Hi Victor,
Thank you for your efforts- I seem to be clipping 4 patches (bits) with your target. I just checked Steve's BrightnessCal on a friend's new FSI CM250 (granted, an OLED...). Amazing contrast (obviously), no shadow clipping whatsoever (Rec.709 factory preset).
Steve, what do you think of Stuart's workaround, concatenating a LUT to lift the shadows and reveal the clipped detail, in terms of calibration accuracy? I imagine it can be done pre or post LS profiling, and will impact contrast and black "depth", but is it worthwhile, in your opinion?
BTW, I tried artificially to raise the black levels via ColorNavigator, but it did not have the desired effect, aside of generating muddy blacks... I guess it should be done externally, after CN.
Best,
Tomer.

Hello Tomar,

Thank you for doing the testing and confirming the results.

The difference you are seeing between the FSI and The CG318 is inherent in the panel technology, the OLED is an active display which can produce zero luminance on black, an LCD is acting as neutral density to the backlight so the shadow detail below the minimum black level will be lost without adjustment.

Lifting the LUT or the gamma curve as Stuart did, or sitting the display up and is a potential solution to see those tones, but then corrupts the rest of the tone response, either crushing or clipping the highlights off the top. Additionally, we are encroaching on the limits of the majority of devices to measure the lack of luminance accurately.

If we step back from this technical discussion on absolute measurements and look at where you material is going to be used, only OLED screens will be able to show those very dark tones and so the CG318 is going to give you a real world view of the content. It is quite common for my post production customers to have both types of display in their grading suites and some also use a projector. It all fits the rule 'No Surprises'!

Cheers

Victor

Hi Victor,
Thanks for the detailed explanation. I would like to elaborate on what you wrote in the last paragraph: After conducting numerous tests, I believe this to be an issue, and a very serious one, in the context of color grading/color critical operations.
True story- how all this came to light?
First grading shift with the CG318-4K, I'm sitting with a top D.o.P. We are reviewing his Alexa footage through a rough look we created in pre-production, and he says: "let me see if there are any more details in the blacks, I clearly recall from reviewing the LOG footage on set I wasn't crushing any details in the black clothes." I respond: "I'm not crushing anything, look at the waveform scope." It indeed shows that no shadow details are being crushed. To indulge him, I lift the blacks, and lo and behold- shadow details appear in the monitor! So now he says: "I want all this detail! But please give me 0 black" (in the signal=waveform). I follow suit and bring the black back to zero, and now the detail is gone again. At which point, he gets up and says- "let's ditch this monitor, it doesn't show me what's really going on with my shots. Let's hook up your old one, and be done with it." I hook up my old Dell (PremierColor LCD, 1/10th the price of the Eizo)- all shadow detail is there when black is set to zero. We return the Eizo to its box, with a warm recommendation from the D.o.P to have it properly calibrated- which I already did...
This makes the Eizo:
- Unfit for serious color grading work
- Inferior to other LCDs, which do not clip shadow detail (not comparing to an OLED- apples to apples)
Furthermore, and a path I would follow- in sRGB factory preset on the Eizo (gamma 2.2 approx.), all the shadow detail is displayed properly! This implies it is not a limitation of the display technology, but rather an error in monitor electronics/processing- which (fingers crossed) can be remedied. With consumers moving more and more into OLED territory (especially for UHD, which this monitor specifically targets), we cannot settle for less.
Thanks again for all the effort,
Tomer.

Hello Tomer,

I can understand the reaction of your DOP. Thank you for sharing, I can see the difference you describe and I will find out why the black level is set to match monitor minimum on the sRGB target and not on the REC709 target from our R&D team in Japan.

Because the ColorEdge monitor allows you to control the look of the image you can configure the monitor so it is fit for serious grading work and I have many customers using as such. See the target below. The LCD monitors that show the shadow detail are configured with the curve or LUT to equalise black signal at the minimum brightness of the panel, this is what the target below is doing.

If you want to try this new target https://www.dropbox.com/s/8zr72tdrh4vb18b/REC709%20100cd%206500K%20LUT%20va.cntarget? dl=0 it will display from patch level 1 and up without clipping.

Let me know how you get on, thank you?

Cheers

Victor

Hi Victor,
Thank you for sending me the new target. I've tried it, but unfortunately it is very "open" (bright) and de-saturated, and aside of recovering the shadow detail, does not resemble Rec.709 at all. I have created a LUT for my own use as an interim soution, which lifts the shadows in the minimal amount needed to differentiate between all the black levels in Steve's chart. I hold it in the monitor prior to running a LS profile, in the hopes of achieving a proper Rec.709 calibration. until a permanent solution is issued. I will report back once I'm done with profiling and matching to my client display.
Best,
Tomer.

Hi Victor,
Any news regarding the clipped shadows? An upcoming firmware release, perhaps...?
In the meantime, I wanted to raise another question- what is the backlight type used by the Eizo CG318-4K?
It doesn't appear in the documentation or on-line, and I couldn't get a reply directly from Eizo.
To use my i1display pro, I need to specify the correct backlight type. Lightspace offers the following options for the probe-
Generic CMF, CCFL, Wide Gamut CCFL, White LED, RGB LED, OLED, Plasma, RG Phosphor, Projection.
I'm deliberating between White LED, RGB LED and RG Phosphor (no clear idea what backlight it refers to...).
With the advance of display technologies, the clear-cut distinction is quite hard to make, and the manufacturers refrain from clearly specifying panel and backlight types.
Steve- if you care to chime on, you're most welcome
(As a side note, I imagine the Eizo falling into the "LCD" category, out of CRT/LCD/BURST (Plasma - Pulse Modulation)/AIO (All In One). Please correct me if I'm mistaken).