Returning to Mac - Monitor Calibration

[dmenges]

Hi All... hope this is the right forum for a question like this. I have been using Windows based systems for years and have successfully calibrated my monitors using a Spyder2Pro. Since returning to Mac (and waiting for my copy of CS3) I want to calibrate my new iMac 20 monitor.When I go to System Preferences and choose Displays and iMac I have 5 choices under Display;

Adobe (1998) RGB D65 Wp 2.2 Gama
Adobe RGB (1998)
Generic RGB Profile
iMac
sRGB

I shoot RAW in the Adobe RGB (1998) colorspace... which monitor do I choose (default is the iMac)

Now I go to the Color side and choose Calibrate.  Once there I set the target gamma to 2.2 and the native white point to 6500K.

Getting to the real question...  to use the Spyder, it says to "disable Adobe gamma or any other 3rd party monitor calibration software in the "Start up" folder.  Am I all set with this? I haven't loaded any third party software, so am I good to go with the Spyder2 calibration?

Thanks for any reply. This seems so simple, but I don't want to mess this up right out of the gate  

[pfigen]

If you're going to use your Spyder, and you definitely should, then you don't need to to any of the things you're asking about. You don't need to choose anything under display because after you run your Gretag software, you'll be saving a new custom monitor profile that your application will pick up. You won't be hitting the Calibrate button in the Displays control panel because you'll be doing your calibration in the Gretag software. Remember to set you Photoshop working RGB color space to Adobe98 or whatever your preference is and not to your new monitor space.

[francois]

I don't use a Spyder but Gretag's equivalent (iMatch). There's no need to set a specific monitor profile as the profiling software handle this for you. A suppose that Spyder software does the same. At the end of the process, the created profile becomes your active profile.

pfigen's last sentence is very important, as a working space use AdobeRGB or ProPhoto but not your display profile - this is a no-no!

Adobe Gamma doesn't exist on Mac OS X, so no need to worry about it.

[dmenges]

Thanks all. I went ahead and just ran the Spyder2 software. Everything worked great. Soooo much easier than with a PC. I DID set my working space in Adobe CS3 before I egan to work with it. Thanks for the reminder.

[pfigen]

Adobe Gamma doesn't exist but the Apple ColorSync Calibrator is still there.

[francois]

Adobe Gamma doesn't exist but the Apple ColorSync Calibrator is still there.
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That's right, ColorSync cannot be turned off. ColorSync always manages colors with the selected display profile (either custom or default or Apple provided).

[Jeremy Roussak]

I shoot RAW in the Adobe RGB (1998) colorspace... which monitor do I choose (default is the iMac)
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Just out of interest, does the colourspace matter if you shoot RAW?

Jeremy

[francois]

Just out of interest, does the colourspace matter if you shoot RAW?

Jeremy
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No. The RAW file is just tagged with the selected color space. However, the small jpeg displayed on the rear LCD monitor is affected by the selected space and also by the other settings like sharpening or contrast. The histogram is derived from that small jpeg image. If you use the software provided with your camera, then it will respect your choices (color space, sharpening, contrast, picture style etc...) but you can change your mind afterwards since all these are just tags.