Calibration?

[mediadiva]

How does this work, what should I get? I have a macbook pro. Thanks!

[MovingStill]

OK, I'm assuming you mean monitor colour calibration, correct?

Every monitor, regardless of LCD, LED or CRT, laptop or desktop, outputs colour slightly differently. This will show as a colour cast, maybe a touch too green, whatever. Display devices have a file called a colour profile which modifies the colour output to try to correct these casts to a standard colour range. The problem is there can be manufacturing differences between models, and colours change as the device ages.

This actually applies to printers too, which can be influenced also by the inks and particular papers used.

You can purchase a tool which measures the colour output of your device when run with a set of standard colour swatches. When the calibration run is completed the software creates a file called a colour profile which is stored on your computer to correct any colour casts found for that device.

For printers, you will have a profile for each combination of paper and ink used.

Some brands of calibration tools to look for are Huey, Datacolor (the Spyder range) and ColorMunki. Some do monitors only, some do monitors and printers. The decision will depend heavily on your budget.

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask more questions.