Colour Calibration

[simonquek]

Hi all,

I have been thinking of getting my monitor and prints calibrated. However, the cost of calibration kits are quite steep and I cannot justify spending that sort of money as I do not earn from taking/printing photographs.

I am wondering anyone staying in the east (preferably) Pasir Ris/Tampines is interested in pooling money to purchase a calibration kit. I figured that this might work as calibration only needs to be done periodically.

Do let me know if anyone is interested in the idea. I have been looking at calibration kits by Gretag Macbeth which range from S$400 to S$2000.

 

[Hobbes234]

You only need to calibrate once as the colours DON'T actually change very much.

If you are using a laptop, i dun mind meeting you somewhere in tampines to calibrate for you.

 

[WuffRuff]

Are those colour calibration kits just software, or is there a hardware component?

 

[ZeroDivine]

Are those colour calibration kits just software, or is there a hardware component?

those by Spyder, Gretag etc do come with hardware component.

 

[ST1100]

You only need to calibrate once as the colours actually change very much.

If you are using a laptop, i dun mind meeting you somewhere in tampines to calibrate for you.

You only need to calibrate your screen once, but if you want to calibrate the printer, you need to create a profile for each new paper type. The screen-only calibration units are available from $300-$500, but if you want a set with printer profiling capabilities (ie spectrometer) it will be at least $1k.

 

[ST1100]

Hi all,

I have been thinking of getting my monitor and prints calibrated. However, the cost of calibration kits are quite steep and I cannot justify spending that sort of money as I do not earn from taking/printing photographs.

I am wondering anyone staying in the east (preferably) Pasir Ris/Tampines is interested in pooling money to purchase a calibration kit. I figured that this might work as calibration only needs to be done periodically.

Do let me know if anyone is interested in the idea. I have been looking at calibration kits by Gretag Macbeth which range from S$400 to S$2000.

Like Hobbes234 suggested, you only need to calibrate your screen once. You probably do not need to calibrate your printer unless you are into exotic expensive papers and demand great control over the printout. (If you do, the price of the profiler will be nothing compared to the high end printer/screen you need to invest in.)

 

[simonquek]

hi everyone,

thanks for your responses & to hobbes234 for your kind offer, unfortunately i use a desktop....

i gather from your replies that i probably need to calibrate screen as i am not a professional and i do not use exotic papers.... so it is likely that canned profiles from printer manufacturers will work well for me once my monitor is calibrated.... is that your experience?

i am looking at iOne Display 2 by Xrite/Gretag which is S$400.... any comments....? will monitor calibration + canned printer profile be good enough....?

thanks.

 

[Hobbes234]

hi everyone,

thanks for your responses & to hobbes234 for your kind offer, unfortunately i use a desktop....

i gather from your replies that i probably need to calibrate screen as i am not a professional and i do not use exotic papers.... so it is likely that canned profiles from printer manufacturers will work well for me once my monitor is calibrated.... is that your experience?

i am looking at iOne Display 2 by Xrite/Gretag which is S$400.... any comments....? will monitor calibration + canned printer profile be good enough....?

thanks.

Yup, just calibrate your screen will do. 400 bucks is a lot if you are not going to use it often.
unless you are very particular about the colors, the difference between wat you see on your monitor (after calibration) and the print out is quite subtle.

alternatively, i'd suggest that you get the printer profile from the shop and you can load the profile when you edit your photos. This ensures that you are getting the exact colours which you want.
Beautiful memories at city hall provides such a service. But his prices ain't cheap though.

 

[ZeroDivine]

I reckon after calibration the colour shift(if any) is quite unnoticeable.
I calibrated my laptop with spyder2 and recently printed out some pics for vivocity comp. and the colour is 90-95% close to my laptop. Quite happy abt it means I don't have to do alot to get close colour to what I see.

 

[tchoonyong]

if you are usin mac it comes with calibration built in for your adjustment which is much better than the pc. You can check it in apple stores,they let you try the mac for free and you can arrange one to one advisor which will advise the features.

 

[kktan]

hi everyone,

i am looking at iOne Display 2 by Xrite/Gretag which is S$400.... any comments....? will monitor calibration + canned printer profile be good enough....?

thanks.

Oeyvind is selling the iONE Display v1.0 HERE

Cheers,

 

[ZeroDivine]

Oeyvind is selling the iONE Display v1.0 HERE

Cheers,

this one is good enough actually.
had my first calibration with this one.. looks abit more natural than my current spyder.

 

[randytay]

Actually, you need need to callibrate your monitor once every 3-4 weeks as they tend to shift with uses.

 

[Bug]

Sorry to ask but what does Adobe Gamma (with Photoshop)?
Isnt it also software-based colour calibration for the monitor? :dunno:

 

[ZeroDivine]

Sorry to ask but what does Adobe Gamma (with Photoshop)?
Isnt it also software-based colour calibration for the monitor? :dunno:

It is, but I find the result is nowhere even close to even a cheap calorimeter(like Spyder2express). It's better to just spend on a good calibrator once and for all to calibrate all your monitors/lcds.

 

[simonquek]

hello all,

Thanks for your responses. As an update, I have bought the Gretag Mabeth iOne Display2 and also the HP B9180 (pigment-based), which replaces my Canon i990 (dye-based).

Just to share my experience.... After calibration with the iOne Display 2, my LG LCD was significantly less glaring (I was using way too high brightness levels previously).... The iOne software showed that it tweaked my LCD's colour levels slight to display the "correct" colours.... The LCD's performance was good, with an average dE2000 of 1.31 (a measurment of colour accuracy, with lower values being better)

After calibration, I went on to print with my Canon i990, colours were generally matching with the exception of shadows, which appeared way too dark. Having read glowing reviews of the Internet, I took the plunge to buy HP B9180, preferring it to the Epson R2400 and Pro 3850.

Print-outs from HP B9180 were more "neutral". It was able to print shadows accurately and skin tones were well-rendered too. Howere, Canon i990 print-outs had more "pop" factor, as in colours were more saturated and vibrant. This was especially evident when printing subjects with strong, vibrant colours. I suspect this could be attributed to the dye-based inks it was using.

After printing a couple more print-outs from HP B9180, I realised that a change in vertical viewing angle produced sigificant colour shifts on my LG LCD. I had to angle the LCD and sit at a particular height to get colours which most closely matched my print-outs.

Overall, I am happy with my purchases and the results they produced.

 

[jopel]

the HP 9180 is good printer. the canon is something like gloss print and the HP as Matte print. If look long enough you will prefer the Matte print of HP.

As for the LCD try making a hood to block out light

 

[skopio]

hmm.. so after you load a printer's profile (like loading MLCC's) do you still have to calibrate your LCD or will the colours be close enough?
i know my gamma level is right cause i can see all the shades from black to white at dpreview's website.

 

[simonquek]

theoretically, a calibrated monitor should not require further tweaking when used with an accurate printer/paper icc profile.... i am able to get ok consistency between my monitor and colour prints on hp glossy photo paper.... however, b/w prints on hp glossy paper are too light compared to my monitor image.... still trying to figure out what is wrong and what can i do about that....

 

[wesley]

theoretically, a calibrated monitor should not require further tweaking when used with an accurate printer/paper icc profile.... i am able to get ok consistency between my monitor and colour prints on hp glossy photo paper.... however, b/w prints on hp glossy paper are too light compared to my monitor image.... still trying to figure out what is wrong and what can i do about that....

Hello Simon,

The next thing you have to deal with is the issue of gamut. It simply means that your printer's color space is not exactly the same color space used by your monitor. If you are printing from photoshop, here is a tutorial that will help a lot. It will bring your prints closer to the expected outcome. This procedure is softproofing, it can be a bit complex but if you persist, it will definitely be helpful for your printing in the long run.

http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps8_proof/proof_1.htm

Have fun,
Wes