View Full Version : Re: what is 'normal' iBook screen brightness?


matt neuburg
07-02-2003, 06:42 AM
In <3F026E9E.1090703[at]hotmail.com> toyboat99 wrote:
> Since I do basic graphic/photo work (for the web) on my iBook, I'm
> wondering what's considered "normal" vis-a-vis screen brightness on my
> 12" iBook 600, for the obvious reason that diverging wildly in either
> direction would result in photos looking too dark or too bright/washed
> out to others viewing my images.

I suggest you stop worrying and learn to love the bomb. You are not in
control of how other people set up their screens. Your photos will look
different on every user's screen and there's nothing you can do about it.
For a shock, take a look at your web site from a Windows machine; you'll
gag. Just do what you do and forget about trying to dictate how it looks
to others. m.

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toyboat99
07-02-2003, 07:13 AM
matt neuburg wrote:

> I suggest you stop worrying and learn to love the bomb. You are not in
> control of how other people set up their screens. Your photos will look
> different on every user's screen and there's nothing you can do about it.
> For a shock, take a look at your web site from a Windows machine; you'll
> gag. Just do what you do and forget about trying to dictate how it looks
> to others. m.

Thanks, Matt. I've done the Windows experiment you mention gazillions of
times, so I'm aware of the anomalies vis-a-vis color, brightness, etc.
(which, as you say, can be considerable). But I'm just curious as to
what Apple considers to be the "factory" setting, since I bought my
iBook secondhand and have no idea whatsoever what the original settings
were. I'm sure you'll agree there's a huge difference between the center
setting and the all-the-way-to-the-right setting (try it on an iBook, if
you've forgotten), but oddly enough they both seem plausible as baseline
settings to me.

I have no hangups about what's supposedly "correct", not do I imagine
that I can control how other people see my images - but, that said,
since I make a meager living based on the perceived accuracy of same,
I'd consider being closer to 42 percent of viewers rather than 39
percent a big enough difference. Hence the question.

Dave

Uli Wienands
07-13-2003, 02:05 AM
FWIW, I run our iBook at full brightness & adjust the angle such that the
window embellishments look ok, contrast-wise. Then I do any Photoshop
work. Seems to work most of the time, although the results are certainly
not of professional quality of consistency.

Matt's approach is a tad cavalier when your web site is supposed to
attract customers. Fact is, most use peecees so you do want to make sure
it looks ok there as well. Peecee monitors (or rather, their graphics)
tend to have higher contrast so what works on a peecee often is still
acceptable on a Mac.

Uli Wienands

In article <3F027801.5030301[at]hotmail.com>, toyboat99
<toyboat99[at]hotmail.com> wrote:

> matt neuburg wrote:
>
> > I suggest you stop worrying and learn to love the bomb. You are not in
> > control of how other people set up their screens. Your photos will look
> > different on every user's screen and there's nothing you can do about it.
> > For a shock, take a look at your web site from a Windows machine; you'll
> > gag. Just do what you do and forget about trying to dictate how it looks
> > to others. m.
>
> Thanks, Matt. I've done the Windows experiment you mention gazillions of
> times, so I'm aware of the anomalies vis-a-vis color, brightness, etc.
> (which, as you say, can be considerable). But I'm just curious as to
> what Apple considers to be the "factory" setting, since I bought my
> iBook secondhand and have no idea whatsoever what the original settings
> were. I'm sure you'll agree there's a huge difference between the center
> setting and the all-the-way-to-the-right setting (try it on an iBook, if
> you've forgotten), but oddly enough they both seem plausible as baseline
> settings to me.
>
> I have no hangups about what's supposedly "correct", not do I imagine
> that I can control how other people see my images - but, that said,
> since I make a meager living based on the perceived accuracy of same,
> I'd consider being closer to 42 percent of viewers rather than 39
> percent a big enough difference. Hence the question.
>
> Dave