

@jana_jones a dark cloth helped me too but then my cat thought it was a game and knocked my whole setup over lmao.

elizabethmason11d ago

Wait, your cat actually knocked everything over? That's honestly hilarious in a tragic way, but I feel your pain. I had a similar moment when I was calibrating and my dog decided my desk lamp looked like a great place to sniff, which threw off the whole reading. The dark cloth trick sounds smart though, I never thought of that. It makes sense that blocking out random light sources would help, especially if you're using a budget sensor that's already struggling with accuracy. I wonder if just turning off everything in the room except the monitor would work just as well, or if you really need that physical cover.

jana_jones16d ago

Oh man that's wild. I just started covering my sensor with a dark cloth when calibrating and it actually helped lock in the colors way better than before.