Monitor calibration tools and DIY

[michty_me]

I'm toying with the idea of getting a colorimeter and software for doing some calibrations of monitors or TV's at home. I've read of some threads on here where people are doing their own which has pipped my interest. So a few questions:

1 - What is the best cost effective meter and software for doing this at an amateur level? I don't want to spend a lot getting equipment as may be seldom used.

2 - How difficult is it to do in reality?

 

[eeii]

going to follow this one as I’d be interested is this aswell.

 

[michty_me]

going to follow this one as I’d be interested is this aswell.

I spoke with a member on here via DM, They kindly offered to calibrate my monitors but alas, I'm too far away from him.
A friend and I spoke over the weekend, He is interested in getting his monitors calibrated too as he does a lot of photography work so looking likely we will go halfs on a x-rite/calibrite item.

 

[Rroff]

I only have passing knowledge of it but a friend uses Spyder gear ( https://www.datacolor.com/spyder ) and has done some of mine in the past, I've mostly used one of the monitors as a reference to dial in my own settings as close as makes any odds for my purposes.

On a personal level though I don't necessarily find a precisely calibrated monitor necessarily the best settings for general usage, unless you are working a lot with colour critical stuff, I find backing the gamma off slightly from the target 2.2 to ~2.1 much easier on the eyes and dialling in on 6500K (or maybe even slightly cooler) whereas a lot of users might find slightly warmer tones more pleasant for usage especially those who like room lighting closer to 3000K than 5000K.

 

[Mr Evil]

I used an X-Rite i1 Display Pro in the past, which worked well and was reasonably priced. Looks like they don't make them anymore, but you can still find them second-hand, and presumably there's a newer equivalent of some sort. The supplied software is pretty easy to use and powerful enough for most purposes.

I don't necessarily find a precisely calibrated monitor necessarily the best settings for general usage

While it's true that everyone has their preference, you can calibrate a monitor to your preferred colour temperature and gamma - you don't have to adhere to sRGB or whatever. That way you can make sure all your monitors match.