Run a test
One session = one (body, lens, display) triple, about 15 minutes once set up. Work through the steps in order. Everything here is from the capture protocol.
Pick your gear
Shoot RAW (add camera-JPEG too if you want the body's processing look — it's a separate, first-class measurement class). Sturdy tripod, 2s timer or remote, never a finger-press.
Display prep (do once, don't touch again)
- True Tone OFF, Night Shift OFF, auto-brightness OFF (macOS, iOS, iPadOS alike). Measured, not theoretical: True Tone shifted a display white ~6% redder at the sensor and drifts with ambient light — it silently breaks comparability.
- Brightness to a fixed notch, roughly 2/3. Note the notch. Never change it mid-session.
- Show each frame at exactly 1:1 native pixels, fullscreen, no UI. The viewer in step 4 handles this.
- Let the panel warm up ~15 min before the first frame (backlight drift).
Camera setup
- RAW (+JPEG). Base ISO. White balance LOCKED to any fixed preset (note which). Never auto-WB. Manual exposure. IBIS/OIS OFF (tripod).
- Focus by magnified live view on a corner fiducial, then switch to MF and don't touch.
- Square to the screen (bubble level), centered, all four corner fiducials well inside the frame with ~5% margin. Closer = more pixels per stimulus pixel = more confidence.
- On the tone frame, expose so the 255 white block sits just under clipping (blinkies barely off). Reuse that exposure for every colour frame in the session.
- Keep shutter ≥ 1/30s (OLED/PWM). On a tripod in the dark that's natural.
Open the target on the display device
On the Apple display device itself (not this computer, unless this is the display), open the viewer and follow its 1:1 instructions. Scan the code:
or open
Shot list
Per lens. Same tripod position; re-frame as needed if you swap lenses. Tick as you go.
Then a darkness check: one exposure with the display showing pure black. Anything visible is light leak — fix the room. When you're done, upload the session →