Question: How does the brightness level of the display on my Mac impact color correction and calibration issues? I’m not using an external monitor. I use a Huey monitor calibrator and typically have the brightness level on my display at its highest level, but now I’m concerned that what I see is not what my clients might see on their Web videos.

Answer: The Pantone Huey is an excellent tool to calibrate a monitor, but it is not recommended for use with the demands of non-linear editing software. The product is intended for use with Photoshop or print oriented graphics software.

The best you can do with your computer monitor is with something like the Spyder2Pro color calibration system. It has a hardware optical color reader and software that interacts with your display. One of the settings is for NTSC colors. It’s not the same as a true broadcast professional monitor but may (and I emphasize MAY) put you in the ball park.

My other suggestion for accurate color calibration would be to:

1. Learn how to connect a broadcast monitor to your Mac for viewing of standardized color correction settings and

2. Learn how to calibrate that external monitor.

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