Gamma Test

Different video conbinations display colors differently. Aside from the problem that humans have different perception of colors, hardware idiosyncracies make color rendering difficult. One specific problem is that the illumination curve of most devices is non-linear, that is if an input of 1 volt produces an intensity of 1, input of 0.5 volt produces an intensity not of 0.5, but of 0.2 or lower.

What does this mean? It means that dark colors appear darker than they should. Instead of dim shadow beneath a tree, the shadow could appear as pitch black.

To correct for this problem, the input voltages are mapped according to the monitor's response curve using whats called a gamma correction. The bitmap below allows you to determine the gamma value of your monitor; unfortunately gamma correction needs to be performed by your operating system and many do not.

GAMMA TEST
The gamma value of your monitor is where the bars appear with the same intensity. Try squinting a bit to blur the patterns. WWW browsers often remap colors, if the above image is not greyscale, then you'll need to download it.

Gosh perception is a weird thing!