Monitor Calibration - Try before you buy!

wonder_lander · 23 Oct 2009 at 15:27

** THIS IS NOW CLOSED **

I am offering the option for people to try out my monitor calibration if they are looking to see what difference it makes on their own screen.

What is it:

Spyder2Express by ColorVision Datacolor

Manufacturer's Description
Spyder2express - a must have for photographers, designers, gamers, or anyone who wants accurate colour on screen

Providing quick and accurate monitor calibration, it gives you precise and realistic on-screen colour, true-to-life flesh tones plus flawless shadow detail and highlights in just three steps.

The Spyder2 and its advanced algorithms work behind the scenes to give you the best colour experience possible.

Spyder2 Monitor Calibration System

Award-winning Spyder2 colorimeter, the standard for on-screen accuracy, precisely calibrates all CRT, LCD and laptop displays to industry standards
Easy software wizard guides you through the calibration process in just a few steps
New state-of-the-art optical science provides a five-fold increase in colour sensitivity over previous technology with a patent-protected light baffle for accurate characterization of LCD displays
Sleek hardware design offers effortless LCD, CRT, and laptop calibration while protecting delicate LCD screens
Sophisticated Grey Balance and Tonal Response Algorithms provide demanding users with exceptionally smooth gradient steps and neutral greys
Unique before-and-after viewing feature allows you to compare your display with and without calibration
Outstanding reliability backed by a two-year hardware warranty

Who can borrow it:

I'm a fairly generous kinda guy so I will make the following stipulations as to who is able to borrow the monitor calibrator.

Have to have been a member here for more than 6 months.
Must have made at least 250 posts on OcUK
Must have trust enabled

How will the queue work:

Make sure that you meet the requirements above. People who don't may still be elligible but a £50 refundable deposit may be payable.
Post in this thread to say that you would like to be added to the queue and include your location in your request in case there are several people in the same location who could pass it around by hand.
I will contact the next person on the list via their configured trust account to request their actual name, phone number, payment details and delivery address.; (Name and address for where to post the item, Phone number in case of issues and their payment details so the next person on the list can send the £5.40 payment to them for sending the item on by special delivery)
The first person who requests the calibrator will need to either bank transfer or paypal gift me £6.35 to cover the special delivery postage costs (Not sure how much the postage will actually be but I will refund any over payment and update this opening post accordingly)
The borrower then has 10 days from receipt of the calibrator to use it
I will nominate the next person off the list and will send them a message via their configured trust account to get their name, address and contact number.
I will send a trust e-mail to current borrower advising them of the new recipients name and address detqails and the payment details of the current borrower to the new recipient so they can make payment.
The idea is to keep this moving and not have to return it back to me. Should the list dry up then I shall send the last borrower payment to return the item to me.

What you need to do:

1) Make sure your trust e-mail is updated correctly or else you won't get the e-mails!
2) Confirming in this thread when you have received the item so we can keep track on when it arrives with various people
3) Keep to the 10days holding on to it. If you are quicker then please send it on as soon as you can
4) Please update the trust feedback of the person who sent you the calibrator
5) Download the latest software from : http://support.datacolor.com/index.php?languageid=1&_m=downloads&_a=view
6) If you feel like it and have benefited please feel free to update my trust too!

FAQ:

Does this work with on MACs? - Yes according to the box but I'm not a MAC man so am not sure what versions it dows work with
Does this work on Windows 7? - Confirmed on Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit
Does this work on 64bit versions of Vista - Yes according to the latest software download
Does this support multiple monitors - Not out of the box, you can make it work though using the details here - http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/reviews/spyder2express.html
How does it work - http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/reviews/spyder2express.html

I will revise this depending on how the process works, hope this is OK mods!

wonder_lander · 23 Oct 2009 at 15:28

Current List of People in the Queue:

Currently with: stoke1863
Next with:

1) Razor-BladE - Shipped 26th Oct / Received on 27th Oct - Posted on 6th Nov to PaulyD - Done and trust updated!
2) PaulyD - 7th Nov - Received - Posted on the 17th Nov to Mr Jones - Done and trust Updated
3) Mr Jones - 18th Nov Received - Posted on the 24th Nov to ichabod crane - Done and trust Updated
4) ichabod crane - Postage payment sent to Mr Jones - Awaiting confirmation of receipt = Confirmed receipt 25th Nov - Posted out 03 Dec - Done and Trust Updated
5) --Mike-- - 7th Dec Received -Got until 17th Dec - Postage from Russinating received and waiting to post out
6) Russinating - 23rd Dec Received - Got Until 4th Jan - Posted 13th Jan - Done and Trust Updated
7) Zaf - Received 15th Jan - Posted 26th Jan
8) MichaelHo - Received 27th Jan - Got Until 6th Feb - Posted out 3rd Feb - Done and trust updated
9) J273 - Payment sent to MicahelHo - Got until 14th Feb - Done and Completed
10) MuGeN - Received 17th Feb - Posted on the 27th Feb
11) GSDog - Trust e-mail sent - No longer required
12) Hodders - Received 27th Feb - Done and Posted 1st Mar, super fast turnaround!
13) DoubleCheese - Received 2nd Mar - Got until 12th Mar - Posted out 10th Mar
14) Pug - Trust e-mail sent - Payment made Got 11th Mar
15) pabloB - Trust e-mail sent - Away so skipping for now!
16) dannyjo22 - Received 20th Mar, got until 30th Mar and will share with Zooankski
17) tsinc80697 - Received 30th Mar, got until 10th Apr
18) zooankski - Used when dannyjo22 had it.
19) Barno - Received 9th April, got until the 19th April - Posting out 17th April
20) Da[]San - Postage paid - Received 21st April, passed on to djkav as local
21) Lucero - No longer required
22) russ0r - Done and Posed out 20th May
23) twoblacklines - Currently Suspended so skipped until back as an active user 12/05/2010 / permabanned / now suspended again!
24) DarkShadow - Skipped as busy with exams, will be checking back after Next Person has had it.
25) rG-tom - No Longer Needs It
26) Clairvoyant - Received 21st May, Posted 1st June
27) ScarySquirrel - Trust Contact Made, Payment Made to Clairvoyant , Received 2nd June - Got until 12th June
28) A[L]C - Trust e-mail sent - No longer required.
29) mart981 - Trust e-mail sent 28/07/2010 - Not required
30) jesta - Received 18th Aug - Got until 28th Aug - Sent 27th Aug - Done
31) Wedge - Received 28th Aug
32) ac1d1ty - Trust e-mail sent - Bumped from list as no response to 2 trust e-mails.
33) Malakite - Trust e-mail sent - Skipped as no response to trust e-mails
34) DiG - Done
35) schizo220168 - Trust e-mail sent. Payment Sent to Kol 19 Jan - Done 4th Feb
36) dazz25 - Trust e-mail sent - No Longer Required.
37) SiriusB - Trust e-mail sent - No Longer Required
38) AmTechFox - Trust e-mail sent - No Longer Required
39) ravl585 - Payment sent 14th Feb - Received 18th Feb
40) ~Divine~Wind~ - Trust E-mail sent 23rd March 2011 - Not Required
41) Kol - Jumped Q as same town as DiG
42) Phoenixdancer - Skipped as suspended, moved down the list - Now permabanned
43) Thorien - Not active on the forums for > 1 month so skipped
44) djkav - Currently has the calibrator (Done and posted on - Got early do to another local user) - Sent on 20/04/2011
45) MoodyB - No longer required
46) dalex - Sent trust e-mail 23rd March 2011 - Paypal Payment sent 05/04/2011 - Rec 21/04/2011 - Posted on 3rd May 2011
47) Alpha - Sent trust e-mail 26th April 2011 - Got 5th May - Ready to send on 9th May
48) twoblacklines - Permabanned
49) lord filbuster - trust e-mail sent 9th May 2011 - Paypal Payment sent 11th May 2011 - Received 16th May 2011 - Posted 23rd May 2011
50) Magic_x_uk - trust e-mail sent 16th May 2011 - No longer required.
51) Mr Krugga - trust e-mail sent 18th May 2011 - Paypal Payment sent 19th May 2011 - Awaiting Delivery
52) balls - trust e-mail sent 24th May 2011 - Done and ready to send 12th June
53) ArchAnGeL - trust e-mail sent 12th June - contact made - Finished with and ready to post on.
54) UberTiger - trust e-mail sent 20th June - 2nd chaser sent 28th June - Finished with and ready to post on.
55) neoboy - trust e-mail sent 20th July - No longer required
56) Legend - 2 months inactive
57) shroomz - trust e-mail sent 12th Sept - Paid 13th Sept - Done and ready to post 22/10 - Sent 28th Jan 2012
58) HomerJ - 6 months inactive
59) C.K - trust e-mail sent 22nd Oct - Received 30th Jan 2012 - Done and Ready to Post same day!
60) Gangster - Trust e-mail sent. - No longer required
61) Ezyryder - Trust e-mail sent - Payment sent - Calibrator received.
62) Global_Inferno - No Longer Required
63) CaseyChaos - Got and done with.
64) jbloggs - No longer required
65) bulb66 - Trust sent. Done with and ready to post.
66) Trifid - Trust e-mail sent 11/05, contact made and payment sent to bulb66 - Received 14th May 2012 - Posted 17th May 2012
67) The_blue - Trust e-mail sent 14/05, contact made and payment sent to Trifid -
68) baron02 - Trust e-mail sent 18/05 - No longer required.
69) Aod - Trust e-mail sent 23/05 - No longer required
70) flexo786 - Trust e-mail sent 23/05, 2nd trust sent 24/05
71) Borden - Trust e-mail sent 13/06, Payment sent 13/06, received calibrator 19th June, Posted 20th June
72) krooton - Trust e-mail sent 19/06, Payment sent 19/06, received calibrator 21st June.
73) stoke1863 - Trust e-mail sent 20/06, payment sent 21/06 - Done with
74) Audigex - Trust e-mail sent 12/07 - No longer required
75) Dazboots - Trust e-mail sent 18/07 - No longer required
76) kmufc77 - Trust e-mail sent 18/07 - No longer required
77) adamau5 - Trust e-mail sent 18/07, re-chased 30/07 - no longer required
78) momo56 - Trust e-mail sent 29/08 - No Longer required
79) Ksanti - No longer required
80) Bri - No longer required
81) rexehuk - Trust e-mail sent 2/09 - No Longer Required
82) Stuff (was camelpaw) - Truest e-mail sent 2/09 - Place held
83) explicit4u - Trust e-mail sent 2/09
84) Origin
85) marlos - No Longer Required
86) An Exception
87) reygjabla
88) Concorde Rules - No longer required
89) Guitarman0
90) JaseUK
91) DB SamX
92) dfarrall
93) HeX
94) iamtheoneneo
95) adbp1
96) Nexus
97) N00bbuilder79
98) Dup
99) lee7
100) dirtychinchilla
101) SGWills
102) SMed
103) Greebo
104) Rusty_Noob
105) daz.wallace
106) Flare
107) ishamy
108) djkav
109) sHo0sH
110) rafster
111) dbmzk1
112) cokecan72
113) Beepcake
114) Hugogo
115) MonkeyMan

Razor-BladE · 23 Oct 2009 at 15:45

I'd be interested. I live in Coulsdon, Surrey. Just wondering, once you've calibrated it, can you save the settings and re use it if you reinstalled the OS for example? And can you still make adjustments to it after without the device?

PaulyD · 23 Oct 2009 at 15:55

Please add me to the list, location in High Wycombe

Posted in Phates thread but unsure what is happening with his one. About to get new camera tomorrow and take a load of pics + get into learning PP so having a properly calibrated monitor for that would be ace

ralv585 · 23 Oct 2009 at 16:20

That's a cool idea and very generous, shame i won't be able to qualify for it

Out of curiosity is it possible to see a side by side comparrison of a calibrated and non calibrated screen, do you calibrate within windows (software) of on the actual monitor/lcd (hardware) control options?

would be nice to see how much of a benifit calibrating is

PaulyD · 23 Oct 2009 at 16:41

Oh, i forgot to say many thanks for the offer as well! Is very kind of you to share it around

Mr Jones · 23 Oct 2009 at 16:47

I'll be very interested, currently in Hull.
Thanks

ichabod crane · 23 Oct 2009 at 17:01

put me down for this in York, looks to be a cracking idea!

--Mike-- · 23 Oct 2009 at 18:45

Thanks for the generous offer, I'd like to use it thanks

I'm in Northampton

wonder_lander · 23 Oct 2009 at 21:36

Razor-BladE said:
I'd be interested. I live in Coulsdon, Surrey. Just wondering, once you've calibrated it, can you save the settings and re use it if you reinstalled the OS for example? And can you still make adjustments to it after without the device?

If you take a look at the linky above you'll see that what it does is create a windows display profile which you save and assign to your monitor. You could therefore back this profile up and restore it on an OS re-installation but can't make any further adjustments without the actual spyder hardware.

wonder_lander · 23 Oct 2009 at 21:56

ravl585 said:
That's a cool idea and very generous, shame i won't be able to qualify for it

Out of curiosity is it possible to see a side by side comparrison of a calibrated and non calibrated screen, do you calibrate within windows (software) of on the actual monitor/lcd (hardware) control options?

would be nice to see how much of a benifit calibrating is

Sorry that you don't qualify at the moment for this offer. Perhaps if you get posting and interacting on the forums you'll be at 250 posts in no time, just don't spam!

wonder_lander · 23 Oct 2009 at 21:59

I have created the list of people and contacted the first person on the list.

Ian_Eb · 23 Oct 2009 at 22:58

Damn, thats me off the list due to insufficient posts. Will try to remember to return in about 35 posts time

ralv585 · 23 Oct 2009 at 23:12

wonder_lander said:
Sorry that you don't qualify at the moment for this offer. Perhaps if you get posting and interacting on the forums you'll be at 250 posts in no time, just don't spam!

Spamming hey?

can anyone direct me to some funny threads, i thinks they could do with some "lols"

Russinating · 23 Oct 2009 at 23:35

I'm very interested

. Location Bristol.

I know at least that there's a few photographers in Bristol here, so it may be worth waiting until the list reaches 20+ or so so that you can group the same areas together more easily.

wonder_lander · 24 Oct 2009 at 00:06

Razor-BladE is confirmed as the first recipient. Once I've received his payment I shall contact the next person on the list to prepare them for making payment to Razor-BladE once he's finished with it.

Zaf · 24 Oct 2009 at 16:20

sounds like a great idea you must be a lot more trust worth than phate

only joking mate

Can you put me on the list.

Cheers
Zaf,

wonder_lander · 24 Oct 2009 at 17:33

Zaf said:
Can you put me on the list.

Cheers
Zaf,

Added to the list, the monitor calibrator is due to be shipped out to it's first recipient on Monday.

MichaelHo · 24 Oct 2009 at 22:20

Thanks for offering this opportunity to us. I would love to be added to the list please.

J273 · 24 Oct 2009 at 23:45

Is there any chance please.....I can be added to the list?

Many thanks