A method for evaluating luminance non-uniformity of displays by use of a commercially available digital camera.

The luminance uniformity of liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) deteriorates with their prolonged use. In this paper, we present a method for evaluating the degree of luminance non-uniformity of LCDs with the use of a commercially available digital camera. In this study, seven monochrome LCDs, which were used during various operating times ranging from 5000 to 25,000 h, were evaluated with use of a camera. The maximum luminance deviation (MLD) was measured on the two-dimensional (2D) images obtained with the camera. In addition, an index of the luminance non-uniformity was calculated as the ratio of the area exhibiting luminance non-uniformity to the area of the entire LCD screen. We determined the area with the luminance non-uniformity by setting the allowable luminance deviation as the judgment criterion to evaluate the degree of luminance non-uniformity. The MLD values were less than 20% for all conditions, and they varied depending on the locations of the luminance measurement. The area ratios of the luminance non-uniformity based on 2D luminance distributions tended to increase with the duration of use of LCDs, and they indicated the degree of luminance non-uniformity of the LCDs regardless of the measurement locations. Our approach of using a commercially available digital camera showed its potential usefulness for providing more detailed and consistent evaluations of the degree of luminance non-uniformity of LCDs based on the 2D luminance distributions.