Why do colorbar limits not match the values specified by the CAXIS function in MATLAB 7.0 (R14) when using the CONTOUR or CONTOURF function?

Question

MathWorks Support Team 2009-6-27

When I execute the following commands, the color bar limits do not match those of my contour plot:

contourf(peaks)   % contour(peaks)
caxis([-2 2])
colorbar

I expected the color bar limits to range from -2 to 2, however, the limits range from -6 to 8.

Answer 1

This bug has been fixed in Release 14 Service Pack 3 (R14SP3). For previous product releases, read below for any possible workarounds:

A bug in MATLAB 7.0 (R14) causes color axis limits on a graph created using the CONTOUR or CONTOURF functions to be set incorrectly.

To work around this issue, use the CONTOUR/CONTOURF function with the 'v6' switch. For example,

contourf('v6',peaks)      % contour('v6',peaks)
caxis([-2 2])
colorbar