Does anyone calibrate your monitors...?
- Thread starter cookie88
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yeap, there is of course the cheapest way... Be Contented... ;p
ok jokes aside... u can check out ppl who do callibration for a fee, its cheaper for 1 time off, without getting the set.
ok jokes aside... u can check out ppl who do callibration for a fee, its cheaper for 1 time off, without getting the set.
cookie88 said:Juz wondering if anyone calibrates his monitor to ensure the prints are WYSIWYG? Any cheap, simple way to do it?
Thanks
Are you investing to do this becasue you are using your monitor for professional editing work and business?
If calibrating your monitor is crucial it takes more then just calibrating your monitor. Room light and how you position your monitor in relation to other lighting fixtures is crucial too. With LCD monitors unless you are buying or have some of the more top of the line ones, calibration might be loss to it.
And if you are into CRT, again...unless you buy something very good it will be loss on you too....that also would include one issue if you are concern with colour faithfulness, you need to warm up your CRT monitor for 2 hours so that the tube is warm-up enough to give you the most consistant colour thorough out the day. Some design house leave their CRT monitor on thoroug out the night till next day they come to work or have the second shift continue using the monitor. Or the put their CRT monitor on timers to auto switch on 2 hours before they come to the office to start work. I personally love the Sony Flat Trinitron which is the defacto CRT monitor for designing. All Mac uses it for all their CRT monitor under their own brand and if you use a PC you would look to buy it direct from Sony. I am very old school..and still prefer CRT for colour reproduction work and yes..fast 3D gaming.
If you are only just wanting to be sure the colours are good enough for basic use...paying for someone to come do it can still be quite pricey.
No, Im not pro but I realised that pics do look very different on different monitors (depending on their settings). However, Im more concerned that I get my prints looking just as I wanted them to be on my monitor. I dont need them to be exactly spot-on as with professional design houses but at least must be close (highlights, shadows and colours where they are supposed to be)
How do I ensure this? Can the Spyder2, monitor calibration device, achieve this?
Thanks for all your valuable advise.
How do I ensure this? Can the Spyder2, monitor calibration device, achieve this?
Thanks for all your valuable advise.
cookie88 said:
erm...2 issues here. (a) are u going to do ur own printing at home? or (b) PS at home, then send to a lab and tell them to develop the prints for u without doing anything to them?
cos if (a) u can't just buy a simple calibrator, but those really pro (read: expensive) printer and monitor calibrators to ensure dat both show up the same colours.
if (b) then things like spyder2, colourvision's colourplus, EyeOne or even the laters gretag macbeth's cirrus calibrator (comes as a purchase with a purchase under the latest canon promo) will suffice. if u wish to print them, then u have to tell the labs dun mess with them. if u are just concern with getting the correct colours, then this is the way to go.
oh yeah - the 'cheapest' calibrator (short of buying 2nd-hand), cost ard $200. and, IMO, its best to get one urself cos calibration is not a one-off affair. depending on the age of ur LCD/CRT, u have to re-calibrate anywhere from every 2wks to every 1mth. u can ask people to come and do a one-off calibration for u (think its ard $50/session. see consumer) and see if the effects/improvements are wat u are expecting. then, u can decide better whether to buy a calibrator urself.
so you mean that all Macintosh CRTs are actually white-painted Sony Flat Trinitron?sammy888 said:
wow! now i know where to do my editing! on my 30inch Sony Flat Trinitron TV which i still have!
CRTs are better for gaming because they refresh faster is it? does refresh rate matter much in editing?
cookie88 said:
nah. just tell them dun do any touch-ups for u. ie. they'll just pop ur CD or memory card into their PC and just print straight. actually, they'll love u for it cos it saves them a lot of time. :bsmilie:
as for colour accuracy, the sad fact is dat while u can do all u like on ur PC and make sure its correct, the labs will some times still screw it up for u if they are not stringent enuf in upkeeping their equipment. IMO, best to send them to a pro lab (tho it means u have to spend a bit more per print - cheap is never good, good is never cheap) to get the best results. check under consumer for some recommendations.
cookie88 said:
I think you would need to try a trial print and see what you think. As someone who design stuff and use photo in layout ..etc. Take this tip from me,what you see on your Monitor...is not what you will get 100%. It will be close to what you shot but it will not be 100%. The differences are due mainly to what "medium" you choose to show your work or photo.
Let me try to explain this to you. Your PC monitor is illuminated. Meaning, colour light is shot from the back of your CRT to the front of your monitor or thousands of colour LED diodes light up to form colours and images on your LCD. As this light is an illumination, images seen from one tend to have very vivid bright colours and hues..etc. But to reproduce that on paper that is not possible. Paper is not illuminated and the inking system is limited too. some printer limit it to 4 basic colour and some might add what I simple call "in between" colour ink that can find in some computer printers where it runs 5 to 6 colour cartridges which give you more option to mimic a wider range of colours as depicted in your photo. And then there are four colour offset printing machines which usually has an even lower range of colour dynamics. So....depending on what the colour lad uses, how good are the staff at processing your stuff and also how good you are at editing, understanding colour and your own "way" of looking at colours...the end result might be subjective. Sometime even among us designers and art directors, we argue about skin tone being off, too cold, too warm, one see the same picture migth say it is fine and another might say it is too warm and need to lighten the red and then another one comes in to say it has a yellowish tint. And I can show you that same picture and you might think there is nothing wrong with the picture heheh.
You need to learn to be flexible and you need to go do some trial for yourself. As much advice as we can give you here, you really need to see the end result, show it around and get direct feedback on them, hold them up to the monitor to learn how an illuminated screen and a printed piece is difference..etc. I can tell you something to help you feel better about your confusion over this. Calibration of colour in desktop publishing has been argued and debates for a loooooooonnnnnnnng time..it has improved but it is still a big issue and no one solution can solve it all. For me, it is trial and error but once I get a companywho does my colour separation done well toned time after time ..I stick to them till death do us part! heheh.. I will find out what machine they use, what setting use to process it and of course will take note of what setting was on my PC and thus I will keep that information in mind for all my work...but you do still need to be flexible in a way. Nothing will be 100% perfect as you start to venture more into the realm of desktop designing and publishing.
maritimus831 said:
heheh don't need to take my word for it...you remember all those cool lookinfg CRT mac monitor with that tranlucent look..just take a peep into it...you will see it is a trinitron tube man. The reason why it is so good because it's pixel technology is the best and closest to a square and not rectangular and the dot pitch is 0.24.
BUT...don't get that mixed up with your TV Trinitron lah !! heheheheh....They are still difference. A Sony trinitron TV use lower resolution and refresh rate compared to a Sony trinitron CRT monitor for computer use. A 21inche TV Sony Trinitron cost much less compared to a 21inche PC monitor by a large margin hahah..
LED / Plasma .....well flat screen monitor has improved alot in the last couple of years but I am still very old school lah hehe.. Unless you are buying the best of each class of flat monitor eg. 15" 17" 19" 21"...etc. yes..ghosting will be apparent.
Screen refresh rate matters alot!... Screen refresh is important for your eyes' health! heheh. My CRT Monitor's set at 85mhz. But of course you need the right SVGA card to support that high a refresh rate and at higher resolution too. After that consideration, yes...refresh rate is good for gaming and editing. This two things you do are the MOST intense "eye involving" activities you can do with your PC so the higher the refresh rate the better if your monitor and card can support it. That is why LCD are great...they are very easy on the eyes but that is not due screen refresh as it does not "draw" the image on your screen in the same way as a CRT. But since it uses fix illuminated pixels..so it does not blink..thus you feel comfortable looking at LCD more then CRTs. But when it come to processing fast action like moving pictures, 3D..etc..the engine is not able to update the screen fast enough so as I mentioned above...ghosting occur( like multi exposure strobe photography). But as I say newer flat screen are improving in those areas now in the last 2 yrs or more but you find that more with the higher priced models.
maritimus831 said:
Not too sure these day...CRTs are getting hard to find and with some shops at Sim Lim you might be asked to wait while the shop get their staff to go another shop to get you one heheh....no one will keep stock of all brands and sizes...this is particularly so in the age of LCD monitors which is so much smaller and easy to pack at a shop.
The last time I check on the price was about 2 yrs I think...it was about S$2,200. give or take. When I got a 19 inche Trinitron about 7 yrs ago, that already set me back about $1,600.
I doubt Sony is doing much in this area now...I think they are more into LCDs. There was a time Sony Trinitron with the apeture grille screen was THE standard for designers and videographers. BUt these day the tecnology is more mature and alot have caught up to it.
I bought the spyder2pro from cathay for $500+. rip off right? but the first unit malfunctioned after a while so I took it down to CP and got it exchanged. The spyder sensor is very fragile. treat it with care.
All this calibration stuff. Do any of you have a special light to review prints? I am still looking for a CHEAP ($100+) light source. I find my philips "daylight" flourescent tude rather "blue"...
All this calibration stuff. Do any of you have a special light to review prints? I am still looking for a CHEAP ($100+) light source. I find my philips "daylight" flourescent tude rather "blue"...
wind30 said:
hmm.... go change all the lights in the room to 5500k light... hehehe... same like the lightbox already...
sorry a bit OT, is the laptop's screen adjustable?
i noticed some ibm laptop's screen used by my friends can't display black as black. the blacks on my screen apperas much brighter than they're supposed to be on their screen, even when the brightness setting is low for their screen.
i noticed some ibm laptop's screen used by my friends can't display black as black. the blacks on my screen apperas much brighter than they're supposed to be on their screen, even when the brightness setting is low for their screen.
djork said:
i calibrate laptop before... as for screen black not black 'enough'... its that the screen quality not good, u see when you off it, its not as black as those good 1....
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