Allow the Monitor to Stabilize

Setting the Color-Temperature

The scale and the built-in presets of the color temperature control of CRT monitors is, most often, not accurate at all.  To accurately set the monitor for daylight color temperature do the following:
   
At noon (11:00 am... 2:00pm, (not in the morning and not in the evening but at noon) on a sunny day, position the monitor in front of a window so that you can see both the monitor and the real-world outside daylight-scene. Turn off all interior lighting.
 
 In adobe Gamma utility:

• verify that Color Temperature/Hardware is set to D6500
• verify that Color Temperature/Adjusted is set to "Same as Hardware"

1. view the outside real-world daylight scene for a minute or two in order to adapt your vision to the true daylight and only after that:
2. take a quick look at the monitor white, if it appears to have a color-cast adjust the color temperature control of your monitor. Note that there is only a few seconds until your vision starts to adapt to the white-point of the monitor.

Repeat 1 and 2 until the monitor white appears to be pure white. This will give you very accurately the D6500 daylight color temperature.

Showing the large white square over pure black background (instead of showing full-screen white that was the earlier recommendation) has the effect of minimizing the error in the perception that is caused by the CRT case, they usually have a tint.

One easy way to show the pure white square is to use Photoshop.

1. Create 100x100 pixel RGB image.
2. Fill it with white.
3. Maximize the Image window
4. Press the d-key, it sets the background/foreground colors to black and white.
5. Select the Paint Bucket Tool.
6. Press the Shift-key and while keeping it pressed click the border are (not the image area) using the Paint Bucket Tool. This will set the border area of all image windows to the current background color (here black).
7. Press the Tab-key
8. Press the f-key twice.
9. If rulers are shown press Ctrl+r.
10. Use Crtl+ and Ctrl- keyboard combinations to size the square.

Choosing the gamma space

Choose the gamma space you are going to work with. View the appropriate gamma image below in your browser (or have your browser to set the image as the background image of your desktop by right-clicking the displayed image and then selecting the 'Set as Background' from the pop-up menu). 
 
1.0 1.1 1.2 1.25 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.72 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5

here is larger version of gamma 1.0 chart
 
How to choose the gamma space:

• Gamma space 1.0 is the ideal setting, provides error-free editing.
• Gamma space 1.25 provides, on average, the perceptually uniform coding. 
• Gamma space 1.4 will put enormous emphasis on the deep shadows, codes will be very dense there. This gives benefit is only when using image acquire devices that have cooled CCD.
• Gamma space 1.72 is the gamma space of uncalibrated Mac systems.
• Gamma space 2.2 is an average between Mac and PC.
• Gamma space 2.5 is the gamma space of uncalibrated PC systems.

Make a note of the name of the profile, cancel the Adobe Gamma, then using the Windows Explorer go to c:/windows/system/color and remove (cut and paste elsewhere) that profile.  This will discard the ready made profile, ready made profiles are not accurate. 
 
Repeat the above until Adobe Gamma says "Adobe Monitor Settings.icm" in the Profile box. 
 
Press Next.

Now you are about to calibrate the gamma. 
 
Set the "desired gamma" value in Adobe Gamma utility to the gamma space you have chosen. 
 
Check the view single gamma only check box if it was not selected already. 
 
Now use the gray slider to get a as good gamma match as possible all over the chart, please remember that the gamma swatches must be viewed at such distance that the dithering is fully averaged by the eye, this is about 1 to 2 meters away (3 to 6 feet). 

The monitor may have imbalance between the gammas of the red, green and blue guns the gamma chart will show this very easily. Next you will be correcting this gray balance. Un-check the "view single gamma only" check box. 
 
To start with, make a large changes to the red slider in order to familiarize how it affects to the gamma chart. In addition to an overall gamma change you will notice hue change in both the continuous tone portion and dithered portions of the swatches.
 
Then use the red slider to remove -or- to balance as much as is possible the reddish tint between the continuous tone portions and in the dithered portions of all the gray swatches.
 
Now use the blue slider to remove -or- balance as much as possible the bluish tint between the continuous tone portions and in the dithered portions of all the gray swatches.
 
Repeat both the red slider and blue slider adjustments. 

Now it is possible that the gamma match is not good anymore.

If you now determine that you need to change the overall gamma then increase/decrease the green slider a little.  This will offset the color balance so you need to repeat the red-slider, blue-slider then again red-slider and again blue-slider adjustment as described above. 
 
Adjust & evaluate until accurate. It is somewhat tedious but well worth of the effort. 
 
Press Next. 
 

• Gamma: the gamma value that you have chosen to be
  your gamma space.
• White-point: 6500K
• Phosphors: Trinitron