Monitor Calibration

"Jeff" <jtnospam5333.TakeThisOut@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:Qf2dnRaD95ISahjYnZ2dnUVZ_sapnZ2d@comcast.com...
> Does anyone use the Spider2PRO monitor calibration suite? Thoughts?
> Other calibration systems? I have an LCD monitor and I'm ready to plunge
> head-on into digital and know I'll need to calibrate my monitor beyond
> what Adobe CS2 provides for.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>

I reviewed the entry-level Express model earlier in the year:

http://dpnow.com/2597.html

I have also used the Spyder2Pro; it basically helps you set the monitor up
more precisely prior to the profiling procedure. It's probably not worth the
extra over a Spyder2 Express if your monitor doesn't have a good selection
of adjustments, though.

My feeling is that the Spyder2 colorimiter is a touch warm, though this may
be to your preference. I, personally, use a GretagMacbeth EyeOne
Spectrophotometer for calibrating the equipment here at DPNow. It's a lot
more expensive than a Spyder2 and does give a more neutral result.

If your monitor can adjust RGB, brightness, contrast and gamma, I'd say it's
worth considering an EyeOne Display, which is not too far off the price of a
Spyder2Pro.

Ian

Digital Photography Now
The online magazine and community for anyone interested in taking digital
pictures!
http://dpnow.com
DPNow forum and users photo gallery: http://forum.dpnow.com
Win an Olympys E-330 Live View DSLR during December:
http://dpnow.com/3241.html
 >> Stay informed about: Monitor Calibration 

it works nicely. Especially if you can adjust RGB separately in your
monitor.
/Lars

"Jeff" <jtnospam5333.DeleteThis@comcast.net> skrev i meddelandet
news:Qf2dnRaD95ISahjYnZ2dnUVZ_sapnZ2d@comcast.com...
> Does anyone use the Spider2PRO monitor calibration suite? Thoughts?
> Other calibration systems? I have an LCD monitor and I'm ready to plunge
> head-on into digital and know I'll need to calibrate my monitor beyond
> what Adobe CS2 provides for.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Monitor Calibration 

Jeff wrote:
> Does anyone use the Spider2PRO monitor calibration suite? Thoughts? Other
> calibration systems? I have an LCD monitor and I'm ready to plunge head-on
> into digital and know I'll need to calibrate my monitor beyond what Adobe
> CS2 provides for.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>

About a year ago, I used to use Spider and now use Gretamacbeth2 and
check adjustment on a monthly schedule. If you intend to use the
"Advanced" mode to setup your monitor (which I suggest you do) then
Gretamacbeth2 has about twice as many color temperature settings to use
than Spider2 and will also adjust the monitor to room light as part of
the setup process. When setting up, remember to turn off Adobe gamma.
 >> Stay informed about: Monitor Calibration 

Thanks for the input everyone, very useful. I'm leaning towards the
Spyder2Pro, but not before I look closely at the GretagMacbeth EyeOne
Display. A site called Calibration-Direct has the Spyder2Pro on sale for
$229 plus there's a $60 rebate from the manufacturer. May be hard to pass
up.

Nick C., thanks for the tip about Adobe Gamma - I probably wouldn't have
known to do that.

Ian, nice site - I think I'll be a frequent visitor!

Have a great holiday all!

Jeff


"Jeff" <jtnospam5333 RemoveThis @comcast.net> wrote in message
news:Qf2dnRaD95ISahjYnZ2dnUVZ_sapnZ2d@comcast.com...
> Does anyone use the Spider2PRO monitor calibration suite? Thoughts?
> Other calibration systems? I have an LCD monitor and I'm ready to plunge
> head-on into digital and know I'll need to calibrate my monitor beyond
> what Adobe CS2 provides for.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Monitor Calibration 

"nick c" <nick.DeleteThis@planetmars.com> wrote in message
news:GmChh.69293$si3.31734@tornado.socal.rr.com...
> Jeff wrote:
>> Does anyone use the Spider2PRO monitor calibration suite? Thoughts?
>> Other calibration systems? I have an LCD monitor and I'm ready to plunge
>> head-on into digital and know I'll need to calibrate my monitor beyond
>> what Adobe CS2 provides for.
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>>
>
> About a year ago, I used to use Spider and now use Gretamacbeth2 and check
> adjustment on a monthly schedule. If you intend to use the "Advanced" mode
> to setup your monitor (which I suggest you do) then Gretamacbeth2 has
> about twice as many color temperature settings to use than Spider2 and
> will also adjust the monitor to room light as part of the setup process.
> When setting up, remember to turn off Adobe gamma.
>
>

GretagMacbeth Eye One Photo (Using iMatch software) can do an ambient light
test as part of the calibration process, but it's only to inform you if the
room lighting is optimal - it doesn't influence the profile. The Pantone
huey (review: http://dpnow.com/2485.html), which was developed in
conjunction with GretagMacbeth, does have a dynamic brightness control
influenced by ambient brightness.

Good point about disabling Adobe Gamma - remove the Adobe Gamma loader from
the Startup folder (All Programs > Startup - in Windows XP at least)

Ian

Digital Photography Now
The online magazine and community for anyone interested in taking digital
pictures!
http://dpnow.com
DPNow forum and users photo gallery: http://forum.dpnow.com
Win an Olympus E-330 Live View DSLR during December:
http://dpnow.com/3241.html
 >> Stay informed about: Monitor Calibration 

"tomm42" <tmonego DeleteThis @wildblue.net> wrote in message
news:1166448561.195832.61820@80g2000cwy.googlegroups.com...
>
>
> On Dec 17, 9:06 pm, "Jeff" <jtnospam5... DeleteThis @comcast.net> wrote:
>> Does anyone use the Spider2PRO monitor calibration suite? Thoughts?
>> Other
>> calibration systems? I have an LCD monitor and I'm ready to plunge
>> head-on
>> into digital and know I'll need to calibrate my monitor beyond what Adobe
>> CS2 provides for.
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>
> The Spider is a nice unit, would I think the Gretag is better,
> probably. But for all intents and purposes the Spider works well. I had
> one that was 2 years old, it stopped working, ColorVision replaced it,
> can't think of better service. Now that Pontone owns them, don't know
> if you can expect the same. With the calibrated monitors prints from
> outside processors agree with what you have on the screen.
>
> Tom
>

XRite has taken over GretagMacbeth. The Spyder hardware is, AFAIK, a
Datacolor product. Pantone used to be in bed with Datacolor, but Pantone
switched allegiance to GretagMacbeth last year, producing the 'huey' (see
review: http://dpnow.com/2485.html) in the process. ColorVision is a
Datacolor company.

Ian

Digital Photography Now
The online magazine and community for anyone interested in taking digital
pictures!
http://dpnow.com
DPNow forum and users photo gallery: http://forum.dpnow.com
Win an Olympus E-330 Live View DSLR during December:
http://dpnow.com/3241.html
 >> Stay informed about: Monitor Calibration 

And lo, Digital Photography Now <infoplsremove.DeleteThis@this-dpnow.com>
emerged from the ether and spake thus:
>
> "tomm42" <tmonego.DeleteThis@wildblue.net> wrote in message
> news:1166448561.195832.61820@80g2000cwy.googlegroups.com...
>>
>>
>> On Dec 17, 9:06 pm, "Jeff" <jtnospam5....DeleteThis@comcast.net> wrote:
>>> Does anyone use the Spider2PRO monitor calibration suite? Thoughts?
>>> Other
>>> calibration systems? I have an LCD monitor and I'm ready to plunge
>>> head-on
>>> into digital and know I'll need to calibrate my monitor beyond what Adobe
>>> CS2 provides for.
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>> The Spider is a nice unit, would I think the Gretag is better,
>> probably. But for all intents and purposes the Spider works well. I had
>> one that was 2 years old, it stopped working, ColorVision replaced it,
>> can't think of better service. Now that Pontone owns them, don't know
>> if you can expect the same. With the calibrated monitors prints from
>> outside processors agree with what you have on the screen.
>>
>> Tom
>>
>
> XRite has taken over GretagMacbeth. The Spyder hardware is, AFAIK, a
> Datacolor product. Pantone used to be in bed with Datacolor, but Pantone
> switched allegiance to GretagMacbeth last year, producing the 'huey' (see
> review: http://dpnow.com/2485.html) in the process. ColorVision is a
> Datacolor company.

XRite has also taken over Monaco Systems, although you can still call
Monaco for support and their phone tree does pick up and greet you
"Thank you for calling Monaco Systems." I use the Monaco EZColor
Optix, now available as XRite EZColor Optix to calibrate monitor,
printer, and scanner, and have had very good results with it.

GretagMacbeth was at one time the leader in calibration systems, and I
wouldn't be surprised if they are still (under the XRite name) a very
solid brand, but I found the Monaco solution to be more affordable and
probably just as good as you'd need for a home system.

I'm not sure what's going to develop with XRite at the helm. Hopefully
we can still look forward to affordable mid-range calibration systems
being available.

>
> Ian
>
> Digital Photography Now
> The online magazine and community for anyone interested in taking digital
> pictures!
> http://dpnow.com
> DPNow forum and users photo gallery: http://forum.dpnow.com
> Win an Olympus E-330 Live View DSLR during December:
> http://dpnow.com/3241.html

--
Aaron
http://www.fisheyegallery.com
http://www.singleservingphoto.com
 >> Stay informed about: Monitor Calibration 

On Sun, 17 Dec 2006 21:06:13 -0500, Jeff wrote:

> Does anyone use the Spider2PRO monitor calibration suite? Thoughts? Other
> calibration systems? I have an LCD monitor and I'm ready to plunge head-on
> into digital and know I'll need to calibrate my monitor beyond what Adobe
> CS2 provides for.
>
> Thanks in advance.

Having visited a couple of sites like this one:

http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html

I have to question the value of anything much beyond that level. Have you
tried this?
 >> Stay informed about: Monitor Calibration 

"Jeff" <jtnospam5333 RemoveThis @comcast.net> wrote in message
news:yuWdnZM0Xpz_ehrYnZ2dnUVZ_t-mnZ2d@comcast.com...
> Thanks for the input everyone, very useful. I'm leaning towards the
> Spyder2Pro, but not before I look closely at the GretagMacbeth EyeOne
> Display. A site called Calibration-Direct has the Spyder2Pro on sale for
> $229 plus there's a $60 rebate from the manufacturer. May be hard to pass
> up.

Is there anything under $100 that works?
The pantone heuy is cheap at around $70, but the user reviews at amazon
shows a mixed bag.
Is there something that works more consistently even if a bit more costly?
This site has a review of these devices but nothing under $100, and may not
be very update:
http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/monitor_calibration_tools.htm

Alternately, I have printed IT8 targets (came with coreldraw, I think). If I
download a digital version to display on my screen and hand adjust them to
match, would that be a good cheap solution?
 >> Stay informed about: Monitor Calibration