Which Monitor Calibration / Profiling Device?

[Antonio Correia]

Which monitor calibration device do you use ?

[herbert]

Hi Antonio,

I use an i1 DisplayPro.

It has a few nice features over the standard i1 Display:

- faster (for when you calibrate an entire office)
- history tracking of calibration results

As with the i1 Display it has support for wide gamut monitors.

I bought it for my wide gamut monitor and the history tracking. What it has shown me is that my 1 year old monitor has not drifted. I calibrate monthly (or when I remember).

For a casual user with a recent monitor I would recommend borrowing one. I do not think I have gained value from mine being able to use it each month to show nothing has changed. (But without one you will not be sure.)

It would be good to borrow one and see how much the first calibration improves your screen. It will help you set the correct luminance which is important for print matching, otherwise your prints will look too dark. I use 100 cd/m2 but my monitor goes up to 400. Sometimes it seems too bright even at 15% brightness. I must have sensitive eyes.

Alex

[Andrew1]

I use the Colormunki with is also from xrite. They bought out a few companies and are developing the technologies in parallel. I also agree with Alex. I had been using the processes from this site. http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/ and did not find much of a viewing improvement using the equipment. It is faster on the odd occasion I do feel like checking it though.

[Colin Southern]

I use a Spyder III, but the Spyder IV is out now.

PS: Calibration is only part of the process ... the other part is profiling

[Antonio Correia]

Thank you all

So it means that after calibrating the monitor I have to profile for a specific printer and video projector.

X-Rite video makes it look very simple and intuitive.

[blakemcguire]

I got the spyder III elite, and I'm pretty happy with it.

[Antonio Correia]

Thank you Blake
At this precise moment I do not know any more what to do ! Silly perhaps.

What am I getting the calibrator for ?
To make better prints ?
To spend money and not showing what I do ? If I print with quality the way I am doing things why spend money ?
If I have a prof photographer who helps me printing at my will, why get involved in these confuse and boring business of calibrating, profiling and what else ?!
Will I expose in a gallery ? Don't think so. Then, why print ?
Would I sell anything ? In Portugal ? Don't make me laugh.
However in September 2012 I do have certain international expectations...

I would like to apologise for bothering you with this matter but when I posted I was thinking differently.

Thank you all

[Manfred M]

I use the i1 as well. and I've had it for years. Back when I had a CRT monitor, I found I had to recalibrate at least once a month. The LCD I use now is quite stable and I recalibrate every 6 - 12 months.

[Antonio Correia]

I use the i1 as well. and I've had it for years. Back when I had a CRT monitor, I found I had to recalibrate at least once a month. The LCD I use now is quite stable and I recalibrate every 6 - 12 months.

No so often ...

[Colin Southern]

Thank you all

So it means that after calibrating the monitor I have to profile for a specific printer and video projector.

X-Rite video makes it look very simple and intuitive.

Hi Antonio,

Yes and No! Yes, printers etc need profiling too, but monitors also need profiling in addition to calibration.

Basically calibration and profiling are complimentary operations (and are done with the same colorimeter). Think of the speedo in your car; if you're speedo says you're doing 90km/hr down the motorway, but you pass one of those automatic signs that tell you how fast you're really going and it says 100km/hr then - if you "tweaked a screw in the back of the speedo" until it reads 100 km/hr going past the sign, then you'd have then calibrated to read 100 km/hr when you're actually doing 100 km/hr.

The problem is though, if you then check it again at 90, 80, 70, 60, 50 km/hr (etc) then you might find that the actual speed might be something like 89,78, 68, 57, 43 etc - and you can't get it right because there's only one screw to adjust it. So you come up with a correction table that says "if the speedo says I'm doing 45km/hr, I'm really doing 50 km/hr" etc (repeat for each speed).

From this you can see, the more accurate the calibration of the speedo, the less of a correction you need to make on your correction card ... exactly the same with monitors.

Many colorimeter manufacturers usually suggest simply resetting the monitor back to it's default. This is a good idea if you don't know what you're doing but it can mean you get less levels to play with (and bigger corrections from the profile) - so if you can at least get the black and white points reasonably close - and the colour temperature pretty close - then the profile will be more effective.

Having just said all that - Mac displays are usually pretty close right out the box.

[Antonio Correia]

Thank you Colin. Very clear.

For the time being I will not touch any of the screws on my speedo.

[Glenn NK]

I got the spyder III elite, and I'm pretty happy with it.

I have this one too - seems easy to use.

Glenn

[Antonio Correia]

Thank you Glenn

[Nicola]

I'm thinking to calibrate my monitor and I'm collecting all the info i can find on web...
if Antonio dosen't mind,
I 'd like to use his thread to ask you all:
" using a calibration device, as spyder 4 pro, can i create several profiles of my monitor under different ambient light? one for daylight , one for artificial light... has it any sense?
thanks for help!
ciao
Nicola

[Manfred M]

I'm thinking to calibrate my monitor and I'm collecting all the info i can find on web...
if Antonio dosen't mind,
I 'd like to use his thread to ask you all:
" using a calibration device, as spyder 4 pro, can i create several profiles of my monitor under different ambient light? one for daylight , one for artificial light... has it any sense?
thanks for help!
ciao
Nicola

Nicola - you should calibrate your monitor to the conditions you work under. I suspect this has more to do with the ambient light intensity than its colour temperature. I know when I calbrate my monitor, my first step is to measure the ambient light. So far as I can tell, all the unit does is measure the light intensity, not the colour temperature.

I'm sure other's will have some thoughts here. I tend to work with relatively subdued artifical light in a room that has a neutral colour.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Nicola,

You shouldn't need to. Basically - in terms of ambient lighting - it's just one light source competing against another, so if you like to have your room lighting bright (like I do) then you'll need to have your monitor quite bright (and vice-versa).

Personally, I don't worry too much about the colour of the walls etc (mine are a gold/yellow colour at work) - at the end of the day, the light that falls on the monitor will be mostly incident light from overhead lighting (thus not affected by the wall colour), and what reflected light DOES make it onto the screen from coloured walls will be overpowered by the active light source of the monitor itself.

[Nicola]

Thanks Manfred, thanks Colin!
but if I use my monitor in two different light condition, in matter of light intensity I mean, I should have at least two different brightness levels, should I? can I find these two levels with two differnt calibrations? or I must recalibrate the monitor every time I skip from light condition 1 to light condition 2 and vice-versa?
I read somewhere that the "recommended" luminance of the screen in "normal" light is about 120cd/m^2, and luminance is affected by brightness...
I also read that calibrator as Spyder has ambient light sensor, and an utility that run ambient light measurement at computer sturt up, in order - I think - to set every time brightness level.
thanks for your support,
i hope i'm clear enough on my questions...
cheers
nicola

[Antonio Correia]

Well done Nicola, Manfred and Colin !

[Colin Southern]

Thanks Manfred, thanks Colin!
but if I use my monitor in two different light condition, in matter of light intensity I mean, I should have at least two different brightness levels, should I? can I find these two levels with two differnt calibrations? or I must recalibrate the monitor every time I skip from light condition 1 to light condition 2 and vice-versa?
I read somewhere that the "recommended" luminance of the screen in "normal" light is about 120cd/m^2, and luminance is affected by brightness...
I also read that calibrator as Spyder has ambient light sensor, and an utility that run ambient light measurement at computer sturt up, in order - I think - to set every time brightness level.
thanks for your support,
i hope i'm clear enough on my questions...
cheers
nicola

Very clear Nicola.

In theory yes, but in practice, no. I think you might be over-thinking it a bit.

[Nicola]

Very clear Nicola.

In theory yes, but in practice, no. I think you might be over-thinking it a bit.

thanks Colin,
you are clear too
so i can assume that nothing is wrong, in practice, if i let a pro-photographer calibrates my monitor in his room with its light and then use the monitor in my room...
a very cheaper go, since he asks me around 25eur and the spyder 4 pro 130eur
sorry if I bore you...