Hi there, folks! Long story short: few days ago (with a lot of help from Pictus) I've bought a new monitor, an Eizo. It's not a hi-end monitor, but it's more professional than the cheap one I used to have.

http://www.amazon.com/Eizo-Nanao-Tech-A … B00PCLPX18

The problem is that everything seems to be darker. I'm not sure if it's the monitor's fault, or this is how the things really look like and so I wasn't able to see them this way before due to my cheap monitor.

I know that there's no way for you guys to tell me if it's my monitor's fault or not, but I would like to know if, on your professional monitors, things look darker than on your regular tablets/phones (and maybe laptops)..?

Also, I mention that I calibrated my current Eizo with Datacolor Spyder 4 Professional so I'm pretty sure that my settings are alright (gama, bightness, contrast, temperature).

Thanks a lot!

Yes, Pro grade and calibrated monitors can often look darker than your normal grade of off-the-shelf monitors.  Also do consider toning down the ambient lighting around your retouching position...if there is a window with sunshine in the room or tungsten lights close-by...they can throw off your perceptions and can contaminate some of the shadowy areas of your more professional monitor.

It is my opinion that most of the Staples, Best Buy, Amazon, Dell type of consumer grade monitors are:

1. Way too Brite: Consumer grade monitors seem to be Cranked Up way too high in brightness to start with... because the manufacturers dont want their monitors to look washed out in the bright sunny rooms that some of the average public uses them in. 

2. Off Color: Most consumer monitors are way too blue and cold in color temperature...they certainly do make the windows desktop look pizzazy...but its not great for photographers and retouchers...it throws your colors off. 

3. Too Contrasty and Gamma too high: Most manufacturers of consumer grade monitors want as much contrast and pop in their monitors - so the average movie watching, game playing consumer gets a real eye full. 

So yes, I think my own pro-grade monitor looks darker, less contrasty, warmer, and fuller toned than the other desktop monitors I have on my other windows computers.  I do my delicate retouching work in a subdued lighting room so I can get the full visual impact from my pro monitor.

Did you choose your own white point on Spyder 4? Which IMO you should.
If so, what did you choose?

...

Your old monitor can not be used as reference, print some target with high quality paper glossy/Semi-gloss + inkjet 8/12 color, look for a place that print Fine Art.
This one is good http://outbackprint.outbackphoto.com/pr … essay.html
You also need good light to illuminate the print...
Good info at https://www.modelmayhem.com/po.php?thre … st17444951

Your monitor got high contrast and good blacks if you calibrate like TFT central did

The image will look beautiful with a very high contrast of 1066:1, it is good to everything else soft-proofing...
The prints do not have all this contrast, so use the Picture Mode User2 and create a second monitor profile with less contrast, lets say something like 350:1 (always use profile V2 + matrix and not V4 and/or LUT)
Look http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutor … dark.shtml
Many display manufacturers specify very high contrast ratios in their marketing
materials with the goal of enticing sales. You would assume that if one brand has
an 800:1 contrast ratio, the competitor’s display at 1000:1 must be that much better.
ot so!If you measure the contrast ratio of a glossy photo print, it may at best have
a contrast ratio of 350:1. Matt papers would have significantly lower contrast ratios.
Here we find yet another significant disconnect between the print and the display.
Some displays provide the ability to control the black level as well as white luminance
rather than driving the unit at maximum contrast ratio. Consequently, Photoshop’s Customize
Proof Setup has two check box options called Simulate Paper Color/Black Ink.
Many users ignore these settings because they make the images on-screen appear muted
and dull, since part of the Simulate functionality is to adjust for the contrast ratio
of the soft proof to match the print. Calibrating the display to account for the contrast
ratio of the print, rather than fully adjusting the soft proof using the paper profiles
greatly reduces the visual differences seen when the simulation is invoked.

Thank you very much for your responses! No community like ModelMayhem community.

As Pictus suggested, I've tweked the settings on the monitor's User 2 profile, decreasing the contrast until I've reached the 360:1 ratio and now this seems to be more comfortable for me. I guess that those dark tones I was talking about were caused by the very strong contrast ratio.

After these changes I've used the colorimeter to check the calibration and everything is ok.

Thank you once again man for your input!