Published on April 16, 2015 | Updated on October 31, 2019
(Please note that a supported X-Rite measurement device is required for the calibration process. Supported devices are ColorMunki Smile™, ColorMunki Display™, i1Studio, ColorMunki Photo™, i1Display Pro™ and i1Pro 2™) Mobile Color Perfection. The calibration process tweaks a number of settings to get the colors and contrast on your Mac as accurate as possible. It does this by changing the intensity of the main colors — red, blue, and green — and setting the white point, or the neutral white color that you see when, say, you open a new document in a word processor. Jun 11, 2018 Apple’s iMac screens are best calibrated with the “RG Phosphor” correction, but instead of choosing that option, I would recommend to just download the correction profile that I created for the screens, based on input from “Color Consultant”, the same reader who wrote our monitor calibration.
These screens do not always have a good press in the photographer community or with color management specialists. However, they are really very beautiful aesthetically, not to mention that their quality has improved significantly since 2012 ! For example, I noted an average Delta e of only 0.25 (2000 standard) with my i1Display Pro on the last iMac Pro Retina from 2017 ! It is therefore time to learn how to calibrate them.... in order to use them without a second thought...
Because of their reflections, which are indeed very annoying in many lighting environments, Mac displays and especially their beautiful iMacs have very bad press. Moreover, they are very limited in their settings : just the brightness.
However, since July 2011 and the release of a new generation of calibration tools, particularly at X-Rite (Colormunki Display and i1Display Pro), it is quite possible to calibrate these screens, and, in my opinion, in a very nice way.
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Personally, I would say that their main defect because it will bother everyone remains their reflections (which have been considerably reduced on the 2013 versions) because their second defect - a not very extensive gamut - will not necessarily bother everyone. Indeed, who needs an extended gamut every day ? Not everyone, I assure you. Look at the magnificent images of Vincent Munier to convince yourself !
The specificities of calibrating an iMac or Mac screen
But what makes Mac or iMac displays so difficult to calibrate a priori ? Is it because of their panel ? Of their settings? Of their graphics cards ?
What about the quality of iMac and Apple Display panels ?
Monitor Color Calibration Tool Mac
Monitor Color Calibration Tool
There are now three main categories of computer display panel quality : TN, PVA and IPS for short. The better the quality, the easier it is to calibrate it but above all to edit your photos on it and obviously some photo retouching. Why ? Mainly because bad panels are distinguished by their poor viewing angle. With these panels it is indeed impossible to keep the same brightness as soon as you turn or lower your head. However, Apple, for the past two years, has been using the best technology, IPS. Before 2011/2012, iMac screens were complicated to calibrate but things have improved considerably since then.
Best Monitor Color Calibration
- iMacs have been using IPS white LED panels since 2012,
- Apple Displays use IPS panels but with fluorescent tubes (CCFL).