Calling any computer savvy experts

[flipmode]

I'm in need of some help please. I just re-calibrated my monitor and I'm using spyder 3 Express and after running it I get two pop up messages. At the end it says it was saved however I'm kind of questioning it due to the pop up messages I'm seeing. I followed the folder path for the message and I see my ICC profile but the date last modified shows May 30th. So I'm confused as to whether or not my new re-calibrated profile is really in effect or is it still referencing my last known successful calibration. If anyone proficient in this area can point me in the right direction I would greatly appreciate it.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Chris,

I'd suggest sending an eMail to their support team - I've found that in the past they've always got back to me pretty quickly.

By the way - just a small point - what you're referring to here is PROFILING a monitor, not CALIBRATING. Calibrating is when you adjust the monitor's controls; profilling is a software adjustment that picks up the slack afterwards.

[su0826]

Hi Chris,

Pop up messages seems to indicate failure to overwrite old profile with new one. Suggest you launch your Spyder3 and follow the 'Help' menu. You appear to have the latest version 4.0.1 for your Spyder. Could be the USB port you are using for it, not supposed to use a hub etc.
My Spyder is on a Mac and is version 4.0.2 directly connected to the Mac, following the 'Recal' steps works OK and shows last calibration date. As suggested by Colin an Email to Datacolor might be appropriate if going back to square one does not fix the problem, best of luck,

Cheers.

[flipmode]

Hi Chris,

Could be the USB port you are using for it, not supposed to use a hub etc.
My Spyder is on a Mac and is version 4.0.2 directly connected to the Mac, following the 'Recal' steps works OK and shows last calibration date. As suggested by Colin an Email to Datacolor might be appropriate if going back to square one does not fix the problem, best of luck,

Cheers.

Thanks. I opened a ticket with them this morning so I'm hoping to hear back soon.

Can you elaborate on what you mentioned above please? Are you suggesting to perhaps try a different port to plug it in? Mine is directly connected (I thought). I just plugged into one of my open ports on my laptop.

[David]

Chris - I think the other replies have the matter covered, although I would suggest that if the software allows it (I use an different version of Spider) then name your profile rather than accepting the default. This allows you to find it more easily. The business about USB ports is confusing. It turns out that not all USB ports are equal. Some naughty manufacturers give you several ports but in reality they are just one hub. Sometimes hardware plugged in to such ports does not like the presence of other hardware on the same hub.

Cheers

David

[carregwen]

Calling any computer savvy experts

I hate to correct people on grammatical syntax, as i invariably commit many solecisms myself. But you refer to plural ('any' and experts') when there is only one savvy computer expert on CiC, and his name starts with a 'C'. We do have a new member called Savvy though.

Hi everyone.
I am Savyasachi.
You can call me 'Savvy' (in short), as my friends call me.
I have canon 1000D with 18-55 lens.
Wish to learn and share more from all the froends here.
Savvy

Maybe he knows the answer to your question. I'm afraid I don't have a clue.

[flipmode]

Thanks guys for the replies. And thanks Colin for the clarification.

I really want to get up to speed on color management and making sure my prints match what I'm seeing. It's a learning curve.

[Colin Southern]

Thanks guys for the replies. And thanks Colin for the clarification.

I really want to get up to speed on color management and making sure my prints match what I'm seeing. It's a learning curve.

Hi Chris,

No worries

Colour management starts with a copy of Real World Color Management, 2nd edition by Fraser, Bunting, and Murphy - it's heavy stuff, but it's as good as it gets.

Oh - and the first thing to accept it that prints NEVER match what's on the screen - it's just a myth. The biggest reason is that screen and printed page have significantly different dynamic ranges, so things get compressed on paper and that affects saturation levels. Also, one is an additive process and the ore is subtractive ... Technology never stood a chance!

[flipmode]

That book will be my next purchase.

Also I was also able to resolve this issue as I received instructions from Datacolor. Basically, I deleted the old profile and ran Spyder3 Express again. Worked fine.

By the way Colin, as you mentioned the difference between calibrating and profiling; just so I understand this correctly, calibrating would be going through the steps for example in my windows color management section as seen here http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...libration.html, correct? And profiling is running my third party software such as Spyder3 Express, right?

And if that's correct, then do you need to calibrate then run your software or just run your software? When I start Spyder3 Express the only basic guidelines that it recommends prior to running it is resetting the contrast to default settings, adjust the color temp to 6500, and adjust brightness.

I didn't do any of that since I had the "lcd native" option ticked, which I assume uses the original settings of my laptop. I could be wrong though.

[Colin Southern]

Yes - you've got the right idea. Calibration is a double-edged sword though; get it right and the profile has less of a correction to make and images will also look better on non-colour managed programs - but - get it wrong and it makes life a lot more difficult.

I think profile system manufacturers suggest that monitors get returned to default settings because it's more a case of "better the devil they know".

[revi]

Another point is that it's better to start from a known situation.
Often, adjustments have to be applied in a specific order, and perhaps there's a cycle in the calibration: optimise setting A, then B, then back to A and repeat until stable, I've seen that a few times (NMR field homogeneity, in one case...). If you start such a calibration from an unknown situation, you won't know what you're doing, and what to do... (not saying I know what I'm doing otherwise, note )

Remco

[David]

Hi Remco - So someone else knows about NMR - I thought the days of Golays had gone.

David

[Colin Southern]

Hi Remco,

That's pretty much what I meant (I don't think I said it very well though!)