Camera Screen Calibration? - DSLR Hack development - CHDK Forum
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Camera Screen Calibration?

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Offline tsient

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Camera Screen Calibration?
« on: 10 / July / 2009, 17:40:35 »
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Hi,

Does anyone know if it's possible to do some sort of screen calibration on Canon DSLR's - via a secret service menu maybe?

I'm asking because the LCD screen on my 1000d has a slight red-shift. At first i thought it was me not getting a proper WB setting, however the colors look right on my calibrated computer screen... Looking at the same image on both the computer and camera screen confirms that the camera screen has a red-shift. (I set Custom WB using a WhiBal card; and after checking the RGB values of neutral gray areas in my photos, i'm positive that it's NOT the WB setting causing the red-shift).

I think there might be a hidden service menu that Canon uses to calibrate the screens at the factory - even if it's something as simple as adjusting the proportions of R,G,B values. Apparently Pentax K20 has some kind of LCD calibration setting available in the user menu.

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emre
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Offline bugsplatter

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Re: Camera Screen Calibration?
« Reply #1 on: 10 / July / 2009, 18:13:50 »
Why not set the thing to daylight and post process WB?  Works for my old Nikon ;)
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Offline tsient

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Re: Camera Screen Calibration?
« Reply #2 on: 10 / July / 2009, 18:50:07 »
Well, yes, of course i can set the WB in post-processing as long as i include the Whibal card in my shots. And setting the Camera Custom WB still works fine even if the colors on the LCD are off.

However, i'm a painter and i often use the camera to photograph my paintings, for which accurate white balance is important. It would be nice to confirm that i have the correct WB just by looking at the camera LCD, instead of assuming it's right (even though i know that it can be corrected later) -- there's something assuring about seeing an accurate representation of the colors on the LCD.

BTW, the screen on my A570 is more accurate -- i mean, it may not be perfectly calibrated, but it hasn't made me suspect if it was "off" either. I find it funny that Canon gets it somewhat right on a cheap PS camera, but not on a DSLR :)

So, not a big issue, but it would be nice if it's somehow possible to calibrate it.

.
e
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Offline bugsplatter

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Re: Camera Screen Calibration?
« Reply #3 on: 10 / July / 2009, 19:50:23 »
"However, i'm a painter and i often use the camera to photograph my paintings"

Sorry I dunno an answer for that.  I had trouble with auto white balance (grass changing colour on a patchy light cloudy day) so I told the camera to give up on the 'auto' idea and got used to the daylight 'look' even on cloudy days (more blue).  

Though I'm not artistic, was told by an artist 15 years back I didn't have the 'eye' for fine art ;)
« Last Edit: 10 / July / 2009, 19:54:56 by bugsplatter »
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Offline hudson

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Re: Camera Screen Calibration?
« Reply #4 on: 13 / July / 2009, 15:40:01 »
Quote from: tsient on 10 / July / 2009, 17:40:35
Does anyone know if it's possible to do some sort of screen calibration on Canon DSLR's - via a secret service menu maybe?
I don't know on the 1000D, but I've found secret Menus in the 5D Mark II.  I don't know how to engage them other by forcibly calling the functions through the Magic Lantern firmware.  If you have a firmware dump for your camera you might be able to find something similar.
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Offline tsient

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Re: Camera Screen Calibration?
« Reply #5 on: 15 / July / 2009, 17:04:49 »
Thanks hudson. Have you checked those menus on the 5d to see what they do? I think the "CK" abbreviation might be for "CHECK", which would mean that those menus only perform self-checks instead of allowing you to adjust settings and calibrate things. Is that so?

Canon has released a firmware update for the 1000d a while ago, so i guess that means the fw dump is available. But i haven't any experience in hacking - how would one go about looking for secret menus in the firmware dump? Do you just open the dump with a hex editor and search for "factory menu" etc? It probably wouldn't be that simple :D

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emre

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