RobinSaini wrote:
Hi,

Planning to buy Monitor  calibration tool but confused with so many products..

Found good reviews of below product
X-Rite ColorMunki Smile CMUNSML
http://www.amazon.com/X-Rite-CMUNSML-Co … le+CMUNSML


Can someoen suggest how good is this product or is any other product better

rds
www.Facebook.com/RobinSainiPhotography

This is what I use.

http://spyder.datacolor.com/portfolio-view/spyder4pro/

Have a profile running on each of my monitors. easy to setup and run.

Cuervo79 wrote:
I still have my spyder2pro and the software does not work in windows 7, yes its old but why buy a new one when the old one still works?

I've used a Spyder2 successfully on a 64bit Win7 machine, you just need to download the driver update from their site.

photoimager wrote:

I've used a Spyder2 successfully on a 64bit Win7 machine, you just need to download the driver update from their site.

supposedly I have the last version for the spider2 2.3 if I'm not mistaken you can make the profile but its wonky to make windows7 actually use it...

Aaron Lewis Photography wrote:
For a guy who doesn't have $1000 for a calibration system, can we agree that the i1Display Pro  is a decent tool to calibrate dual monitors?

Read the fine print...  Only one of your two monitors will be used as the calibrated master for many systems.

I use the i1.

I had the spyder2Pro, but was getting inconsistent calibration with a pink cast.  Their support was good though.

RobinSaini wrote:
best Monitor calibration tool ?

You don't need one.

Set up your monitor however you like, then you do a test-print to the facility which is printing your materials.

When you get the print back, adjust your monitor to match the print and save a calibration profile for it.

I used to work at a professional commercial lab which did traditional and digital printing. Most lab folks will tell you, this is the best way to do it. Remember, calibration tools only adjust your monitor to what it SHOULD be. That doesn't mean it will match what the lab is outputting. The lab might be misadjusted too. Thus, calibrating by eye using a test print is the most accurate way to get things looking exactly the way you expect.

California Girls Skate wrote:
Set up your monitor however you like, then you do a test-print to the facility which is printing your materials.

When you get the print back, adjust your monitor to match the print and save a calibration profile for it.

Good idea if I was only printing to one printer. But, I do very little printing and do much more output for Facebook, Mayhem, Competition Projectors, and DVD Slide shows.

So, how do I calibrate my own monitor so that my final images are calibrated to the typical "off the shelf" Monitor, Projector, or IPad/Cellphone screen!? LOL!

In other words I want my final images on my own monitor...to be calibrated to the "average viewer's monitor" (typical, uncalibrated, "off the shelf" LCD), or DVD slideshow on their big screen TV! So, whoever I provide them to sees VERY CLOSE to the same final image I do on my own monitor.

Cuervo79 wrote:
Just in regard to brand, does xrite still support their old calibration hardware? cause datacolor (the ones that make the spyder) don't support them on new systems, to me that is a very important feature since I still have my spyder2pro and the software does not work in windows 7, yes its old but why buy a new one when the old one still works?

there are third party calibration programs that can use your spectrometer..

California Girls Skate wrote:

You don't need one.

Set up your monitor however you like, then you do a test-print to the facility which is printing your materials.

When you get the print back, adjust your monitor to match the print and save a calibration profile for it.

I used to work at a professional commercial lab which did traditional and digital printing. Most lab folks will tell you, this is the best way to do it. Remember, calibration tools only adjust your monitor to what it SHOULD be. That doesn't mean it will match what the lab is outputting. The lab might be misadjusted too. Thus, calibrating by eye using a test print is the most accurate way to get things looking exactly the way you expect.

That works, however, everyone's eye is different and I would suspect a lot less sensitive or accurate to the digital eye of a calibration tool, especially in a multi monitor setup

Æmagine wrote:

Read the fine print...  Only one of your two monitors will be used as the calibrated master for many systems.

I use the i1.

I had the spyder2Pro, but was getting inconsistent calibration with a pink cast.  Their support was good though.

That was my result with the Spyder as well. I had borrowed one a while back and that's about what I got out of it. Hence me asking this question.

So how does that work in a multi monitor setup? Is this the wrong tool or is there a method to get the monitors the same.

California Girls Skate wrote:
I used to work at a professional commercial lab which did traditional and digital printing. Most lab folks will tell you, this is the best way to do it. Remember, calibration tools only adjust your monitor to what it SHOULD be. That doesn't mean it will match what the lab is outputting. The lab might be misadjusted too. Thus, calibrating by eye using a test print is the most accurate way to get things looking exactly the way you expect.

Any decent lab is going to have a fully ICC managed workflow all of which is way more accurate that anyone's eyes

Extrosy wrote:
whats is the best method for web presentation?

Every uncalibrated monitor gives a slightly different colour balance so there's not much you can do.
Images from a calibrated monitor will show in their proper colours on other calibrated monitors, so theoretically the people who matter will see the correct colours. All too often clients do not have calibrated monitors.

Something that's often pointed out as a key part of the workflow for web is to render images to sRGB. If you render to ProPhotoRGB the colours of your images will go crazy on many websites.

Even if you use a calibrated monitor, different software renders JPGs with slightly different colours. At least I've found this. In Windows 7 the algorithm that renders thumbnail previews gives has a slightly different gamut from the Image Viewer app, which is different again from Lightroom.

I would contend that if you spend too much time dabbling in colour you will go mad. Just look at Dan Marguilis...

California Girls Skate wrote:

I DID THAT , GOT AN TEST CALIBRATED PRINT OUT FORM LAB AND THEN OPENED SAME FILE ON IN PS AND MATCHED THE COLOR ACCURATELY AND REALIZED HOW BAD MY DELL 2410
(http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/prod … u=320-8277) WAS OFF CALIBRATED, BUT DUIRNG THE PERIOD OF CALIBRATION  TO MATCH PRINT QUALITY, MY MONOTOR CONTRACT AND BRIGHTNESS LEVEL WAS SET TO 7 AND 12 AND ALL OTHER SRGB COLORS WERE PUT ON A LOW VALUE...SO

NOW I FEEL I AM WORKING ON A SUCH A DARK MONITOR AND THE ENTIRE CHARM OF BRIGH AND VIVID COLORS GONE...

GUESS DOING MANUAL CALIBRATION HAS TAKEN A LOAD, OR AM I DOING SOMETHING WORNG?

You don't need one.

Set up your monitor however you like, then you do a test-print to the facility which is printing your materials.

When you get the print back, adjust your monitor to match the print and save a calibration profile for it.

I used to work at a professional commercial lab which did traditional and digital printing. Most lab folks will tell you, this is the best way to do it. Remember, calibration tools only adjust your monitor to what it SHOULD be. That doesn't mean it will match what the lab is outputting. The lab might be misadjusted too. Thus, calibrating by eye using a test print is the most accurate way to get things looking exactly the way you expect.

Veit Photo wrote:
I would contend that if you spend too much time dabbling in colour you will go mad. Just look at Dan Marguilis...

Cuervo79 wrote:
to me that is a very important feature since I still have my spyder2pro and the software does not work in windows 7...

mine does

Aaron Lewis Photography wrote:
That was my result with the Spyder as well. I had borrowed one a while back and that's about what I got out of it. Hence me asking this question.

So how does that work in a multi monitor setup? Is this the wrong tool or is there a method to get the monitors the same.

It depends on the Spyder model that you get... or at least the software that comes with it.  Tne most basic (lowest cost) version only works with one monitor.

I just met with the Datacolor rep at WPPI a couple of weeks ago and he showed me one that's available for @ $149-179 that corrects multiple monitors, your tablets, and smart phones.  It's the Spyder 4, but I don't remember which version it's called.

Cuervo79 wrote:
Just in regard to brand, does xrite still support their old calibration hardware? cause datacolor (the ones that make the spyder) don't support them on new systems, to me that is a very important feature since I still have my spyder2pro and the software does not work in windows 7, yes its old but why buy a new one when the old one still works?

I still have the spyder 2 pro as well and it works fine on both windows 7 and windows 8.