How do you cablibrate your monitor?

[JSNG]

I must admit that I know nuts about monitor calibration. Quite confused after reading some of the postings here too, hope someone can help to enlighten me..

If I just wish to ensure that:
1) the colour I view on the monitor is fairly accurate,
2) fairly consistent among photo-editing software and other software like acd see,
3) minimise colour differences when send to shops or labs for printing after editing them in pc
4) more or less close match with my printer output when I occasionally print via my home printer

Should I get a hardware calibrator, or just some clicks and adjustments will do?

If a hw calibrator is recommended, what shd I get for my purpose?

Saw a lot of diff names like spyder, xrite, huey, eye-one etc.. quite lost

Asked Cathay today they mentioned something like $365 for a spyder 2..

 

[espn]

Eye One is good, I'm looking at the XRite now, tempted but wallet empty even though gamutlabs offered me a very good price

 

[firestone]

Just go get a hardware calibrator.

You won't even need the latest version. Eye one display 1 works just as well..sub $100?
Many models are only abt $100+

 

[Canew]

Any comments on the Gretagmacbeth Huey?

 

[JSNG]

Eye One display selling at $100+?

What's the major diff between this and the spyder 2 and xrite which cost $300+?

Thanks for the replies

 

[DeSwitch]

Which is good? I've heard some ppl saying cheap one is no good. now dunno which to get as I have totally no experience but feel that I need to calibrate my monitors as my photo have different comments as under or over exposed.

 

[firestone]

Last yr ard July tink many of us bought online from overseas for around US$80 at B&H,JR.
Happy with it so far, no comments on the rest.

 

[NMSS_2]

go for the mid range calibrator that will cost around 300-400. make sure that your monitor can support at least 8bit with adjustment panel control.

the colours i get from calibrated screen (gretagmacbeth eye-one v2) are as accurate as the prints i got from digi-lab.

 

[billpepsi]

If monitor is a few years old, better to get a new one instead.

 

[YogiBear]

There's currently 2 popular brands in Singapore; a 3rd brand is starting to get popular via once-in-a-while promotion by GamutLabs.
You might also find that some GretagMacbeth products get repackaged under Pantone; they are basically the same.
Pls click on links to find out more..

1) Datacolor ColorVision: Spyder2express, Spyder2suite, Spyder2PRO, PrintFIX PRO.

2) GretagMacbeth/Pantone: huey, Eye-One Display LT, Eye-One Display 2.

3) X-rite: Monaco OPTIX-XR, Monaco OPTIX-XR PRO, Pulse Color Ensemble, Monaco EZ color.

Pls check with Cathay Photo or GamutLabs for local pricing of the above products.
For the un-informed, pls read the tutorials of each website to understand more about Color Management.

Calibration can only be done by professional technicians. Profiling is what we should be talking about.

Before one do any color or photo editing, one definitely must create a Monitor Profile for each monitor which one uses. Only when a monitor profile is created, only then will we proceed to do editing stuff or talk about color matters. Only then can we all talk and communicate the same color language.

There is no necessity to do Paper Profiling unless one do regular photo printing using their own printers. Mind you, such hardware printer profilers do cost a lot. The PrintFIX PRO and the Pulse Color Ensemble are examples of hardware for Printer Paper Profiling.
On the other hand, there are also software profilers which are priced much lower than hardware profilers. These do not perform as well but should be sufficient for a non-professional user. Examples are ColorVision PrintFIX PLUS (included in Spyder2suite & PRO editions) and X-rite MonacoEZcolor.
If you are on a tight budget, my advice is that you engage someone with the right hardware to do paper profiles for you. Such profiling need only be done once unless you change your home printer or use a different type of paper for your printer.

Here is a review and comparison of the more popular monitor profilers...
http://www.outbackphoto.com/color_ma..._08/essay.html

Here is a review on PrintFIX PLUS...
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/r...tfix_plus.html

Hope this helps.

 

[Kongo]

Considering the spyder 2 suite at the moment.

Cathay mentioned that the spyder2 pro has unlimited choices of colour temp to choose from, whereas the spyder2 suite has only a few choices.

Any current user here? Other than 6500k, what r the other color temp choices available for the non-pro version?

 

[idor]

Eye One is good, I'm looking at the XRite now, tempted but wallet empty even though gamutlabs offered me a very good price

BBB... you will not regret getting monaco.... :thumbsup:

 

[espn]

BBB... you will not regret getting monaco.... :thumbsup:

You sponsor me si boh? :sweat: :sweat:

 

[YogiBear]

Hi all,

I've amended my script above about software based printer profilers.
The current ColorVision product is PrintFIX PLUS which is packaged with the Spyder2suite & PRO editions.
ProfilerPLUS & PRO are older scanner based software which have already been phased out.

regards,
YB

 

[YogiBear]

Btw, here is a review and comparison of the more popular monitor profilers.
Pls check with Cathay Photo and GamutLabs on how to buy some of these products.

http://www.outbackphoto.com/color_management/cm_08/essay.html
.

 

[JSNG]

Hi YojiBear,

The info and links that you have provided are very useful and informative. Thanks a lot for your input!! :thumbsup:

From the reviews seem like the Optix XR r more accurate. Since the price is abt the same with the Spyder 2 suite I guess the X-rite is a better buy.

But the fact that the Spyder 2 suite does include the Printfix Plus in the package may worth considering. The Optrix XR does not include any software or features that can help printer or paper profiling?

 

[husaini]

anybody willing to offer a service to calibrate and be paid for it so that each of us dont have to buy one each time?

 

[YogiBear]

I'm also offering Monitor Profiling service. Pls see my profile and check my past threads.

anybody willing to offer a service to calibrate and be paid for it so that each of us dont have to buy one each time?

 

[YogiBear]

Back to the topic on Paper Profiling, the ColorVision PrintFIX PLUS software can be downloaded from ColorVision Europe website as a trial (dont know what the limitations are as I havent tried it out yet after downloading). The software is known as PrintFIX Plus 1.0 and there are different versions for Win/Mac.

 

[Terence]

I can do printer profiling if anyone is interested, monitor too for that matter. It's not as simple as monitor profiling and takes a bit more time. Drop me an email if interested in this paid service cs@21frames.com No PM Please.

Printer profiling software/hardware don't come cheap so don't too surprised by the price I quote. But think about it, no more mismatched colors in your entire workflow, from screen to print.