Editing with laptop - is it possible to calibrate screen?

[Minface]

Hi friends,

I've just purchased my first laptop, and while I don't plan to retire my desktop, I am wondering if it is possible to do any editing in Photoshop on the laptop. It seems to me that even if I was able to calibrate the screen to show true colour/density, it would be difficult to be consistent. When the screen is tipped a millimetre or two, the whole appearance of images changes.

Any advice?

Thanks,
Mindy

[Car2n]

You are already aware of the downfalls but why not calibrate it anyways (assuming you already have a calibration device). It certainly won't hurt nor cost anything.

[Minface]

Thanks for your reply. I'm just not sure I could trust what I see - it would be a bummer to spend a lot of time on a particular image just to have it print dark, or light. Do you edit with a laptop?

[Car2n]

Well I guess your question is more "should I edit with a laptop?" than "should I calibrate my laptop?"
In general, editing with a laptop should be taken with a grain of salt as you already know. That's not saying you shouldn't calibrate it. Calibration can only help with what the laptop is displaying.
I do edit with a laptop but it's far from your average machine because it has a 20.1" screen (Aspire9810) that is more like a desktop display than the average laptop. It is calibrated.
I also have a 15.6" HP laptop (actually one of the cheapest ones I could find) that is strickly for the camera bag mainly to shoot tethered or to review shots taken while out and about. It is also calibrated. It is loaded with all the editing software I have on the large laptop but I don't use it for editing per-sa. The display really does change a lot unless you look at it dead straight on.

[Minface]

Thanks for your thoughts.

[WVCoalMiner]

Amazon.com: ColorVision Spyder2 Express Win/Mac: Software

$59.00 screen calibrator. I bought one and usaed it on both of my laptops.

[Jim Bryant]

In order to have your monitor be truly calibrated you must be working in a constant same light sourced room. I have my G-5 Tower unit's Apple LED Cinema Display - 24" - wide screen monitor calibrated with a spyder 2pro. The room is dark except with a lamp set onto top of a bookcase about five ft back and five feet off the floor. This is the only light source in my room and it stays constant. Whereas my laptop travels with me everywhere and I post process photos in every lighting condition imaginable.

At the Seattle PI, the only two computer that were calibrated were the two used by the photo imagining techs and photographers. I personally set the Seattle Time's printing press CMYK profiles into thephotoshop color profiles and calibrated the monitors. So a lot of the times, what the photographers did to a photograph on their un-calibrated laptops looked like crap on the photo tech computers. We photographers all had to spend time in the photo cave and soon got to learn that what we saw on our laptops, if left that way, would look like crap in the paper. In time we all go to learn the other photographic styles of one another's pictures and how they wanted the photo to look.

We had one photographer who never used the meter in his camera and if you could make his photos look good, then you were a master photoshop technician.

[DBCooper]

I just googled this question and the thread came up...your responses were insightful fellas thanks

[Elmo]

I use a laptop and a desk top and found the following works for me. I first calibrated the desk top. Then calibrated the laptop. The two were then set side by side and the laptop screen angle was then adjusted until they both matched. I made a template out of cardboard to set the laptop screen at a consistent angle. Now when I use the laptop my only issue is getting my eyes at the sweet spot. and that gets easier with practice.