Like other monitors from Samsung, the SyncMaster 2053BW offers the MagicBright feature that allows you to change the levels of brightness and contrast quickly (with one button) by choosing one of preset modes. Moreover, the same button enables the dynamic contrast mode in which the monitor is automatically adjusting the backlight brightness depending on the onscreen picture. This may be good for watching movies although not all people appreciate this feature.

Each mode is adequately bright. The Text mode is indeed appropriate for working with text under mild evening lighting. The Internet mode is for text-based applications under more intensive ambient lighting. The remaining three modes are going to be good for games and movies.

The gamma curves are neat in the Text and Internet modes. There are no problems with the reproduction of darks or lights.

The curves are good in the Sport mode, too. “Bright” modes have a high level of contrast usually, but I don’t see this problem here. Lights are reproduced well.

Alas, the contrast setting is too high in the Movie mode. The red and green curves reach saturation in the top right of the diagram as the result. It means that some of light halftones are distorted. The distortion is very slight, though. It is impossible to notice it in movies.

It’s the same thing in the Game mode: the level of contrast is somewhat too high for two colors, red and green, but you can hardly notice this in practical application unless you use the Game mode for other purposes, for example for viewing photos instead of playing games.