Using Wide Gamut (Dell u2711) With Lightroom

Question

I have just completed an upgrade of my computer system to include 2 Dell U2711 27" monitors.  I am using LR 3.5.  My system is running with Windows 7 64 bit and a ATI Firepro graphics card running the displays. 
Before purchasing these, and listening to the chatter on various forums I was led to belive that I was going to get garish coloration on all applications except Adobe LR and CS5.  This does not seem to be the case.  LR and CS5 are fine and the other applications IE and Windows Office seem to be OK as well.
These displays are calibrated at the factory.
Does anyone have any experience with these and can share any "gotchas" with me.
Henry

Answer 1

Well I am glad that I am taking my time on this calibration process.  I thought I had it understood correctly.  I am making my dialog with Dell a part of this message so you can see the exchange I had with their 2nd level of support and I am also a document from Dell engineering.  Please take a look at these and I will call Dell again if necessary.
Sorry For The Long Post
Otrman
FROM MY EXCHANGE WITH DELL:
It would be excellent if I could use a calibrated “custom” present on the monitor for LR and CS5 and simply select one of the presets (sRGB or Adobe RGB) when I am not using LR and CS5.   I am not running with any monitor profile and a generic PNP driver now and I am getting much better results than I expected.  I would just un-select the profile when I did not want to use the calibrated “custom” preset. 
Based on the data engineering provided me in  the document I sent that is correct( Yes).
From: Henry Morse [email protected]
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 4:30 PM
To: Glickman, David
Subject: RE: PremierColor FAQ_SVC.doc Case 844545167
David, Please just say yes or no to this:
Are you telling me that ONLY the “custom” preset will be altered and that the other presets will remain at the “factory” settings. 
Yes or No, believe me it is very important and will increase sales of this monitor if this statement gets passed along as true.  Is this worth a  conversation between you and engineering to verify?  It would be to me and the rest of us photographers.  Sorry, but this statement in the documentation is not the way I used to word my writings as an electrical engineer back in the day.
Henry
From: [email protected] [email protected]
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 4:47 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: PremierColor FAQ_SVC.doc Case 844545167
Based on the data engineering provided me in  the document I sent that is correct.
David
From: Henry Morse [email protected]
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 3:22 PM
To: Glickman, David
Subject: RE: PremierColor FAQ_SVC.doc Case 844545167
Importance: High
David,
I still need clarification here.
“My personal suggestion is that since you are doing custom photo/video work that these LCD are being used for, I would calibrate them for your business purposes and  leave as such. With the enhanced video settings normal internet browsing and  such will have better clarity.”
Are you telling me that ONLY the “custom” preset will be altered and that the other presets will remain at the “factory” settings.  This is an important question for all of us who want to use this monitor for photographic work.  If we photographers can have one of the presets, namely, “custom” calibrated, and the others left as shipped then we can choose the customer preset for our work and switch back to sRGB or Adobe RGB for routine office and billing functions.   If this is true, and the photography world learns of this, Dell will sell a lot of U2711s, especially considering that the U2711 is an excellent price performer. an
I have been doing research on this for myself and to share with a number of user forums on photography.  I want to get right for my own use and for sharing with the photography community.
Henry
From: [email protected] [email protected]
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 8:26 AM
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: RE: PremierColor FAQ_SVC.doc Case 844545167
Henry,
Per the documents  as with any calibration you must be careful and  aware of settings you change. Use the setting CUSTOM COLOR if you want to calibrate using your own equipment as per document.
In regards to your question on your video card as the manufacture /forums recommends you should disable any color managements since you are using your own color/video calibration tools.
My personal suggestion is that since you are doing custom photo/video work that these LCD are being used for, I would calibrate them for your business purposes and  leave as such. With the enhanced video settings normal internet browsing and  such will have better clarity.
Have a good  day.
David
From: Henry Morse [email protected]
Sent: Friday, October 28, 2011 6:08 PM
To: Glickman, David
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: RE: PremierColor FAQ_SVC.doc Case 844545167
Good Evening David,
Thank you for taking the time to discuss color management for my recently acquired U2711 monitors.
According to what we discussed when I use calibration hardware and software you mentioned that I should use only the “custom” setting and that once I calibrated the monitor “all”  factory setting would be overwritten and cannot be restored.  When I read the word document you sent me I believe I am seeing something that needs clarification:
Question 7 from the word document:
7.         Is it possible to revert to factory pre-tuned settings after I color calibrated my unit with my equipment?
The customer should not re-calibrate and save your result in sRGB and AdobeRGB preset modes.  Once overwritten, it is not possible to revert back to factory pre-tuned setting.  The customer is advised to use the "Custom Color" preset mode to do their own calibrations.
Does this mean that only the “custom” preset is altered from the factory setting to store the results of my calibration?   Does this mean that if I use the “custom” preset only for calibration that sRGB and AdobeRGP will not be changed from the factory setting?  Does this mean that each of the U2711 presets have its own LUT table?  Can you please clarify?
If this turns out  to be the case I can use the sRGB preset, with no profile as it is now, for routine processing with non-color aware applications, and then select the newly calibrated “custom” preset when doing photo processing.  Is this the case?  After reading the attachment I believe I have to be very careful not to negatively affect my monitors as they cannot be reverted to factory settings. 
I have done some additional research that includes the relationship between monitors and some high end graphics cards such as the ATI Firepro V5800 card I am using.  This research indicates that I should disable any efforts by the graphics card to do color management lest I interfere with the efforts to calibrate the monitors.
I am probably being a bit picky but having more than 50 years in the technical end of computers I have been burned more than once having two elements of a computing system fight each other.
Again, thank you for your help on this.
Henry
From: [email protected] [email protected]
Sent: Friday, October 28, 2011 9:20 AM
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: PremierColor FAQ_SVC.doc
Good  Morning  Henry,
Just to follow up on our phone conversation.  I have attached a word document regarding some of the question on the U2711 settings and  calibration. I also have a couple of hyperlinks one to the Dell support on the  monitor.  Based on our conversation I believe I have answered your questions regarding the calibration of the LCD.  Please let me  know later or over the weekend if you still have questions and I will follow up with you on Monday if needed.
Dell manual link:
http://www.support.dell.com/support/edocs/MONITORS/U2711b/en/index.htm
I have included a couple of non-Dell support links for you to do some testing
http://www.gballard.net/psd/go_live_page_profile/embeddedJPEGprofiles.html#
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/
http://yfrog.com/3u100percentrampp
Have a great weekend
David Glickman
Advanced Technical Analyst| Executive Escalations | MCP,MCDST, MCITP,MCSE
Dell | Client Resolution Expert Center, Global Services
phone [phone];  800 289 3355, ext. 5136078
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FROM THE ENGINEERING DOCUMENT: (SEE QUESTION 7)
Service & Support:
1.         Can I request Dell to re-calibrate my monitor during the warranty period?
Calibration is done for only new monitors shipped from factory.
Each unit is factory-calibrated as part of the production process.
Dell will not be able to re-calibrate the monitor during warranty
Period as calibration is done only for new units.
2.         Can I request Dell to provide another Color Calibration Factory Report in the event of the loss of or damage to the report?
Each Color Calibration Factory Report is unique to each Dell monitor and cannot be reprinted.
We would recommend that the customer takes care to retain the Color Calibration Factory Report if required.
3.         Is there a specification for color accuracy? If so, how do I check if my monitor meets the specification?
Dell calibrates the U2410/U2711 according to the DeltaE(1931) standard using equipment that can accurately measure high color gamut panels.
4.         Will Dell guarantee all replacement units are also color calibrated?
The color calibration is only done for new units shipped from factory; thus, replacement units will not be color-calibrated.
5.         In the event of warranty exchange, will the replacement unit come with a similar Color Calibration report?
Dell does not do the color calibration on the replacement units, as such, there will not be a Color Calibration Factory Report or similar attached to replacement units.
In cases where a brand new unit from factory needs to be shipped as a replacement unit, a Color Calibrated Factory Report will be shipped with it.
6.         Why does Dell only provide the Color Calibration Factory Report for new factory units of U2410/U2711?
The color calibration is done at factory to ensure color is accurate for each unit of U2410/U2711 when it reaches the customer.
7.         Is it possible to revert to factory pre-tuned settings after I color calibrated my unit with my equipment?
The customer should not re-calibrate and save your result in sRGB and AdobeRGB preset modes.  Once overwritten, it is not possible to revert back to factory pre-tuned setting.  The customer is advised to use the "Custom Color" preset mode to do their own calibrations.
8.         How do I use this Color Calibration Factory Report?
The Color Calibration Factory Report is provided for customer’s reference that Dell does color-calibration on the U2410/U2711 to ensure color accuracy and consistency for each unit of U2410/U2711 shipped.
9.         My own measurements of sRGB, gamma or AdobeRGB are not meeting the values stated in the report. Why is this so and can I get an exchange?
One of the reasons could be the different type of color calibration equipment used. There are many types of color calibration equipment in the market.
Dell ensures Color Accuracy based on the Dell approved Color-Calibration equipment at Dell’s factory.