Monitor test images

[alidan]

Ok, long story short, I'm going to be going from a Samsung SyncMaster T240 tn to a va soon, I looked at the display in stores and as far as I can tell, its worst angle is better then straight on with my current monitor.

When I get the new one I will have them side by side, I would love to be able to compare them in a somewhat objective way, so i'm looking for refrence images, and hopefully something telling me what I should be seeing.

The display should be worlds better than what I have, and honestly speaking, i'm getting it partially for contrast, the other part because there is some burn in on the top of my monitor due to chrome, but mostly because its 4k and large so I get more screen space to work with, however knowing exactly where the monitor stands compared to what I have will just make it more obvious I made the right choice.

 

[Solandri]

This is the calibration target we use in photography (for cameras, scanners, prints). Kodak IT8.

https://tc3-production.s3.amazonaws.com/upload/574d0c1e3b2c360003000095/I22_Claire-Lehmann_Kodak-IT8_web_1233x1000.png

Unfortunately since it's copyrighted by Kodak, that was the highest resolution version I could find online. But it should give you an idea of what sort of thing you're looking for. Full grayscale range, color patches, and skin tones with a real photo so you can compare skin color gradients.

Since it's a monitor, I don't think you'll need the black/white resolution targets. But you may want to download some since they're free. (USAF 1951 and similar)

 

[alidan]

This is the calibration target we use in photography (for cameras, scanners, prints). Kodak IT8.

https://tc3-production.s3.amazonaws.com/upload/574d0c1e3b2c360003000095/I22_Claire-Lehmann_Kodak-IT8_web_1233x1000.png

Unfortunately since it's copyrighted by Kodak, that was the highest resolution version I could find online. But it should give you an idea of what sort of thing you're looking for. Full grayscale range, color patches, and skin tones with a real photo so you can compare skin color gradients.

Since it's a monitor, I don't think you'll need the black/white resolution targets. But you may want to download some since they're free. (USAF 1951 and similar)

That seems more like its for calibration, which I could honestly use help with at some point, but i'm thinking more images that break things when displayed if the display is doing anything it shouldn't.

Think the chroma 4:4:4 tests from rtings,
http://i.rtings.com/images/test-materials/2017/chroma-444.png

I saw a few that would display an image that if your monitor wasn't getting correct voltage would flicker the image, but there is also no helping it in that case, though beyond that chroma 4:4:4 test, i'm not sure if there is anything...

there is an image I know of but have no idea where it forces you to see how much color shift there really is in a display, there are also some ezio images that are very small fractions different that background colors, but because I have a tn, another tn, and I think a version of va for a tv in the living room, I have no idea if its a difference that's big enough to be perceivable by human eyes, or if every one of my displays is just that bad.

 

[Solandri]

Ah, you mean like this:
http://www.footootjes.nl/Various/Gamma_line_pattern_MIT.png
http://www.footootjes.nl/Various/Monitor_test_charts.html

You'll still need the IT8 image or the color gradients in the above link (something showing the full range of light to dark red, green, blue, and gray) to compare black and white point between the two monitors.

However, just because a monitor fails at these doesn't necessarily mean it's worse. You often have to tweak the settings to get the white and black points set right (so all the gray tiles are distinctly visible and different from their neighbors), and the gamma set correctly (should be 2.2 for PC monitors). It's possible to adjust a monitor roughly by eyeballing it with these charts. In fact Windows comes with its own tool for letting you eyeball the gamma and color balance.

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/calibrate-monitor-windows-10

But to really do it properly (if the monitor's gamma curve doesn't align with an ideal gamma curve), you'll need a colorimeter. A physical device which sits on top of the monitor and measures the light and color being displayed. That will generate a color profile, which is used to program the video card's LUT (literally Look-Up Table - maps each color that Windows wants to display to the color the video card needs to send to the monitor to actually display that color). This is also essential if you plan to use both monitors at once and want the colors to (mostly) match. Otherwise small differences in how each monitor responds to input signal makes them appear different no matter how much you manually tweak the settings.