Hardware Monitor Calibration questions

[maflynn]

Hey guys, I recently purchased an apple 24" ACD and I've been kicking around the idea that I'll be well suited to purchasing a calibration device to set that and my MBP?

Thoughts and/or opinions on this. I'm an amateur photographer and in the past I've really made a huge issue of calibrating my monitors. The difference now is that I see a clear difference between the two montiors (mbp + ACD).

I've narrowed my selection to the spyder 3 pro (or elite) and the i1 display 2. Any thoughts or opinions on these two, or perhaps recommending a different model (or not even recommending any model).

As an addendum, I don't do too much print work, I have a good printer and I'll print some images, but most of my stuff is online. I'm not sure if this factor makes any difference.

 

[ComputersaysNo]

I have the spider pro. The difference with the Elite (i have been told, don't know for sure) is only software i thought.

Maybe you already know this, but just as extra info:

- Don't mess things up by using your monitor-profile in Photoshop or so, ONLY on your graphicscard-settings, AND NOWHERE ELSE. (a lot of people go wrong on this)

- PROOF when printing only uses the colorprofile that comes with paper. (yellow paper will show weird whites as the computer thinks you are using white paper. You don't have white ink in there do you? )

- Use the same colorworkspace in your photo-edditingprogram as the settings of your camera (or any other input).

- for the best colorquality (gamut), use Argb in camera, and Argb as your colorworkspace in photoshop (or any other editprogram). DON'T forget to convert to Srgb IEC 611966.2.1 when saving for web.

- If you work mostly on web, don't forget to include the Srgb IEC 61966.2.1 profile in the photo's (convert to profile). Webbrowsers that don't support colorprofiles still show the best quality, rather than non-profiled photo's. Weird, but that's my experience. Better put that in, than leaving it out. (there's no reason to use Argb on webphoto's as 95% of the people have monitors that can't show that Gamut)

- Some computers mess up the monitor-colorprofile when playing a game. When you start photoshop afterwards, colors might be off... Restarting the computer will fix this.

...And when you start with colorprofiling, a lot of weird unexplanable things will happen to your colors. Get used to it No other monitor will look the same, and (homemade) prints can be different than the orginal on screen, program updates can mess up the use of profiles too and so on...

My method:

Camera = Argb
Workspace Photoshop = Argb
Convert to profile 611966.2.1 for web, or any other outputprofile for that particular output.

 

[davegregory]

I have the spyder 3 pro. I have no complaints about it. It was quick and easy to setup. Calibrated both my MBP and 24" ACD, and now the 27" iMac with 24" ACD. No two monitors are the same, so even calibrated and side by side you won't see the same colour on both screens, just a heads up. But it's definitely worth doing and considering the money spent on a ACD it's worth it to have it calibrated. It's not going to make a whole lot of difference if they're only going online, just you'll have the peace of mind that it's been calibrated

 

[maflynn]

Thanks, the differences between the two are much wider then when I had my old dell monitor.

 

[Ruahrc]

From what I hear, Spyder units have trouble with LED display sources. From what I also hear, the i1 display2 also has the same issue. X-rite claims that the i1D2 works okay with LED but some 3rd party testers say otherwise. If you go read about calibrating TV sets they talk a lot about it there.

After tweaking the white balance on my 13" MBP (LED), it matches extremely close to my CCFL external monitor.

Honestly I'm not too sure how much "LED" effect there really is and the only real solution being to buy a higher end profiler but unfortunately that moves the cost up by a factor of probably 2 or 3.

Ruahrc

P.S. If you shoot in RAW, there really is no color space so it does not matter what camera setting you use. And I would recommend to use ProPhotoRGB instead of AdobeRGB as the working profile, particularly if you are working in RAW where you have 12 or 14 bits to cover the much expanded gamut.

 

[toxic]

- you'll need to double-check compatibility with LEDs.
- consider buying the non-pro versions.

since you don't print, calibration isn't really a pressing need for you...it'll help you get everything right, but once it's up on the internet, just about everyone will be looking at it on uncalibrated displays.

 

[gatepc]

I use the Spyder 3 pro and it works wonderfully. The software could be a little nicer but its good enough. I use it to calibrate the 24 " LED ACD and my 15" high res MBP display works flawlessly.

And the other user is correct only difference between the Pro and Elite is the software. The hardware on both models is the same.