monitor calibration

[3bayjunkie]

I've been looking at color calibration for my computer LCD monitor. I do not know anything about these, so i was wondering if anyone has used any and could suggest what is good for photo editing so i will know what it looks like on paper.

Thanks,
CJ

[kcoppock]

I actually just linked this in another thread, but I think it's a great reference:
http://www.adobe.com/digitalimag/pdf...w_workflow.pdf

I don't have any personal experience with the actual calibrating hardware for a monitor, though I keep telling myself I'll get one eventually. I've heard good things about the Spyder3 (though if you have multiple monitors, you'll have to go with the Pro version over the Express. Here's a chart of the different features between versions: Spyder3 Solution Comparison Chart - Datacolor - Global Leader in Color Management Solutions) but it's more than I'm willing to spend.

I've heard BAD things regarding the Pantone Huey Pro, but it's much cheaper, and your mileage may vary. :P

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by 3bayjunkie

I've been looking at color calibration for my computer LCD monitor. I do not know anything about these, so i was wondering if anyone has used any and could suggest what is good for photo editing so i will know what it looks like on paper.

Thanks,
CJ

Colby, I have and use Spyder Express...least expensive of their products, but does a good job on my CRT monitor. Your LCD may require the better, and more expensive product. See below for some details
Monitor Calibration with the ColorVision Spyder2PRO

[3bayjunkie]

Do I need to have a printer to calibrate these? I used to work in the printing industry and we calibrated our monitors with the printers, but I am not going to be printing my own prints... At least not till i have a few grand to throw down on a good enough printer.

[kcoppock]

Originally Posted by 3bayjunkie

Do I need to have a printer to calibrate these? I used to work in the printing industry and we calibrated our monitors with the printers, but I am not going to be printing my own prints... At least not till i have a few grand to throw down on a good enough printer.

Nope, two separate types of profiling there. The monitor calibration is done so that your monitor is displaying colors as accurately as it is capable of doing. You work with printer profiles only on the output. That is, you'll calibrate your monitor quite frequently, but you would rarely ever have to profile a printer -- typically that's done by the manufacturer, and the profiles are freely available for download from their website. You would pick that profile to have Photoshop display a "soft proof" -- a simulation of how the print will look on the printer and paper specified by the profile. If you're not printing them yourself, you can either check with your printer and see if they can provide you with color profiles, if you are very concerned with accuracy. If not, I'd recommend just sticking to sending images to the printer as sRGB.

[3bayjunkie]

Thanks that was helpful. I see the most affordable calibration tool of decent quality is the Spyder Pro. I was just wondering if anyone had any other suggestions.

[kcoppock]

You're welcome! Hopefully others will have some suggestions and actual experience with them. You could always go for one of these:

Purchase EFI ES-1000 Spectrophotometer | RPimaging.com - Color Communication Experts

Heh, we have one of these at work; it's for our digital copiers, but it works on monitors as well (unless you're on Windows 7, apparently; haven't been able to get the software to install).

[3bayjunkie]

Originally Posted by kcoppock

You're welcome! Hopefully others will have some suggestions and actual experience with them. You could always go for one of these:

Purchase EFI ES-1000 Spectrophotometer | RPimaging.com - Color Communication Experts

Heh, we have one of these at work; it's for our digital copiers, but it works on monitors as well (unless you're on Windows 7, apparently; haven't been able to get the software to install).

Yeah I finally upgraded from xp to 7. I love 7 its awesome.

[ravncat]

I have and quite like the Xrite Colormunki. It does monitor, printer and projector calibrations.

[kcoppock]

Originally Posted by 3bayjunkie

Yeah I finally upgraded from xp to 7. I love 7 its awesome.

It's great! I've been using it for a few years now at home, but we finally moved to Windows 7 at work (well, at least in one of our locations). Makes things so many things so much simpler.