images blown out on new imacs

[mstema]

Our shop just purchased/installed 3 new 27" imacs running 10.6.4 (2.8 GHz Intel Core i5 / 4 GB) - our IT guy configured them for us with corporate licensed software.

The problem is that two of the three macs have the colors blown out. Example, when viewing a customer supplied file that we are going to print, that has swirls of color, varying from 5, 10, 20, & 50% screens of black, on two of the macs all the screen 10% and less do not show up. On the third mac the same file views just fine. It is not the screen brightness setting and it appears that the monitor calibration is set up the same on all macs.

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Blue Velvet]

it appears that the monitor calibration is set up the same on all macs.

How so? With an external hardware calibrator, merely having the same profile selected or calibrated by eye?

 

[mstema]

same factory settings out of the box for display setup. I played around with the calibration settings moving to the extremes, but I could not get those 10% and less values to show up.

They give us visual color test annually, and we calibrate and profile everything in our shop, proofers, plates, press', etc. - you'd think they would spend the money to give us tools to properly calibrate our monitors. But lets not go there.

You'd think that 3 macs out of the box would be able to display tints properly, or at least consistently between each of them.

 

[Blue Velvet]

you'd think they would spend the money to give us tools to properly calibrate our monitors. But lets not go there.

You may just have to go there. It's a false economy, otherwise. They're not fit for purpose as they are.

You'd think that 3 macs out of the box would be able to display tints properly, or at least consistently between each of them.

iMacs? Never thought much of them, no matter what generation... and have never purchased one for home or for the studios I've worked in and specced equipment for.

You just might have to try calibrating them by eye with the Display Colour Assistant in the Expert Mode, in the meantime, just to see if you can get some consistency between the three of them.

 

[mstema]

imac wasnt my choice, it was a corporate decision. We were due to upgrade our older G5's because of pending software upgrades. Again, not my choice, but not my money either.

Ive tried to get all 3 consistent by using the expert settings. No matter what I do though, two of them are blowing out everything less than 10% in the screens. I just wonder what im missing.

 

[Blue Velvet]

I just wonder what im missing.

Nothing. There's little more you can do, except get some decent hardware calibration (which may still not even do the trick)... or call Apple to see if they can organise some replacements or even outline some options for you.

Or you can just try working with them as they are and when the first job comes along and goes to plate or proof, completely out of wack, use that as leverage to argue to get something done about them. Bean counters shouldn't be speccing kit in this kind of workflow; all they know is the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

 

[mjsmke]

Calibrate all 3 by eye first to see if they look the same. There will be small differences but they shouldn't be noticeable at this stage.

Calibrating is quick and if all goes wrong you can just delete the new profile you make restoring the original settings.

 

[Warbitrary]

This might be dumb, but check System Preferences to see if Enhance Contrast is set to Normal

 

[timgman]

imac wasnt my choice, it was a corporate decision. We were due to upgrade our older G5's because of pending software upgrades. Again, not my choice, but not my money either.

Ive tried to get all 3 consistent by using the expert settings. No matter what I do though, two of them are blowing out everything less than 10% in the screens. I just wonder what im missing.

Were you able to figure out why you weren't able to see the tints below 10%? Just curious as I am also a designer and have been considering an iMac.

 

[picturespete]

Warbitary hinted at the answer, but you do have to look hard to find where to alter it...

Welcome - my first post, but I too have had the issue of the screen contrast going askew on my iMac (and on the G5 'Pro' before it)

There is a System Preferences panel called Universal Access. Open this and then see under 'Display'... the slider for Enhance Contrast may not be at the 'normal' setting.

If its not, you may ask 'how come?'. The answer is in the keyboard shortcut below that slider - Control-alt-command and either comma or full stop (period). If you are trying to press Alt-command-> or < to alter the font size in say InDesign, you can end up altering the contrast by mistake by catching the control key too in that sequence.

Seems not to be a way of 'turning off' that keyboard shortcut either...

Pete