Is Colorimeter Calibration a Must With an IPS Panel?

[stahlhart]

In other words, are they typically okay out of the box and/or with the built-in presets, or is color calibration necessary to see them at their highest potential?

Looking at the HP ZR24w. TFT Central indicated that setting the contrast to get the black depth where it ought to be will throw gamma off, necessitating a colorimeter adjustment to compensate. If so, is there a reasonably-priced unit that will get the job done?

 

[mwmorph]

Out of the box, the panels usually aren't all that great. Of course individual panels vary, but here is an example:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/hp_zr24w.htm
at default settings, DeltaE was 2.5 average, 4.8 max.

You can try an .icc profile if you want, probably would help quite a bit, though since no 2 panels are identical, there can still be small differences.

This .icc profile for example has Delta E at 0.2 average, 0.7max, and 0.2% too high color temperature and right on the money gamma at 120nit brightness. That is pretty damn good and good enough for most people doing work on printing or graphics design.
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/icc_profiles/HP ZR24W - Custom Color v2.icc

To get those results:
Brightness at 7
Contrast at 100
Preset mode, custom color
Red 94
Green 140
Blue 99
Then download the file above and place the saved ICC profile in: C:\windows\system32\spool\drivers\color\
Right click your desktop
Chose 'Personalize > display> change display settings > advanced settings > color management tab
Check 'use my parameters for this peripheral'
Chose 'Add', select the saved ICC profile, and set it to default.
Click on the 'Advanced' tab in the peripheral profile, select the saved ICC profile, set viewing conditions profile to ICC, default intent to absolute colorimetric click 'OK'

 

[Cerb]

Hijack ahead:

Since you seem to have a good bit of knowledge of this, mwmorph, how do panel factory presets fare? Some IPS come with an aRGB, FI, and pretty much every business monitor from the early 90s on has had a sRGB preset. They definitely improve colors, but I don't know how far off they are from ideal (IE, what a calibration device+software could do for it), as I've never actually seen the before and after on any specific monitor (I've seen such monitors in use, but they'd been custom calibrated long before I saw anything on the screen).

 

[Anomaly1964]

Great question. I know yesterday I probably made 20+ adjustments for backlight, brightness, gamma, digital vibrance, hue, etc...

I found that I could make better adjustments thru the Nvidia Control Panel that I could thru the monitor itself...

 

[Avalon]

Generally it seems that every LCD that is reviewed here at AT, benefits at least modestly from a calibration.

 

[stahlhart]

Thanks for the responses -- perhaps the preconfigured profile will be sufficient. I should have noted that I'm just a casual user looking to make the jump from TN, not really doing anything intense with photo editing or graphics.

I could factor in a affordably-priced colorimeter into the budget if such a thing exists... it's just a little painful to spend a lot on a tool that's probably only going to get used one time. Would be great if there were enough interest to pass one around in FS/FT whenever someone here gets a new panel.

The HP in question has a standard gamut, which I think (from what I've read) will work out better for my intended usage, and is reasonaly priced, sort of in between the cheapest and priciest 24" panels, at least in the brands I researched... I'm sure you can spend as much as you want to here.

 

[Martimus]

In other words, are they typically okay out of the box and/or with the built-in presets, or is color calibration necessary to see them at their highest potential?

Looking at the HP ZR24w. TFT Central indicated that setting the contrast to get the black depth where it ought to be will throw gamma off, necessitating a colorimeter adjustment to compensate. If so, is there a reasonably-priced unit that will get the job done?

The HP ZR24w probably has the best out of the box color calibration of the cheaper IPS panels. That is the biggest reason I plan to get one, since I have no interest in bying a colorometer and calibrating it myself.