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DisplayCAL (formerly known as dispcalGUI)?
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➔ DisplayCAL (formerly known as dispcalGUI) website
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I have this, its pretty nice. The stock software is junk tho.
Get the opensource calibration tool displacal and argyl interface. https://displaycal.net/
Install the spyder5pro software so that dispcal/argyl can get the calibration info from its dll.
You can support the development of DisplayCal directly by making a donation on their site: https://displaycal.net/
Every little bit helps!
There is even more fantastic Free Software for photographers: darktable and rawtherapee for raw development, hugin for stitching and stacking, luminanceHDR and HDRmerge for HDR, gmic for all sorts of filters and awesome sharpening, gimp for pushing pixels, etc
Just to add to this:
- I highly recommend using DisplayCal over the included software. It's free, open source, more powerful, and doesn't software-lock features on any of the Spyder calibration tools, as the included software does. (Basically, the Express, Pro, and Elite are all the same hardware, with the features locked out by the included software, so DisplayCal will treat each unit the same).
- If you calibrate, an ICC profile will be created for your system. Many/most games running in exclusive fullscreen will bypass this calibration. Run your games in borderless windowed if you can. Also, try to get your settings as close to ideal using the OSD before letting the colorimeter create the ICC profile.
I talk more about this in my AW3418DW calibration results post here - https://www.reddit.com/r/Monitors/comments/82dcey/aw3418dw_calibration_measurements_results_and/
Keep in mind that purely eyeball-based calibration is based on your subjectivity. You can get an image that might be pleasing to you, but accuracy is far from guaranteed. That said, here's a few tools for you.
In Windows 10 (and likely older version of windows), click start and begin typing "calibrate." It will bring up the "Calibrate Display Color" wizard. This is a useful and easy to use tool. It won't get you anywhere near 100% accurate, but for many it's better than nothing.
A second option that is more of an "at your pace" solution than an interactive tool would be Lagom. They use test images to help you approximate certain settings.
Dead Pixel Buddy is a nifty tool for searching for dead pixels. Just go full-screen with your browser (typically F11), click a sample color, look for dead/stuck pixels, then proceed through the other colors.
But if you want to accurately calibrate your monitor, you'll need a hardware tool. My budget recommendations are:
- Good = Spyder 5 Express (~$120)
- Better = X-Rite ColorMunki (~$180)
- Best = X-Rite i1 Display Pro (~$230)
The Spyder will give you an excellent baseline calibration for those who aren't doing the most color critical work. The ColorMunki will be more accurate, while the i1 Display Pro will offer similar accuracy to the ColorMunki, but with faster processing/calibration.
For the software, use DisplayCal instead of the included software. It's free, open-source, and more powerful.
Also, don't buy a Spyder 5 unit other than the Express. All Spyder 5 units are the same hardware, but with software locks built into the included software to limit features on the cheaper models. DisplayCal doesn't honor these locks, so all Spyder 5 units perform the same with it.
That's on the VERY low end for grading. The important thing to know is your color display must be color stable and possible to calibrate for Rec 709/sRGB color space. If you don't know what that is you need to know before you buy.
Here's some displays on the low end of capable, they tend to have poor black levels:
- sony lmd-2110w $850 new (the only of these with a proper broadcast inputs / outputs)
- Eizo ColorEdge CS2420 $860 new
- HP DreamColor Z24x Professional 24'' $436.55 new
- BenQ 27 inch 2K Photographer Monitor (SW2700PT) $599.00 new
Okay deals to be had on ebay, as these types of displays get used for a while then sold when people upgrade.
But you will have to know how to calibrate these. The cheapest option for calibration is:
- X-Rite ColorMunki probe $140
- DaVinci Resolve (free)
- DisplayCal https://displaycal.net/ (free)
Other calibration solutions are $1,500+, so using this method may be confusing as hell, but don't let that stop you. Some use a LUT built in to the monitor. Do you want that? Do you need a LUT box? Will you be going straight out of the computer HDMI, or through a conversion box like the Black Magic UltraStudio?
I believe the Eizo has a built in calibrator, but I heard you have to do an initial calibration first anyway.
Basically Everyone starts somewhere, but the important thing to know is:
- Color correction is more expensive and technically more complex than editing.
- The differences between displays and color spaces, why one display over another?: What's P3 color space? What's Rec 2020? What's ACES?.
- Don't buy anything until you know how and why you will calibrate the monitor you are buying. As a colorist, if you spend money without technical knowledge that money will be wasted.
As long as the monitor is capable of displaying the correct color, then yes.
I recommend using DisplayCal for the calibration. It is so much better than what my probe came with.
Also works on Linux.
ColorMunki Display and DisplayCal which I greatly prefer to the stock software.
To be honest, the stock calibration was pretty good. I just feel professionally responsible for calibrating my monitors regularly, even though in the end it doesn't make a massive difference with this stuff.
Colour calibrators are (generally) software limited, i.e. calibrators in the same lineup share the same hardware. Of course, the super high end ones offer extras like measuring ambient light, but for hobby photography it's not particularly necessary.
I got one of the cheapest calibrators (Colormunki Smile) for around AU$110 off fleabay. Pair it with open source software called DisplayCAL and you can do everything that the more expensive, 'unlocked' calibrators can do, for example, calibrate multiple monitors which the Smile software alone cannot.
Although I have heard that the jump to the Colormunki Display (same hardware as i1Display Pro) may be worth it as some are saying that the Smile degrades over time.. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it though
Get a probe (X-rite) and a CG series Eizo and you are good to go. Dont bother getting UHD/ 4K color accurate monitor - it is not necessary unless you have 50K for a theater Ref monitor / projektor setup and the related client following.
The setup i use for everything from HD to 8K (mostly 4K delivery) is a Decklink card, with SDI output - > HDLink pro converter (SDI to DP 10bit) --> Eizo CG246 Monitor (1920x1200). I deliver to broadcast, web and sometimes theater commercials, but mostly web.
Then I have a calibrated GUI monitor which is UHD (Dell P2715Q). I really like this setup and get som good results. I just want to add a client monitor (4K/UHD 55" TV).
If I have to choose priority I'd say get a probe first and use what you have! - And then get good a calibration. I use the free software [DisplayCal](https://displaycal.net/). Newer trust "factory calibrated" spec or feature - they are all different and never consistant. Getting a probe change everything for me regarding monitors, tv and it really shows how different all monitors are.
Oh yeah an important question might be, what kind of work do you do, and for what platform - broadcast, web, ect.?
This one is cheap -
I'm told DisplayCAL is better than the bundled software, https://displaycal.net/
Use this software. It's free, compatible with the one you linked (they recommend that one over Spyder actually) and is very good. I had a very old Spyder 4 with outdated software that did much better with displaycal.
I was being sarcastic. ;)
Of course calibration is great if you want to see things as they were meant to be.
The truth however is that calibrated colours are usually cooler/duller than most people realize. Then they tend to buff the digital vibrancy up. ;)
Protip. DisplayCal is the best and free calibration software out there. Better than the softwares that calibrators usually ship with.
https://displaycal.net/
If you want accurate profiles, I do not recommend you getting one online. Every monitor is different, even if they are the same model.
I recommend you to get a colorimeter like the Colormunki or the i1Display Pro and use DisplayCAL to calibrate your monitor. I do not like the X-Rite program personally. I use the i1Display Pro myself, I got it on sale for around $160 on B&H.
The filters in colorimeters do degrade over time. Another issue is the old software it comes which might not work well with newer wide color gamut monitors.
However you can try it first with the free calibration software DisplayCAL, which has corrections for all modern display types. https://displaycal.net/
I used a Spyder 4 with it and it works fine.
You need a hardware profiler like a Spyder-series or i1-series, ideally combined with DisplayCal software and a minimal know-how of the procedure to specify reasonable targets etc.
There's no free probe, and you'll need one.
https://displaycal.net/ is the free alternative to software like Calman, however there is a serious learning curve.
Many colorists will tell you it's not ideal to calibrate a gui display, and that you'll need a proper raw out signal through a device like a black magic ultrastudio mini monitor. However, if you are fastidious and aren't actually sending work to broadcast, you can probably get close enough.
Frankly, I got so frustrated trying to calibrate on my own that I simply bought a Flanders display which can be sent in to be calibrated for just the price of shipping.
Silly me, I read your post too fast. Sorry.
I would use a program such as color profile keeper or DisplayCal to enforce that profile to correct gamma/white point at regular intevals.
I've had more success with "DisplayCal profile loader" myself. I can see the visual changes whilst I disable/enable the icc profile via the loader.
Download DisplayCal from here , use the default installation settings.
Once installed, run the program once. You can close the program, you are interested in the Loader only. DisplayCal profile loader should appear in the tasktray. Right click, profile associations, add, select the icc profile you have been using, select it from the list and click "set as default". This will let DisplayCal handle the profile, which it will run each time you launch/close an app/game.
To ensure it's running and doing its job, click on the DisplayCal icon in the tasktray and you should see a bubble pop up saying "calibration was applied so many times so far today"
Compare borderless / windowed vs running the profile via DisplayCals loader and please let me know how you get on.
It seems to work for all games I've tried it with.
[I apologize for so many edits!]
Software? If you're really asking for software, then I'd say don't purchase anything, get DisplayCal. Seriously.
But then you switch gears and talk about which device (because yeah, you need a device, the software alone gets you nowhere). And if you want the safest bet of accuracy and profiling speed, what you want is an X-Rite i1Display Pro—though not the cheapest. The Spyder5 is, actually, not getting the highest marks mostly because of variation between units... A more affordable solution would be the ColorMunki series, which is totally decent.
I bought one of these a few months ago when it was ons sale at B&H. It's a handy tool to have, but the bundled software is horrible. I ended up with a weird color cast and neither of my monitors were close to matching. I use DisplayCAL and its worked well for me so far. My monitors don't match exactly, but they're very close. Ever since I picked up a PRO-100 and started printing myself, color calibration has become a key part of my workflow. Between the Spyder5 and DisplayCAL what I see on my screen is what comes out in print.
Look in the specs for color space coverage (ex, % of sRGB). Verify these numbers with third party reviews. Be careful with wide-gamut displays, you MUST color manage everything with them, or keep them in sRGB emulation mode.
Also, save some cash for a calibration device. I prefer Xrite's colormunki/i1 over Spyder, since the latter is a bit spotty with DispalyCal. Again, if you want a wide-gamut screen this step is not optional.
I have not looked in to it for maybe 2 years, I think you need to use one of the PCIE cards (may be the deck link) to get full 10 bit out.
In windows it's a world of 'fun' to keep it calibrated, I forget what the GPU problems are now with 10 bit out. I know AMD has allowed it for a long time but Nvidia where problematic. (I suspect the PCIE card may have been needed just to skip past all the OS/GPU funk)
I did look in to it but it's been like 2 years and I have forgot most of it, saying look in the manual is not the most helpful but I dont want to say something is correct when I am not sure.
I use https://displaycal.net/ for calibration, not sure if it's the best but seems ok~ only in rec709.
I wish you luck.
I use displaycal for calibration.
with a 'ColorMunki Display'
on windows calibration is a big pain, anything past sRGB is not fun to set up. It's still a simpler time on Mac.
NEC & EIZO are worth a look if you in a top $$$$ range, lower range BenQ is worth a look for the real value sRGB displays & some ok priced high gamut displays.
Dell has always had some good ones to.
good luck
I think your best bet would be to use DisplayCal to create a profile for the Asus Zenscreen. It allows you to calibrate/profile any display not just those supported in other software/hardware combos like NEC Spectraview or Eizo Color Navigator.
You're still going to be limited as portable displays aren't meant for color accuracy per se.
>Realme 7 pro.
AMOLED Android phones are notorious for oversaturating everything and having very poor out of the box color management. You can check if your phone supports the sRGB mode, that should make your phone match the desktop display better. See here for more info: https://www.xda-developers.com/color-rendering-android-why-all-oems-must-offer-an-srgb-mode/
To have a reliable baseline, you should get a colorimeter (such as the i1 DisplayStudio) and calibrate the display you use with Lightroom. I'd recommend using DisplayCal over the software that is bundled with your calibration device.
> I need my 4k display calibrated for design work,
Yeah, that's not something you can do by eye, unfortunately. Your eyes essentially have an autoexposure, auto white balance, and auto tonemapping going on at all times. You need an external device like this to act as a ground truth. Use DisplayCal rather than any software that comes with the colorimeter, DisplayCal is more reliable and has more functionality.
For gaming/general use, you can sorta eyeball it with something like http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/, but it's imperfect and can't be used to set everything. It's better than nothing though, and usually it's not worth buying a colorimeter just to fix the white point and nail the gamma curve perfectly.
For design work though, you do need that last bit, you don't want to be working on a project that you thought was (for example) bluish-gray, only to realize it looks greenish-gray instead on most people's screens.
It would help to know what device and software you used to do the calibration, and what settings you used in the software. That is necessary if you need any detailed settings recommendations.
However I can guessing that you may have set a brightness target as part of the calibration as that can cause part of what you're seeing. Although most calibration software lets you set a brightness target I don't recommend using it since the way they achieve it (by limiting the signal from the video card) is not ideal.
Better to adjust the monitor brightness using the controls on the monitor to a level that is comfortable for you. Ideally a mostly white screen should be bright but not uncomfortable to look at for long period of time.
Maybe turn off any dynamic contrast or auto brightness setting that the monitor has since they often don't work well and cause problems when doing a calibration.
https://displaycal.net/#concept
This is a good place to read about how monitor calibration works. Although it's in relation to that software there is some good general information there as well.
The Smile is ok if you want to go super cheap. If you're not doing actual content creation work and just want your display to look nice, it's probably sufficient. If you are doing actual color work, I'd spend a bit extra for the ColorMunki Display model, it's more accurate.
Regardless of which one you get, use DisplayCal instead of the built-in software. It's much better and more versatile. It will use the meter to guide you in setting the OSD, then build an ICC to handle whatever shortcomings can't be fixed from the OSD.
Benefits of life after you break down and just buy a colorimeter:
- No more scouring the web for ICC profiles + OSD settings and hoping the unit they were built for had similar color to your particular monitor. Now you can roll your own, for YOUR exact unit!
- You can use the "custom color" mode on your monitor and know exactly what to set the R/G/B sliders to (and the brightness slider)
- No more messing with gamma and contrast controls in the Nvidia control panel, you KNOW your video card gamma table is set perfectly for your monitor
- No more staring at calibration test patterns and guessing
- If your monitor can display any colors beyond sRGB you'll be able to make use of them when viewing wide-gamut images
Hah, true, I should have mentioned that the bundled software is very meh - just about everyone uses DisplayCAL instead. It's free, open source, and significantly better. The much more expensive x-rite i1Display Pro comes with better software but most people still use DisplayCAL making it kind of pointless. I should say, I never had issues with their own software but DisplayCAL for sure does a better job.
This might be the only review you actually need to read.
Is that an AORUS Monitor from Gigabyte?
If yes unfortunately Gigabyte does mostly ship their monitors with Windows only software.
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You may have better luck with an OpenSource program that handles your monitor settings instead.
For Color-Calibration i can recommend you DisplayCAL
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For Hotkeys i mean you may want to find you own for that.
I use DisplayCal , because it is more advanced than what came with my calibrator, and it will make LUT’s for Resolve. (If you have a Blackmagic output card)
I have the gimped versioned the i1Display Pro, called ColorMunki Display. While its sensor is the same, it is half the speed, and most 3rd party things don’t work with it. DisplayCal does.
Do yourself a favor and pay the extra $55 for the i1Display Pro,
the included colour profile is actually great.
for cheap calibration buy the base spyder and use open source software https://displaycal.net/ (the spyders are all the same puck, the price is based on the software included)
> it looks like there's some software to get the Spyder working in Linux too
Yep, arguably your best bet would be DisplayCAL—I'm on Windows and I deliberately use this because it's so much better than the stock app.
I'd suggest paying ~$15 more for the Colormunki Display, paired with DisplayCAL. DeltaE is significantly better.
Copying a calibration isn't necessarily a good idea due to of production variance. That's why they calibrate at the factory (and indeed some manufacturers have dedicated instruments for a particular model of screen). If they were all the same, they could just calibrate one machine once and ship with that.
The two monitors we have side by side are the Apple Cinema Display and the Alienware AW3418DW. The likely reasons you're perceiving the X34P/Alienware as worse are:
- Glossy vs. Matte (glossy has superior image quality if you can mitigate glare/reflection)
- If you've been using the ACD for an extended period of time, you're likely used to the overly blue and low gamma image that it produces. The AW3418DW is known for having high gamma out of the box (2.6 for TFTCentral's unit, 2.4 for Lims Cave, and 2.5 for me). This is a fairly large deviation and if you're already used to one, the other will seem worse until you get used to it.
My stance is this - if you're churning through $1,000+ monitors, you can afford a colorimeter. Please consider purchasing one of the below colorimeters and use it with DisplayCal, which is totally free. (Below prices are current as of today on Amazon, YMMV)
- Datacolor Spyder5Express - $129.00
- X-Rite ColorMunki Display - $168.41
- X-Rite i1Display Pro - $233.95
Get the Spyder if you want a solid calibration for gaming and other general use. Get the ColorMunki if you want a slightly more accurate calibration for semi professional use. Get the i1DisplayPro if you want the same accuracy as the ColorMunki, but faster execution (if you do the full sample set, calibration can take hours, so this matters, but the standard set takes ~15 minutes).
A Spyer5Express is fine, and even comes recommended by some reputable outlets, so don't feel like you have to dump a ton of money into this. Gaming monitors generally sacrifice out of box picture quality for gaming-centric features within their target budget. But you don't have to live with that picture quality :)
I used a Spyder 5 and the displaycal software. If that's not doable or you don't want to spend money there may be some color adjustments you can do to the panel itself online and change in the panel menu itself without the need for calibration software. Won't get you all the way, but it may be better than nothing.
Edit: Here is the link for the displaycal software. This software is free and open source. IMO it is also much better and does a much better job than the Spyder crapware that comes with the Spyder 5.
I should also say that I am not a pro and don't do anything that really warrants needing a calibrated display aside from some Photoshop on my own time. I did it simply because, while flying my virtual airplanes, I wanted as real of colors as I could get.
You can get very close using DisplayCAL. Obviously there are limits, but as long as your monitors cover over 90% or so of sRGB and have decent native contrast, you should be able to do pretty well.
You can start by just downloading a profile from Notebookcheck, which releases the ICC file they calibrated in their reviews. For software, DisplayCAL is the best choice for doing the calibration and at least on Windows, also applying any profile to your monitors. On Linux you can use Argyll's dispwin to apply profiles, DisplayCAL for doing calibrations.
I'd say it really doesn't make so much sense to buy your calibrator if you're not specifically doing photography. Borrow one from a friend or buy one together with others. You basically need it once every two years or more often if you have lots of monitors. An entry-level calibrator, such as the cheaper Spyders, are about 100 euros and do their job just fine if you're not doing photography.
I have an X-Rite i1 DisplayPro and used it and the bundled X-Rite software to semi-calibrate a few TVs by running the "prep" portion of the calibration, without running the automated part that creates the ICC profile.
1) Pick your "picture mode" like movie/custom, and turn off enhancements that you don't want etc. Google your TV model and "rtings" in the search and see if they have a calibration to start with on rtings.com (skip their color settings though, they'll point this out to you).
2) Use a test disc/pattern/Xbox settings to set your black level (brightness on most TVs). The software doesn't do this.
3) Hookup a PC to the TV (not permanently needed, just for this) and run the X-Rite software. Check each box for manually adjusting color, contrast, and brightness (backlight on most TVs).
3) When the software kicks off, before it auto-calibrates, it walks you through the three manual measurements, showing you the measurements live on-screen which is cool. Use this part of the software to adjust contrast/color/backlight. Backlight usually around 120 brightness for average-lit rooms, closer to half that for home theater dark room.
You stop here since after this, the software would create an ICC profile but you won't use that for normal viewing.
This doesn't go as far as the multi-point calibration you can get from other software, but it sets a good baseline.
https://displaycal.net/ is where folks on here pointed me next for more advanced stuff. Good luck!!! :)
For anyone that comes here looking for an answer; I tried switching out my 1050ti for my old 660GTX and the issue still didn't go away. I downloaded DisplayCAL and every time I open Office, I'll see it tint green, then change back to normal. I'm presuming DisplayCAL is working and is fixing the issue when it notices a change. A coworker just reminded me that Windows Fall update just came through and I'm on it. Maybe Windows Updates caused an issue? For now, it's band-aided. You can get Display cal from here: https://displaycal.net/.
get a cheap could be a second hand calibrator even without a software like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/ColorEyes-Spyder-3-Elite-Display-Color-Calibration-for-Monitors-w-Stand/182884153158?hash=item2a94beb746:g:6qEAAOSwy0JaAfBH
you can use this free great software https://displaycal.net or any other to do a perfect calibration!
You might wanna try DisplayCAL. Mint hasn't gotten around to that yet.
https://displaycal.net/download/xUbuntu_16.04/amd64/DisplayCAL.deb
You're going to have to do a 'sudo apt-get -f install' to get all the dep's in there.
Windows has never done color management well, IMO. TL;DR at the bottom.
I use an 65" LG E6 (OLED, UHD 4K & not DCI 4K), and is quite saturated out of the box with a very light blue tint. So for my E6 I NEED color management. However, the built in calibration controls don't work properly (color space gets larger and drifts as the average picture levels get darker). I'm aware of hardware solutions (3D LUT boxes) but they are still far to expensive, the entry level Lumagen Radiance Pro 4240 costs more than my E6 ($5k!), and I don't see all the features I would like (Such as supporting 10-12bit + 4:4:4 chroma + 60/120Hz input, with a "Darbee" processor, and all of that not creating additional input latency in the video chain). Sorry, I'm drifting off topic..
Not all of my software has native color management controls like the ones found in MPC-BE/MPC-HC+MadVR, Photoshop, DaVinci Resolve, etc. I use DisplayCAL (it's free) since I have my own meters. This lets me profile my displays and then generate calibrations from said profile.
TL;DR: Check out DisplayCAL It let's you create display profiles and calibrations (device link (.icc/.icm) profiles, 1D/3D LUTs in various formats like MadVR and Reshade, and similar). The real reason for my post is so I can point out that DisplayCAL comes with a Profile Loader* to automate the whole process of changing profiles (i.e. "set and forget"). *Scroll up ~30 lines, no anchor/quick link to the "Profile Loader (Windows)" section.
You can load more precise calibrations in software or via the video card gamma table, you just need a custom ICC profile for your display (YOUR display, not someone else with the same model). The Spyder5 suggested in the other reply is good, as is the ColorMunki Display. Either way, I recommend using DisplayCal instead of the included software, it gives much better control over what you're doing.
Go buy a calibration tool. There isn't any other way to truly fix this. Luckily, they aren't TOO expensive, at least as far as photo gear goes. The ColorMunki Display is usually my go-to recommendation. It has all the basic hardware you need for about $125 (price varies, shop around a bit, you should be able to find it in that range). I usually recommend DisplayCal instead of the software that comes with the meter, as it offers better flexibility and control options.
I highly recommend DisplayCAL instead of whatever software Datacolor ships.
I use it with my Spyder 2 and a Spyder 4 Express and it works great with either one. In this particular example I found it much easier to set the target white-point and target white-level - both of which Datacolor restricts in cheaper products - and the verification was much easier to visualize where the issue was.
I recently used a SpyderX and one piece of advice I'd echo from others is to use DisplayCAL - not the packaged software. DisplayCal seems a lot more in depth and the software is a lot more refined than SpyderX's own offering.
So just to set some expectations here… keep in mind that the i1 Display Pro is… fine, but not amazing. (In my world we tend to use the Klein K-10A as a starting point colorimeter).
Which is to say… it’s very much a “you get what you pay for” situation.
That said, the x-rite software is all intended for the print / graphic design world, so they do indeed spit out ICC profiles. So you need to pair the probe with something else to generate calibration LUTs.
If you’ve got an actual budget then CalMan or LightSpace CMS are what I’d recommend, but they are both definitely expensive and require that you have an OEM version of the i1 Display probe (due to some dumb licensing restrictions with X-Rite) so they might actually not be an option for you without buying a new probe anyway.
So, your budget option is DisplayCal. It’s pretty good considering it’s an open source tool.
Frustratingly your approach to calibration is going to vary by display manufacturer, so if you’ve got 20 different monitors and they’re a mishmash of models and manufacturers… god help you.
You’re going to need to know the type of panel and backlight for behind each model of display you calibrate. So start collecting user manuals. You also need to know ahead of time if your signal will be running data/full or video/legal levels. (Most likely video/legal for you).
As for LUT boxes, I do have good news. Since you are just tossing on a static 3D cube calibration LUT you don’t need the super high end stuff that allows for live color grading on the fly.
I’d probably start with the BMD MicroConverters. The new ones can store a 17x17 sized LUT and apply that to the output signal - so for me it’s a LUT box with a signal conversion option as a bonus. Ha.
My two cents is to profile your display using a hardware probe. I own an i1 Display Pro and use DisplayCal
Id tend to say if your new to stick to sRGB display preset, then read up a tad more till you know what's best.
Rec 709 is maybe better if windows or benq supply a ICC profile for the display in rec 709.
rec 709 is fairly close to sRGB.
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If you want to get in to display calibration you will want something like an i1dsiplay and some software, I use https://displaycal.net/ over the bundled one.
Displaycal website has some info on the kinds of hardware devices for calibration, it's a nice starting point.
May also be worth reading up a bit on the subject, I know I need to.
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As you did not mention I assume your on windows 10, in windows 10 sRGB is always the easy option as that's what most apps use. Past sRGB it's time to read up.
Great! Personally, I much prefer the open source DisplayCal over the software that comes with it. It’s more straightforward to configure and has more features if you need them.
Proper monitor calibration requires hardware which measures the output of the monitor and software which uses that hardware to create a monitor profile. For Linux https://displaycal.net/ is good software, and there is a list of supported hardware devices there.
If going OLED. I'd stick with LG as it's the only company that actually makes them. Others buy and rebrand from LG
At the most basic end, you can use DisplayCal to make a profile for the display. Using an X-rite i1 spectrophotometer. And adjust other settings by eye or from simple guides online.
You can get a guide to adjust the settings to optimal levels from https://displaycalibrations.com/lg_oled_guides_using_colourspace.html
If you want to go all the way you can use CalMan and follow this guide https://tftcentral.co.uk/articles/lg-oled-tv-calibration-guide-autocal-and-hardware-calibration
Spyder X models are actually the same. They just include different accessory kit & unlock more features from software. However these features/accessories are something meant for actual studios / printing companies / photographers.
You can however use this free / opensource tool that has all the features that the cheapest software lacks. Bit harder to use.
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Between the manufacturers, differences are usually, in software, speed of calibration, accuracy etc. Nothing that home user notices or needs.
If you're only using a colorimeter, that could be part of the problem. A complete, professional-grade calibration involves profiling the display with a spectrophotometer and then calibrating it with a colorimeter. Without a spectrophotometer, your colorimeter only has default profiles to work with which may introduce inaccuracies. You'd expect that using dell's own calibration software could help things here, but there can be a lot of variance panel to panel, even among the same model, so perhaps not so much. Unfortunately, spectrophotometers start off expensive for the cheaper ones and quickly get out of hand from there. Usually, colorimeters on their own are "good enough."
Another part may be the calibration software itself. You give another calibration software like DisplayCAL a shot instead.
You need a calibration tool and accompanying software. The big names in consumer hardware calibration is X-Rite and Datacolor. The X-Rite i1 Display Pro. The Datacolor SpyderX is also popular.
I would also recommend going with Displaycal over whatever software comes packaged with the colorimeter.
It’s actually a very simple process. Displaycal’s quickstart guide should be enough to get you set up.
So all 6 are from ASUS bought at the same time (3x24 VG259QM and 2x27 XG27AQ), the colors are pre-calibrated from the factory and the displays are Fast-IPS. The top 3 are DCI-P3 95% and if I really wanna go the extra mile I'll break out my i1DisplayPro and https://displaycal.net/
It's only 1080 so there's letterboxing and the fact that MacOS hates lower DPI displays. Also, you need to use DisplayCal to calibrate/make a profile for it. But that's true with wireless transmitters already.
It won't be perfect but it works.
> so you're saying no need to get the plus and I should just go with the pro model? (even though its the same as the studio version, just "faster" - I've heard differing reports of whether the internals are the same or not)
Can't say for certain. I'm just reading that when viewing SDR content the max brightness is 500nits. Notebook check is really good about display measurements and they are reporting this so I trust them. They only mention the 14 as that's the only model they have to test.
Regarding the spectrophotometers and colorimeters I can't imagine there's been a hardware revision with the name change. But older models might not support higher brightness for sure. Also, NEC sold majority share of their display company to Sharp last year. So there might be changes coming to the Spectraview hardware/software combo don't he road. I think they have already trimmed the number of models offered. I have 3 NEC displays and two generations of their colorimeters which are just a rebranded X-rite units that work fine on my Eizos. I've also used them with DisplayCal to calibrate/make profile for my displays while using Hollyland transmitters.
I don't expect photo world to get on board with HDR anytime in the near future but if you're also working in video it might be worth going for the plus or pro
>My simple fix is to calibrate my display to sRGB, I use https://displaycal.net/ with a colormunki display.
Hi, calibration is (mostly) using your monitor's settings to get it more in-line with expected color-managed viewing conditions.
Profiling is the step where you measure a monitor's color reproduction, create a profile for your monitor, and then install that profile in your OS so that color managed software can display accurate colors.
What you're suggesting is skipping both of these steps and installing a device-independent color space profile, sRGB, as if it were a device-specific monitor profile. This is really a bad idea.
It might work on a monitor with a mostly sRGB gamut anyway. But on a high-gamut monitor like OP's, it will result in everything being oversaturated (at least consistently oversaturated though! lol). That will result in OP undersaturating their images while editing, which will cause their images to look dull and lifeless on properly color-managed computers and software.
Ok your problem is your using windows with a wide gamut display & using apps that are not colour aware.
The problem you are seeing is windows is made to work in sRGB, vary few apps will display past sRGB or be aware of ICC profiles.
You need to read up on what apps will display colour correctly and which will not.
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My simple fix is to calibrate my display to sRGB, I use https://displaycal.net/ with a colormunki display.
Going past sRGB in windows is a super pain.
A second option is to set your display to sRGB only.
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There have been talk of a developer preview update of windows which is ICC aware but until it ships windows is just best in sRGB unless you have a real need and are willing to put the time in.
Or use a mac for simple colour management
PS I have the Dell S3221QS, nice display and calibrates well for the price. Dells tend to be good displays.
I know that DisplayCAL can create 3D LUTs. There are some presets on the software specifically for that. More info here. I'm more on the print / web / photo camp, but looking into learning video more recently.
Yep, there's certainly something wrong with the profile. The resulting calibration curves are very steep, specially on the midtones. A good profile for a good display would be as close to neutral as possible. Gamut seems fine and the actual 3D gamut plot shows no distortion or "dimples" on its surface, which is good. https://imgur.com/a/sNJwVsV
My suggestion is to investigate:
- If some bit of software is interfering with the calibration process. For example, the GPU control panel color settings, things like that.
- To generate a new calibration using native for both luminance and white point. What we want to see is how your display behaves by default, before trying to force it into a known standard. This approach often generates better profiles in laptops.
You can also install DisplayCAL, which is free and compatible with your device, and run a pre-calibration just to understand which is your display's native white point and at which setting (brightness minus and plus) it is close a sane luminance level, something around 120cd/m2 to 140cd/m2 depending on how bright is your room.
Feel free to share the resulting profiles with me. It's the easiest way to see the results short of in person. :)
You need to calibrate them. I like Display Cal. It's free / open source. Go to eBay and buy a used Spyder calibrator. I don't know if they're all compatible, but Spyder 3 works. Each monitor will take several hours to measure, so you may want to let it run overnight.
If you do buy a display calibrator get a new one (or a used one that's not old), the old ones tend to have software problems on new OS's or the filters can fail. amazon has them on sale 1 or 2 times a year so worth keeping an eye out for a sale.
https://displaycal.net/ is the open source software and the site has lots of info & comparisons of different hardware devices.
On windows you tend to want sRGB as the goal & if you want to share your photos online sRGB is what all websites use, web browsers tend to expect all images to be sRGB so non sRGB images get displayed wrong a lot of the time.
but past that calibration is not something to over stress on as 99% of devices are kind of default so most the time it's best to just have your display on a default setting or sRGB preset from the display then check the photos look good on other devises like your phone when sharing online.
It's good to keep an eye on the RGB histogram, if you read that you can tell how the image will look. When RGB line up it's neutral and when there not lined up there's a cast, so you can tell if the shadows/mid tones/highlights have a warm or cold cast etc.
The RGB histogram will also show you how much of the image is dark/mid tones/highlights etc. so even if your display brightness is off you can still get a good impression of what the image looks like.
It's handy to know as even if your display is not spot on the RGB histogram will give you a good impression.
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Anyway in general it's not something you need to stress over unless your working or doing a lot of prints, id not mess with the display by hand and just use default or sRGB preset.
Ps on most displays Iv used about 20-brightness is about 120 lumens which is the old calibration target for print but now with most photos seen on displays and they tend to be fairly bright im not sure if it matters as much now. Depends on where you want the images seen I think.
Try a USB port on the back of the MOBO, Iv had problems with Hubs and display calibration.
You may also need to use a USB 2 port depending on the device.
For extra fun, https://displaycal.net/ is what I use.
PS just noticed you mention SDR & HDR modes, do you not have a custom mode?
You can not calibrate HDR on most displays and SDR sounds like a preset? not custom (or whatever name is given to full manual control by the display brand).
What is you calibration target?
I think instead of a gray card you'd be better off with one of these. It will allow you to more accurately balance multiple values.
Regarding monitor calibration - I would highly recommend doing that. Fiery's come with an ES-2000 but they don't include any software or the dongle to allow you to calibrate a monitor. You can get around this by using DisplayCal, a free monitor calibration app based on the open source Argyll Color Management System; which works extremely well. I've been using it for several years at work and at home. FYI - if you use DisplayCal, remove ANY X-Rite drivers on the system first. DisplayCal will install a driver compatible with ArgyllCMS that will work with the ES-2000, but if the X-Rite drivers are installed, it won't work and the instrument won't show up in the app.
Have a look here to see if this works for you.
There is also DisplayCal but i've no idea how it works.
i1 Display Studio is the "lower end" cousin, it's a little bit cheaper. It has the same general hardware, just slower. (you may also be able to find a deal on the older version, the ColorMunki Display. I don't think they actually changed anything besides the name). They do go on sale sometimes, IIRC I grabbed mine for about $120 on some prime day a few years back.
Once you spend the money, you will always have it in the drawer to recheck your monitors (they drift over time) or for when you get new gear. You'll honestly feel very silly for not having bought one sooner, they really don't cost that much compared to monitors and camera gear.
EDIT: oh, and whatever you get, use DisplayCal instead of the software that comes with it.
X-Rite i1Display Studio is the standard recommendation for a basic one. (it was formerly known as the ColorMunki Display, you may see that name in a lot of recommendations as well). It's accurate, won't lose accuracy with time, and is not super expensive. Use DisplayCal instead of the included Xrite software, DisplayCal is just better.
The i1 DisplayStudio + DisplayCal will work for fine any type of LCD or OLED display, just enter the type of display you have into the "Display and Instrument" page in DisplayCal before you start.
So most people, myself included, find the initial setting for S2721dgf has a warm cast (aka, it looks yellowish instead of neutral, think sunny yellow leaves color). My calibration fixed that, and I don't know if you have the same issue. Colors are very subjective unless you do works related to images or arts.
So if you really want to try, let start with my ICC profile.
1) Download displayCal (https://displaycal.net/).
2) Download my ICC profile for S2721DGF I posted above.
3) Upon opening the software, you see the first dropdown (settings). Click on the folder icon next to the "i" inside the circle.
4) Locate where you stored the ICC profile you downloaded previously, then open it.
5) See the arrow points down to the bar icon next to the trash can icon on the same row? Click on that.
6) Now you see the checkbox with Preview calibration. Check and uncheck it should show you the difference between your current factory profile vs my own ICC profile.
7) If you like it, click install profile for current user only.
8) Try to follow my RGB, contrast, brightness setting I posted above. You might want to play around with it a bit since I have 120 nits (kinda bright for many people). Hope it works for you.
Obviously, the best way is to buy your own calibration tool and do it with displayCal, but you can use my ICC and monitor's settings as a reference point if you are not satisfied with your factory settings.
Reminders if you care about color accuracy:
- You should color calibrate (profile) your scanner (e.g. by using an IT 8.7 target) and assign the scanner color profile to the image files. This is the most important step.
- To enjoy the correct colors, you also need a good (IMO at least sRGB coverage >90%) and color-calibrated (you can do-it-yourself using a colorimeter) monitor.
- Finally, use a color-managed application to display your files. A test can be found here.
Plasma has a gui-control for managing color profiles, package-name: "colord-kde". It just isn't installed by default (probably because it has some gnome-dependencies). So having to write a custom script is not necessary.
DisplayCal also works fine on Linux, so fiddling with argyll on the terminal to color-calibrate your devices is also not required.
One tip I'd like to add:
Compile your own libfreetype with subpixel rendering and positioning enabled, at least on KDE, the fonts will look a lot better, if you use LCD-filtering.
> I recognize the need to calibrate my monitor, and plan on making sure whatever I have I get calibrated upon arrival. Whether that be through simple means, or getting a device.
There are no other good ways than through a device, whether you buy it, rent it, or borrow it from a friend (or have the friend do it for you). Get yourself an i1Display Studio or a used ColorMunki Display, fire up DisplayCAL, and you are good to go.
Also, one of the things that you will learn is that it’s not really the calibration itself that is important (in fact, it’s even optional), it’s the profiling that comes afterwards. Once the display is calibrated (or not), the calibration/profiling software will use the colorimeter to measure its response and write that to an ICC file. Then, color-managed applications will be able to look up that profile and know “okay, so if I send this much amount of ‘red’ to the display, this is the actual color that comes out”, or in the other direction: “all right, so if I want to display such or such color, I need to send (R, G, B) = …”
The calibration part is mostly to set the white point and the starting tone curve. (And unlike the profiling, the calibration applies to all applications, not just those that know about color.)
I'm trying to decide between the pro plus and the studio for home use to calibrate both my displays.
Did you have to install the ArgyllCMS instrument drivers to use the i1Display Studio, with DisplayCAL?
Source of my question:
>Windows only: If your measurement device is not a ColorMunki Display, i1 Display Pro, Huey, ColorHug, specbos, spectraval or K-10, you need to install an Argyll-specific driver before continuing (the specbos, spectraval and K-10 may require the FTDI virtual COM port driver instead). Select “Instrument” › “Install ArgyllCMS instrument drivers...” from the “Tools” menu. See also “Instrument driver installation under Windows”.
The threshold for a decently capable display is not that difficult to clear—you want an LED-backlit IPS panel, and you want it to cover at least the sRGB gamut.
If you have that, that's a good start—you'll spend more depending on the size, resolution, and other features you want on top, but in terms of the potential to show you good stuff, you're in the clear.
But—very important—to turn the "capable" display into an "accurate" display, that requires that you get a hardware profiler and calibrate the display. Something like an i1 Display Studio or Spyder5/SpyderX, combined with DisplayCal, does the trick.
DisplayCal works perfectly fine in Linux. So basically any USB-calibration device will work.
As others have pointed out, Nvidia GPUs are not on par with AMD ones concerning driver compatibility, so if you want a stable Linux desktop experience, keep that in mind.
Gsync is a waste of money, since Nvidia GPUs support Adaptive Sync.
Displaycal has an automatic calibration loader that continuously reloads the profile selected, so it should be a usable workaround as long as you're using a ICC profile generated by a calibrator (not a windows calibration using the "calibrate display colour" option in control panel).
You can, I use a ColorMunki. DisplayCal is the GUI front end for ArgyllCMS. Yet to install it yet in 20.04 as there isn't a package......haven't tried the 19.10 .deb which may indeed work.
If I buy a used Datacolor Spyder 3 to calibrate my monitors, how does the DRM work? There's a serial number and "unlock" involved. Wondering if the makers were trying to stop the used market.
My backup plan is ArgyllCMS and DisplayCAL
How do you apply Color Profiles? Please consider to use DisplayCal for enhanced control.
And which "off switch" do you mean? On the external screen? What's your external screen model number?
We are just a few days away from releasing BIOS 0064 and TBT3 NVM v56 which might also affect your USB-C/DP experience. Stay tuned... // Tom
No need to apologise for the questions, happy to help.
I use X-Rite Colormunki Display and DisplayCAL.
So IIRC, I started by selecting the monitor's Custom Colour profile, then set the Colormunki in the center box DisplayCAL software provides. Then DisplayCAL walked me through setting brightness and colour (RGB controls called Gain IIRC) settings to get them as accurate as possible at the start then I pressed start calibration and let it go all night. That's all I remember, and you know what, I'm gonna re-calibrate tomorrow night since it's been a while.
I don't use any of the HDR settings the monitor provides. Though, like I said earlier, I'm interested to see how Smart HDR works with a DisplayCAL profile. AFAIK, if you enable Game Smart HDR, the monitor will turn HDR on when you launch a game as it can detect when a DX11/12 program is launched. Shut the game down and HDR turns off when you're in Windows, which is what you want as Windows HDR is still crap... or am I out of date with that information?. That's how I understand it works. The question is, how does that interact with DisplayCAL's profile. Still haven't tested it.
EDIT: I don't use Dark Stabilizer either. In my experience, that just ruins your contrast ratio and defeats the purpose of a VA monitor. If you get shot by someone that's in a dark corner, just suck it up and enjoy how good the game looks. Never needed it to shoot down them sneaky players anyway lol.
The i1Display Studio should be the same hardware as the Pro, just with a different software package. (And a bit slower.)
For software, I'd use DisplayCal (https://displaycal.net) over the software provided with the Studio/Pro anyway; make sure read the provided docs, and allow DisplayCal to handle profile loading. Has reliably worked for me in basically everything over the past year. May not match your definition of straightforward, but if you follow the directions you'll be fine. (Program author is also really active on it's forums.)
Alternatively, with a bright monitor like that-- xRite makes an i1Display Pro Plus that advertises improved performance with ultra bright displays, and more powerful software that could be interesting. Haven't had hands on it myself though, so I don't know how much better it is, if it's better at all.
This is just from the perspective of an enthusiastic nerd looking for better color quality, mind. If you're looking to also do professional work, well, hopefully someone more qualified shows up.
Sounds good. I read in the manual that you might have to install some drivers, not sure if that applied to Spyder 5 (which I could read about further down). Maybe that was for some other tool? Maybe you know? =) Thank you so much for your help. Btw, can I make a colour profile to save, and not having this software running. With the bundled software theres always a program ( or two ) thats running.
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" If your measurement device is not a ColorMunki Display, i1 Display Pro, Huey, ColorHug, specbos, spectraval or K-10, you need to install an Argyll-specific driver (the specbos, spectraval and K-10 may require the FTDI virtual COM port driver instead). See “Instrument driver installation under Windows”. "
Are you using DisplayCal? Use DisplayCal if you're not already. There's a usage guide on the homepage if you scroll down.
>Should I measure when its daytime (partly brighter in the room) or in the evening (which lamps should be lit, or in a pitch black room?)
Pitch black room is ideal, but if you're won't normally use the display that way, go ahead and light the room as it would normally be.
The hardware you need can be pricey such as the Spyder Pro by datacolor.
However, the software you should use is open source (free to use), which is DisplayCal. There are various tutorials on YouTube as well as documentation on the main website for the program. Regardless of which hardware you use that program is the way to go.
I bought/use the X-Rite ColorMunki Display and it's great with DisplayCAL.
Costco's four year warranty is great, makes the choice even harder now, because for me, I know how good the Dell is as it's in front of me and the LG really is a great monitor too according to so many reviews.
You know what? Go for the LG and if you don't like it, return it and go for the Dell, and if you still don't like it, it may mean 32" is too big for you :)
I was never satisfied with my calibration with the manufacturers software. Give DisplayCal a try, you've got nothing to lose, but I found it always gave a near perfect match, even between radically different displays.
What f.lux and ICC profiles are doing is changing the VLUT (that effects everything) this can correct the white point, gamma, max brightness depending on how you have it set up.
What the VLUT portion of the ICC profile can't do is map WCG down to sRGB that requires that individual applications or whole the operating system be color managed like Mac OS.
Windows is not color managed, it just supports color managed applications, so even with the profile loaded the desktop and non color managed applications will have oversaturated colors on a WCG display.
Most video players don't support color management so you need to find one that does. Or like I said use madVR and create a 3Dlut for it.
Maybe this explains better than I can https://displaycal.net/#concept
FYI, there's also third party open source software (DisplayCal) which lets you calibrate multiple monitors, and other "features" which would require a more expensive Spyder license.
Your monitor's calibration might just be off. Have you ever tried using a colorimeter/tool to calibrate your monitor?
The Colormunki Display is an awesome colorimeter for the price. I think there might be places that rent them too. The included software works decently. Definitely better than non-calibrated. Although when you use it with DisplayCal (free) you can get some really high quality results.
I used to do photography and I still have an old one called i1Display2 which is pretty good but far from perfect. I know the QC of colorimeters (considered low end products) vary quite a bit so don't be surprised by the sample variations of the same model. I suggest you do some research here before rushing into anything because price alone isn't the indicator of quality. Also, there is this software which may or may not work better with specific colorimeter. You have to try and see. Good luck.
One of these:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/798930-REG/X_Rite_EODIS3_i1Display_Pro.html
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/798928-REG/X_Rite_CMUNDIS_ColorMunki_Display.html
Then using software like DisplayCal typically yields the best results.
DisplayCal is free, and it will show you.
Example: here is the default profile for my CHG70 compared against sRGB colorspace. (haven't made my own profile yet)
DisplayCal is an open source software (https://displaycal.net/) for calibrating screens. The software can be downloaded for free, but you will also need a physical measurement device to accurately measure the colour of your display. Be warned, the measurement devices are not cheap. Spyder5Express costs $129, and that's one of the cheaper ones. The instructions on how to set up your device and PC can be found on the DisplayCal website, and the steps are quite straightforward so the average Windows users shouldn't have any trouble following them.
As I said, you need to first acquire a profiling device (or borrow one maybe)—for example, this. You ditch the software that comes with it and you use DisplayCAL.
Then of course you could write a book about the process, but let's say that a typical calibration target would be to go for a white point of 90-120 cd/m² (mine's at ~110) and 6500K, gamma 2.2.
For me, since I am not using a high end printer, and only have a colorimeter and not a spectrometer, I do not calibrate the printer, instead I have my monitor calibrated, and I then have basic adjustments that I make to compensate for the printer.
I do this using a gradient proof on a smart filter, and then apply the best looking section of the amount of the filters to the final image before printing.
I do 1 smart filter for exposure
another for contrast and another for white balance since while my printer gets the saturation pretty well done, it lowers the effective color temperature.
With my workflow since I know how much to bump the exposure and increase the color temperature, and adjust the contrast, when I am done with everything, I make those adjustments and then get a decent print (at least from what can be expected from a low cost printer (a $100 canon pixma). I do not rely on prints for any professional work, or even to give to others, thus I rarely print.
Edit: wanted to also add that I color corrected my monitor using a colorimeter and the dispcalgui software https://displaycal.net/
I use it with a colormunki display colorimeter, but the 3rd party display calibration software offers far better results than the original x-rite software, especially when it comes to dealing with a wider range of displays.
For example, for some reason, it the display cal software can handle my secondary monitors which are cheaper TN panels with a PWM controlled backlight just fine while the original x-rite software (even the latest version, turns the screen orange as it completely kills the blue channel).
Both the original x-rite and the 3rd party software works fine on my IPS display though.
If you can get a probe you can use a free alternative calibration software @ https://displaycal.net/. It is not very user friendly, so pay close attention to instructions if you go this route.
Also consider that the old-ish Adobe RGB display on the MBP is becoming more scarce, whereas the newer mac products have a wider color gamut (DCI-P3). It might be best to think of things in term of a standard for future proofing, rather than just matching to whatever Apple is doing. Just a suggestion.
Did you download their ICC profile?
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/icc_profiles/dell_alienware_aw3418dw.icc
Also, you need to download and use DisplayCal in conjunction with the ICC profile as Windows 10 (assuming that's what youre using) will override / revert any software and ICC profiles to default with any full-screen application.
I absolutely applaud your willingness to compare the two units and look forward to your comparison, hopefully with pictures and if possible video.
If Z35P is better then I may even return my AW3418DW (Dell's 30 Day Return Policy), eat the 15% restocking fee and go with that. I like the AW3418DW, but the BLB and IPS glow is definitely an issue.
Please compare both units at both 100 and 120 Hz.
If you have the hardware (colorimeter) and software (https://displaycal.net/) then you can save the ICC profile after you calibrate it.
You can try eyeballing it with software alone hcfr, but it won't be as accurate. Another method is printing a picture out and comparing it to your monitor and trying to again, eyeball it.