Cocoa Finder and Gamma 2.2
Posted October 26th, 2008 @ 10:27am by Erik J. Barzeski
Based on this article, which talks about the Cocoa Finder in Snow Leopard and a bit more, I've re-set my monitor to a gamma of 2.2.
I've resisted this change for quite awhile because, well, all it seems to do is make everything darker and a bit more contrasty. The dynamic range of my screen seems to be smaller, as if someone "upped the black point." Blech.
Apple also said that it has changed the default gamma display setting to help both consumers and professionals. The Cupertino-based company made adjusted the default settings to be closer to those used by Windows PCs and televisions. According to the latest Snow Leopard release notes, the default gamma setting has been changed from 1.8 to 2.2 - which is recommended by many professionals - and that applications that override the deftault and assume a gamma 1.8 setting may have different onscreen and printed output than they did in previous releases of Mac OS X. Although the 1.8 setting has been used as the default by Apple since its earliest monitors and laser printers, Apple already actually recommends on its website to re-calibrate monitors to the 2.2 setting for photographic work.
Those in the know: any changes I need to make in Aperture, Photoshop, or elsewhere? I changed the gamma by re-doing my display calibration in the Displays system preferences.
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Posted 26 Oct 2008 at 2:00pm #
You know, I wish I understood this stuff. I have a friend who swears by the calibration feature in OS X, but I can't tell the difference really. I am discriminating aurally, but apparently not visually.
Posted 26 Oct 2008 at 6:09pm #
I saw the same article and thought about changing it myself. The problem with doing it before OSX does (I'd guess) is that all the system images, etc. were set up to look good in gamma 1.8...