Which Monitor Calibrator ?

Jase · 20 Feb 2008 at 16:31

I need to order a Monitor Calibrator tonight as I have a week off work and intend to do a lot of photography, photoshop work and I know my monitors are not calibrated properly at the moment.

The following was my first choice :

Pantone huey or the Pantone huey PRO

But I've now spotted the :

Spyder2express
Spyder3Pro
Spyder3Elite

Anyone used any of the above ? I'm not too bothered about price but don't want to spend more than need be. I want a good device, thats fairly easy to use and produces good results.

Thanks

Jase

DanF · 20 Feb 2008 at 21:02

I've been thinking of getting one as well.

Doing a search brought up this thread

Jase · 20 Feb 2008 at 21:46

Thanks for that link, interesting to see the comment on the Huey

so I guess I'll give the Eye-One Display 2 a go, I'll let you know how it goes.

Jase

DanF · 20 Feb 2008 at 21:52

Heh was just about to say the same, can be had for a resonable price now.

This is an older review but gives it a good write up, puts it slightly above the Spyder2Express.

Baddass · 20 Feb 2008 at 23:05

I've recently tested the Spyder3Elite package, and in the past have also reviewed the Panton Huey Pro, X-rite Eye One Display 2, Spyder2Express and LaCie Blue Eye Pro.

The LaCie and X-rite are both the same hardware device, just coupled with different software packages. Both give very good calibration results, but the LaCie also offers a reporting facility which is nice (for reviewing especially!) but comes at a much higher cost. The Pantone is pretty good at calibrating colours, but lacks much in the way of decent luminance correction. This seems to be an issue with "cheaper" calibrators, but as far as the more budget models go, the Pantone is pretty decent. The Spyder3 was better than the Spyder2, and had a lot of good software features. However, actual results were not as good as the Pantone, and certainly behind the Eye-One based packages.

hth

colinuk · 21 Feb 2008 at 16:14

Any place rent this out - or send a bloke in a van round to do it for you as spending £200 on it seems a waste after its been done once?

Or am i missing something here?

ColiN

Baddass · 21 Feb 2008 at 18:40

colinuk said:
Any place rent this out - or send a bloke in a van round to do it for you as spending £200 on it seems a waste after its been done once?

Or am i missing something here?

ColiN

well you have to calibrate for each different hardware configuration really since it will vary as you change monitor, graphics card etc. Also, it's recommended that you calibrate around once a month for casual colour accuracy...or more if you really need better performance. But yeah, you could prob get away with doing it less

brakeinup · 22 Feb 2008 at 11:28

I recently purchased a Spyder3Pro to replace an aging Gretag Macbeth Eye-One Match.

It cost me £102 inc vat and delivery and is a very good improvement over the former in both accuracy, speed and software. I am using it to calibrate 2 Benq 241W 24" LCD's and a laptop for CS3 work.

I think you are supposed to check calibration every month.

Jase · 24 Feb 2008 at 10:32

Well I bought the Eye-one 2 on Friday, it was extremely easy to use and although I have nothing to compare it to the results/calibration appear to be very good.

Jase