Simpleman

What do you guys use to calibrate your monitor? And I'm not necessarily talking about matching it with your printer. Tried to use SMPTE color bars generated out of Premiere, but can't get my LCD to turn off the chroma. And I know LCDs aren't the best for color accuracy, but I just got a new LCD and the colors just look too saturated and contrast too high...

badboy

I would love to know this information as well. I also bought a new LCD monitor and would like to know what the optimal settings are.

I believe there is a website which tells you the correct settings, it was mentioned in a thread or two, but I cannot find them.

Street Spirit

Dan Martin will have all the info you need. He has a monitor calibrator (that he will be putting up for sale soon, actually). I believe he has the "Spyder" something-or-other. It did a great job and things look so much better now. He's also calibrated the monitor to the printer specs so that what you see is what you get. I'm sure he'll catch this thread later on in the day.

Billiam

I'm working on a long answer. Give me a few minutes.

NeoChaser

Dan can i barrow it before u sell it

Dan Martin

Yes, a calibrator is probably the best tool you can have for your computer if you're serious about photo editing. My Spyder2 Pro worked amazingly well. Before I installed it, I could never get my prints to match my screen. The prints always seemed too red. Well, it turns out that my prints weren't too red, my monitor was just too blue.

You'll never be able to "eyeball" the settings yourself, becuse your eye's sense of color is entirely relative. This text you're reading is realatively black and the background is relatively white. In reality, they are nowhere near black or white. The black is probably dark red and the the white is probably a light shade of blue. Your eyes can't see the difference, but a colorimeter can.

I have spent hundreds of hours and $$$$ learning about color management and color workflow. Take it from me, don't waste your time trying to "eyeball" your calibration, you'll never get it right. Get a calibrator and be done with it. The money you save on paper and ink will offset the cost.

Dan Martin

How about I sell you my unit, then you can resell it for what you paid for it?

Billiam

My quick answer to this question is to use the Adobe Gamma program that comes bundled with Photoshop and (I think) Photoshop elements. This will get you in the ballpark if you don't want to invest in a dedicated hardware and software solution.

You have to be careful when having these conversations as people use the terms "calibrate" and "profile" in different ways. I consider them two separate items. Other people consider them the same thing. Regardless, it can be important to realize that there are two things that need to be done if you're striving for accuracy: tonality and color reproduction.

First, you need to choose a color temperature such as 5000K or 3500K to work against. It's my understanding that there is no "correct" value for this unless you know the color temperature of the lighting your prints will be viewed under and have the lighting in your digital darkroom match that value. Other than that, you pretty much just need to pick a color temperature and stick with it.

Once you've done this you need to adjust your monitor's black point, white point, and neutral gray point against the color temperature you picked. This is adjusting the tonality of your images. Basically how light/dark the shadows, midtones, and highlights are relative to each other and where they lie in the overall spectrum. This is what I refer to as "calibrating" the monitor. It is also what the Adobe Gamma program estimates for you via software.

Getting accurate color reproduction is what I personally refer to as "profiling." This is where you usually use a dedicated piece of hardware known as a colorimeter along with matched software. When you run through the profiling routine, the software displays patches of known color values on the screen. The colorimeter then measures the actual color that the monitor is emitting and tells the software what the difference is. The process is usually repeated for a few dozen different colors. When it's done, the software generates a color profile for you. You then enable color management in your OS and have it use this profile.

Now all this sounds complicated as hell but the bundled hardware/software solutions available today generally automate the whole process to the point of making it pretty easy.

Oh...and I haven't even touched on how you color managing your printing which is sort of the whole point.

As for the hardware/software bundles available, there are three major players in the market. Colorvision (a division of Pantone) makes the Spyder line of products, X-rite makes the Monaco Optix line of products (what I use), and Gretag Macbeth makes the Eye-One line of products. All three should be available through the major online photo retailers and have options that range from consumer-friendly to very expensive. I purchased my Monaco Optix product from Chromix which is a company that basically just deals with color management products for photography and the printing industry.

http://www.chromix.com

stogie1020

Bump.

Without getting too crazy, what is a good monitor for image editing (ease of calibration, depth of calibration, etc.) or does it not really matter as long as it is calibrated?

Mizouse

i remember reading somewhere that some panels are better are producing colors than others, i think it was the TN panels that are the worst but most commonly sold.

ChodTheWacko

Short answer: It can make a huge difference.

Long answer: http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...readid=2049206

- Frank

Mizouse

i hear this is one of the best panels you can get for photo editing right now.

http://www.necdisplay.com/Products/P...3-74c35a363b57

ChodTheWacko

There's a lot of argument regarding the benefits of 'Wide Gamut' monitors,
and I ended up getting the 2490 as a result.

- Frank

stogie1020

OK, so maybe I should have clarified... $1000.00 is too crazy.

ChodTheWacko

The photo editing section lists monitors starting from $240.
I was very happy with my 215TW, actually, until I broke it. (don't ask)

- Frank

klepto

the spyder2express is pretty cheap (~$60). The only difference between that and the pro version is the software.

wndrlst

Bump!
Do any of you have any experience with either the Color Munki or the Spyder3 Studio complete color management packages? I'm looking to calibrate both monitor and printer.

If it makes a difference, the only monitor I have currently is on my MBP (I think I'm pretty limited in degree of calibration here), and the printer is the Canon Pixma Pro9000. I'm looking to buy a standalone monitor eventually, but not yet.

Thanks!

Billiam

Have you considered getting profiles made for your printer instead of shelling out for the hardware? You're obviously limiting yourself to the paper types you get profiled, but the cost savings would still seem awfully tempting.

wndrlst

I haven't, no, because I didn't know I could? How does that work? I'm using some atypical paper for my cards because it's recycled. I'll be using standard high quality printer paper for the "art prints."

Billiam

Generally speaking, the service you choose to get your profiles from will have a "target image" that you download and print on the actual paper you want the profile for. The few I've seen in the past provided very specific instructions on what settings should be used printing the target. You then mail the printed targets to the service and they run them through the paces under their equipment to generate the profiles for you. Once done, you just get the profile files delivered back to you electronically.

The only service I can remember off the top of my head is "Cathy's Profiles." She seemed to be pretty well regarded on the $-for-$ scale back when I was looking at this stuff 2-3 years ago. I don't know if the same still holds true.

http://www.cathysprofiles.com/

wndrlst

Thanks for the info, Billiam - I'll look into that option, as well!

jupitersolo

You still have to get your monitor calibrated to a common point. I don't think you need a Spyder 3, I think that's for dual montior.

wndrlst

It was just what I was looking at that was packaged with the printer calibrator. But you're right, it looks like I can buy them individually & get the Spyder 2 for less $$.

lcrazyaznl

iTrader: (1)

Bringing this back from the dead.

Anyone has any other pros and cons?
like the huey?

im thinking about a spyder 2 but i have dual screens, but i read the only issue is not being able calibrate them at the same time... lol so i just need do one and then two?

stogie1020

Curios as well, as I still haven't solved my issues. Color and most importantly brightness/exposure levels, although that may be more affected by the CR2-> JPG conversion.

lcrazyaznl

iTrader: (1)

Im looking at either a spyder express 2 or huey pro lol wonder if anyone has any first hand experience.