Surface Pro 3 Screen Calibration Values

[Gavin Lewarne]

Hello everyone, first post so I decided to share my screen calibration.

I am a Cinema Projectionist and Service Engineer so I have access to some very *very* expensive colour calibration equipment, and when I got my SP3 a few days ago I decided to calibrate the screen using my equipment. I am now sharing that calibration.

This only works if you manually install the Intel HD Graphics driver and have access to the colour control panel. I had better results using the intel controls than other apps like Calibrize as the changes are made at driver level and persist through 2d and 3d.

So, here goes:

STAGE 1:
Intel HD Graphics Control Panel > Display > Colour Settings (basic options)

First select the RED colour
Brightness +1
Contrast 50
Gamma 1

Now select the GREEN Colour
Brightness -2
Contrast 49
Gamma 1.0

Now Select the BLUE Colour
Brightness +3
Contrast 51
Gamma 1.0

STAGE 2:
Intel HD Graphics Control Panel > Display > Colour Settings (advanced options)

Colour Saturation +3


STAGE 3:
Intel HD Graphics Control Panel > Power >
Select "Plugged in" profile and set to maximum performance

Select "On Battery" profile and make the following settings:

Maximum battery life
Panel Self Refresh - Enable
Extended Battery Life for Gaming - Enable
Display Refresh Rate Switching - Disable
Display Power Saving Technology - Disabled, or Max Quality (if you want a lil extra battery life, but it makes minimal difference and ruins the display quality)


If you aply the settings above you will completely eliminate the green cast of the default display calibration, have more blue "pop" and the whites should be very,very white. It will also virtually eliminate banding on greyscales


Hopefully someone finds this usefiul!

 

[Tobias]

Thanks a lot for sharing this! I was exactly looking for this

If it is possible to share links I have a link where the installation procedure of installing the driver is explained:
http://lifeisabug.com/installing-latest-intel-hd-graphics-driver-microsoft-surface-pro-pro-2-pro-3/

Download the .zip, not the .exe as it will not work!

Good luck

 

[GreyFox7]

Hmm, I'm sure there is some commonality but wouldn't this vary by screen and build? Meaning your settings may not be right for everyone.

IDK but I doubt if they calibrate every unit at the factory, more likely they just set them up according to a standard based on sampling and as long as it's not off by a mile it passes.

 

[Gavin Lewarne]

I measured mine against 3 others that people own at work, they were all within 0.2% gamut of each other.

Sure, there are some differences between panels, but the factory calibration is a considerable way off from SMPTE spec, which I need to use for image calibration with our cinema equipment.

The stock colours are WAY too green

EDIT: I feel that I should expand on that a bit

SMPTE specifications define the colour grading used in motion pictures and TV shows. Cinema projection equipment has to be calibrated to the same levels to ensure that how it appears on he big screen is how it appeared to the directors and editors while in production. So, if I am converting some content to DCP for playback on the cinema equipment, I need to make sure it looks as close as possible on my devices to how it appears when projected.

 

[GreyFox7]

I measured mine against 3 others that people own at work, they were all within 0.2% gamut of each other.

Sure, there are some differences between panels, but the factory calibration is a considerable way off from SMPTE spec, which I need to use for image calibration with our cinema equipment.

The stock colours are WAY too green

Thanks, good to know.

 

[Gavin Lewarne]

you may have missed my edit, I expanded on it a little

 

[Tikerz]

Is this better than loading a calibrated ICC profile or just a different method?

 

[ptrkhh]

Is this better than loading a calibrated ICC profile or just a different method?

CMMIW This calibration is only for the display of the SP3, while the profile is generic for calibrated monitors

 

[ptrkhh]

Btw, I think this post should be pinned. Its super useful for all SP3 owners

 

[B'midbar]

Hello everyone, first post so I decided to share my screen calibration.

I am a Cinema Projectionist and Service Engineer so I have access to some very *very* expensive colour calibration equipment, and when I got my SP3 a few days ago I decided to calibrate the screen using my equipment. I am now sharing that calibration.

This only works if you manually install the Intel HD Graphics driver and have access to the colour control panel. I had better results using the intel controls than other apps like Calibrize as the changes are made at driver level and persist through 2d and 3d.

So, here goes:

STAGE 1:
Intel HD Graphics Control Panel > Display > Colour Settings (basic options)

First select the RED colour
Brightness +1
Contrast 50
Gamma 1

Now select the GREEN Colour
Brightness -2
Contrast 49
Gamma 1.0

Now Select the BLUE Colour
Brightness +3
Contrast 51
Gamma 1.0

STAGE 2:
Intel HD Graphics Control Panel > Display > Colour Settings (advanced options)

Colour Saturation +3


STAGE 3:
Intel HD Graphics Control Panel > Power >
Select "Plugged in" profile and set to maximum performance

Select "On Battery" profile and make the following settings:

Maximum battery life
Panel Self Refresh - Enable
Extended Battery Life for Gaming - Enable
Display Refresh Rate Switching - Disable
Display Power Saving Technology - Disabled, or Max Quality (if you want a lil extra battery life, but it makes minimal difference and ruins the display quality)


If you aply the settings above you will completely eliminate the green cast of the default display calibration, have more blue "pop" and the whites should be very,very white. It will also virtually eliminate banding on greyscales


Hopefully someone finds this usefiul!

Quite useful, thanks for taking the time and doing the write-up.

 

[Tikerz]

CMMIW This calibration is only for the display of the SP3, while the profile is generic for calibrated monitors

I'm not sure I follow. Before seeing this post I was using a SP3 calibrated ICC profile from another user who used a Spyder on it.

 

[Haldi]

Question: do all colors gain linear in strength with increased screen brightnes?
Or are these color corrections only perfect when on a certain brightness ?