Screen Calibration

mattyg · 14 Dec 2013 at 16:47

AArrrgh I've got brain ache..

I was about to hit go on a Spyder4 then read a couple of threads saying its not actually that good....Admittedly after reading many that it is.

Any suggestions...Apart from stop reading reviews

Currently got a NEC 24" and a Samsung 21" but will be upgrading the Samsung to a Dell 27" and poss the NEC in the new year.

Cheers

PhotoPixels · 14 Dec 2013 at 20:35

I use the Spyder4pro & find it very good.

ShakenNstirred · 14 Dec 2013 at 23:22

PhotoPixels said:
I use the Spyder4pro & find it very good.

Same here

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a1ex2001 · 17 Dec 2013 at 14:46

Go with the weight of positive reviews, the nature of the interent and life in general means you'll always get a few that go against the norm. Any screen calibration is a massive improvement on none!

mattyg · 20 Dec 2013 at 14:37

Ive ordered a Spyder4Elite to go with my Wacom Intuos pro.

At least I'll be able to attempt to polish S*** if my photography still sucks

V F · 20 Dec 2013 at 16:01

theheyes · 23 Dec 2013 at 10:10

I have the Spyder3 and it works fine, so unless they've monumentally screwed up their product you should be ok. If mine is anything to go by you'll want to get the drivers off their site. The ones mine shipped with were old and buggy (blue screen buggy)

theheyes · 23 Dec 2013 at 10:13

mattyg said:
At least I'll be able to attempt to polish S*** if my photography still sucks

Getting your screen calibrated is a step in the right direction as long as you're learning why along the way.

mattyg · 26 Dec 2013 at 14:10

Just done my 2 screens.

Wow what a difference. Didn't realize how yellow my B/W shots where.

Its going to take some getting used to mind, As the screen looks a bit shouty now.

All good though

V F · 26 Dec 2013 at 16:50

A calibrated screen looks, loud? Peak white 120cd/m2?

mrk · 26 Dec 2013 at 19:57

120/cd is just the brightness, depending on screen and ambient lighting some will find 120 too bright. Others just prefer a slightly darker screen - It's preferential really.

My screens (Dell 27 and 24) are at 95cd/m2 because of the latter. The calibration is still going to be accurate. Just pre-set your brightness and do a reading to check what luminance it's at then run calibration. The probe will do the rest.

Long as it's calibrating to D65/6500k and the correct Gamma for your OS then you're fine.

I've tried Spyder probes before, never liked the results having tried to upgrade from a Lacie BlueEye Pro so returned them and went back to Lacie.

Even tried the new ColorMunki and found the same so there is a difference with end results between different colorimeters.

D.P. · 26 Dec 2013 at 20:43

I have the Eye One by xright, same hardware as the LaCie pro i believe.

mrk · 26 Dec 2013 at 20:49

It is, just needs the Lacie software to be exactly the same.

D.P. · 26 Dec 2013 at 21:28

mrk said:
It is, just needs the Lacie software to be exactly the same.

yeah, that is what I thought and I think you can buy the software separately if one wants to upgrade. That is why I got the Eye one to have this option, plus the reviews showed the eye one to be much better than the Spyder 2 and 3 at the time.

mrk · 26 Dec 2013 at 21:37

Don't think you can buy the software on its own. Only if you have a valid probe will Lacie send you the link to download it. I got lucky.

V F · 27 Dec 2013 at 00:26

mrk said:
I've tried Spyder probes before, never liked the results having tried to upgrade from a Lacie BlueEye Pro so returned them and went back to Lacie.

What was the end results you didn't like?

mrk · 27 Dec 2013 at 00:36

Even though the ColorMunki/Spyder software reported good calibrations, they were visually off slightly compared to what Lacie's software achieved. Even Xrite's Eye1Display2 software results were a little off too. Without having both side by side and switching between profiles you'd probably never notice though.

I found Lacie's software to produce the most accurate colour tone balance over all on both reporting and visually but perhaps the Spyder and ColoMunki probes themselves are just fine but it was pretty clear the software was the achilles heel here which is probably why Lacie only give the software out with the Lacie branded probe even though the probe is the exact same as the Greteg Macbeth/Xrite one, just different software/branding.

mattyg · 27 Dec 2013 at 00:45

Don't know why but the brightness was set to calibrate at 180.

Will redo at the recommended 120

That should help it be less shouty...

V F · 27 Dec 2013 at 12:33

mattyg said:
Don't know why but the brightness was set to calibrate at 180.

You done it during the day, didn't you?

ajf · 27 Dec 2013 at 23:05

mrk said:
Even though the ColorMunki/Spyder software reported good calibrations, they were visually off slightly compared to what Lacie's software achieved. Even Xrite's Eye1Display2 software results were a little off too. Without having both side by side and switching between profiles you'd probably never notice though.

I found Lacie's software to produce the most accurate colour tone balance over all on both reporting and visually but perhaps the Spyder and ColoMunki probes themselves are just fine but it was pretty clear the software was the achilles heel here which is probably why Lacie only give the software out with the Lacie branded probe even though the probe is the exact same as the Greteg Macbeth/Xrite one, just different software/branding.

How would you know which one was actually correct though, or are you just going off a purely visual "looks right" view?

I have a Spyder 3 Pro which seems to do the job OK! Although never compared it to another calibrator.
My problem is getting the printed output right. Fairly confident it is a printing issue rather than off screen calibration though.