Why would anyone use a gamma of anything but 1 when 1 is perfectly straight ?

[xMax]

on my ATI graphics card, hooked up to a CRT, a gamma of 1 produces the most linear grayscale gradations, so that each increment is equally distant from every other. so what is the purpose of using a different gamma value, such as what photo imaging professionals seem to use. or at least thats what i read.

 

[BFG10K]

1.0 gamma is far too dark for many 3D games.

 

[VIAN]

From my experience, trinitron (CRT) monitors get benefit from moving gamma up to about 1.16, but my LCD and my cousin's shadow mask (CRT) don't require me to touch the gamma.

 

[sieistganzfett]

i actually kept gamma at 1 on my lcd, on my crt, i game more i think, and the screen was too dark for me to see those monsters in doom 3 even when i had the flash light and the imp was point blank in front of me. but for regular tasks, photo stuff, i keep gamma at 1, for games i increase it, or for web or reading i just lower the brightness and contrast a little to help my eye from burning.

 

[Peter]

Gamma correction is required because neither the analog VGA signal itself nor its reproduction inside the CRT monitor produce a strictly linear result.
Run a professional color calibration on your graphics card/monitor combination. You'll be surprised.

 

[Tsosczb]

So is there a reason why so many games are just dark as hell? When I played games like Half-Life, the HL2 demo, the Doom 3 demo, Unreal Tournament, Deus Ex, etc., I either had to constantly use the flashlight if the game had it, or turn the gamma up to anywhere around 2 to 3 (from 1). Even some images people made in Photoshop were incredibly dark (though the person that made it could see everything clearly).

I have an kinda old CRT, and I hear that some areas show up more clearly with LCDs, though I'm not sure if it's just the dark areas. I would hate to think that the only reason someone online has an advantage over me is just because my monitor is making it so I can't see crap in the dark areas.

Also, I recently played that Crytek/ATi tech demo, which has HDR and a load of other new junk, and it was simply beautiful at my regular lighting levels. When I finally play Half-Life 2, I hope I can get any HDR patches they have out so I can get a better lighting experience.