calibration/monitors/ Datacolor and other confusing techie stuffs

[praline3001]

I am reading a pretty decent digital photography book. In this book it lightly goes over monitor calibration and how this should be done weekly if the monitor is 2 years old. Mine has never been calibrated and the monitor is about 3 years old.

The book listed a few brand names to look at. Prices ranged from 2 grand to $150.00.

How important or how much of a difference does calibrating your screen really make? Would a novice hobby photographer benefit from getting one of the lower priced calibration units?

The book doesn't offer examples or show photo differences. I am trying to decide if it would be worth getting at my level of photography. I am looking at one of the cheaper ones, the Datacolor DC S3P100 pro.
Amazon.com: Datacolor DC S3P100 Spyder 3 Pro: Camera & Photo

I am just not sure if the improvement is so minor that a novice would notice the difference?

[cyber3d]

If you are not printing your work and if your monitor "seems" to look like the real thing then you can go with the cheaper systems. But, if you have more than one monitor or you are printing your images (either on your own printer or sending it to be professionally printed) then you need at least something equivalent to Colormunki Photo ($400-$500 USD) - IMHO.

I just ordered Colormunki Photo. I did quite a bit of research and settled on this unit as it was within my budget.

[Tzetsin]

I've got a spyder 3 pro, calibrate every time i move to another rig, or go home. a lot... most people dont have to do it that often, but that should go to show how important it is.

I find that most LCD monitors are very "cold" What I mean is there is a very very noticeable blue tint to the display. I do my own printing and the spyder3 pro nails the colors on my printer perfectly (provided I remember to synchronize the color spaces)

Color correcting can work against you too though. If you primarily post your work for view online and NEVER print, then color correcting might not be a good idea. You see, the problem is that when you go through the pains of color correcting your images, your images will look good on anyone else's monitor that is color corrected, but look "off" on any display that isn't color corrected, which is about 98% of the rest of the people lol.

So depending on your audience, and your viewing medium, you might not want to color correct at all.

[praline3001]

Originally Posted by Tzetsin

I've got a spyder 3 pro, calibrate every time i move to another rig, or go home. a lot... most people dont have to do it that often, but that should go to show how important it is.

I find that most LCD monitors are very "cold" What I mean is there is a very very noticeable blue tint to the display. I do my own printing and the spyder3 pro nails the colors on my printer perfectly (provided I remember to synchronize the color spaces)

Color correcting can work against you too though. If you primarily post your work for view online and NEVER print, then color correcting might not be a good idea. You see, the problem is that when you go through the pains of color correcting your images, your images will look good on anyone else's monitor that is color corrected, but look "off" on any display that isn't color corrected, which is about 98% of the rest of the people lol.

So depending on your audience, and your viewing medium, you might not want to color correct at all.

Would you mind posting a photo here that is corrected? I would like to see the difference and how off it looks on my monitor.

[Tzetsin]

Lol the trick isn't for you to see the corrected image, all my images are done on a corrected monitor. If you've seen any of my work, then you've seen an image that is "best viewed" on a corrected monitor. However without a corrected monitor of your own, you won't be able to see what it "actually" looks like corrected.

If you have, or have access to an Internet enabled iPad or iPhone, the screens on those are reasonably correct. Comparison the same image from the iwhatever and your home monitor and you'll likely see a difference.

There comes a time when a hobbiest delves deep enough into the digital arts that monitor calibration becomes an absolute must. Typically this happens after the first few failed attempts at printing.

The first failed print will go in the trash
The second will be blamed on the print shop
The third will have you wondering....
Hopefully by the fourth failed attempt you learn about color spaces and calibration.
With any luck you succeed on the fifth attempt, after calibrating, and you wonder what the hell you've been doing to all your pictures up till now because they all look odd and terrible and need to be completely reworked

Flickr: Jason Gendreau's Photostream

That's the URL to my flckr page if you want to look at images that have been worked on a calibrated monitor. If any look especially "cold" or blueish its not the picture, it's your monitor.

[sk66]

I started with a Spyder...Spyder2 I think. Then I got the Spyder 3 pro...Then I got ColorEye's Display Pro software which I think is the best of the bunch.

Color Eye's sells their software with the Spyder 3 sensor which is what I use.
About the best sensor available currently is the Xrite i1 and if I were buying one today I would probably get that one....not sure about their software though.

[MindyRaeL]

I don't have any experience with calibration software, but it's high on my wish list. In the meantime though, I've been using the eyeball method. Not the most accurate, but better than nothing at all.
Here's an online test designed specifically for LCD monitors that works okay for me.

[KristineMN]

I use the Spyder3 Pro system as well and find it pretty accurate. I run 2 monitors and usually leave the 2nd one uncalibrated since I don't do edits in it, it also allows me to see what most people see on an uncalibrated monitor. I have an iMac and it runs pretty accurate only needing slight adjustments. Whether you need it depends on where you are getting your images printed. If you are printing yourself and can calibrate your printer, then go for it. If you are sending them to a local printer like target, Walgreens etc... don't bother because in my experience their printers are never fully calibrated correctly anyways. If you use a professional print lab they most likely allow you to include color spaces so it's worth the effort.