Very confused re choices

[jeorf]

The more I read the more I get confused regarding the various devices. I am a complete novice with these so, bear with me.

I am looking to get a device to calibrate both my MacBook and the HP ZR24w that I am planning to buy (as soon as I can decide which device to get with it!).  I understand that the 2 monitors are very different (at least in that one is TN and the other ISP) but I'd like them to match as well as possible. (So that any work I do on the laptop only might need a little tweaking on the monitor?)  I'm looking at the spyder 3pro and the i1display2 (thinking that the newer ones are just too new from what I've read here).

The technical reports have my eyes rolling back in my head. I just don't know enough to make any sense of them. I just want to be able to somewhat accurately see colors on my monitors that will give me more confidence to print. At the same time, I have a more complex printing job that I will need to do as soon as I get this - I need to send out CMYK images to a publisher for a book. I've been advised (by johnbeardy on this site) to try to obtain an ICC profile from the printer. Does this influence my decision about which color calibration device to get?

And then there is just reading the varying "reviews" on the devices with about equal "this is the worst" and "this is the best" for each one I've looked at. I can only think that this must reflect user error but perhaps it reflects a poor choice given the job that is needed.

Can someone give me some guidance?

Many thanks.

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

Are you really sure that you need to do the CMYK separation yourself? CMYK separation is quite involved, as far as I understand.

Both the Color Vision and the i1display2 are colorimeters. Colorimeters measure three channels. So they measure red, green and blue but cannot tell which color red, green and blue are. Colorimeters work well with monitors using the primaries the calibrator is made for.

Spectrometers measure the whole spectrum, and therefore work with all screens. The most affordable spectrometer is ColorMunki Photo.

There have been some discussions on these forum discussing inconsistent behavior of colorimeters (initiated by a researcher who measured a bunch).

TN screens are very sensitive to viewing angle, so calibration to be meaningful you need to work with your eyes very close to 90 degrees angle to the screen.

Update: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=53825.msg439483#msg439483

The discussion is not very positive to the ColorMunki. Also, it seems that colorimeters matched to a creation screen work much better. A colorimeter may use a special "transform matrix" for different screens.

http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/Calibration/MonitorCalibrationHardware.html

From above:
"Datacolor appears to have solved the worst of the manufacturing inconsistency problems seen with older Spyder 3 Elite models. On average, the Spyder 3 is a good performer. We still have concerns about the level of variability measured between units — almost 3 times what the DTP-94 shows. For wide-gamut monitors the Spyder 3 appears to be the best colorimeter choice unless your monitor vendor offers a specially-tuned sensor."

Additional reading:
http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/monitor_calibration.htm

Best regards
Erik

The more I read the more I get confused regarding the various devices. I am a complete novice with these so, bear with me.

I am looking to get a device to calibrate both my MacBook and the HP ZR24w that I am planning to buy (as soon as I can decide which device to get with it!).  I understand that the 2 monitors are very different (at least in that one is TN and the other ISP) but I'd like them to match as well as possible. (So that any work I do on the laptop only might need a little tweaking on the monitor?)  I'm looking at the spyder 3pro and the i1display2 (thinking that the newer ones are just too new from what I've read here).

The technical reports have my eyes rolling back in my head. I just don't know enough to make any sense of them. I just want to be able to somewhat accurately see colors on my monitors that will give me more confidence to print. At the same time, I have a more complex printing job that I will need to do as soon as I get this - I need to send out CMYK images to a publisher for a book. I've been advised (by johnbeardy on this site) to try to obtain an ICC profile from the printer. Does this influence my decision about which color calibration device to get?

And then there is just reading the varying "reviews" on the devices with about equal "this is the worst" and "this is the best" for each one I've looked at. I can only think that this must reflect user error but perhaps it reflects a poor choice given the job that is needed.

Can someone give me some guidance?

Many thanks.

[Ed Foster, Jr.]

The more I read the more I get confused regarding the various devices. I am a complete novice with these so, bear with me.

I am looking to get a device to calibrate both my MacBook and the HP ZR24w... <snip>

Can someone give me some guidance?

Jeorf,

You are wise to be concerned about monitor calibration.  It is nearly impossible to really know what you doing on-screen without a good monitor calibration routine. When I entered the digital realm in the mid to late 1990’s, Andrew Rodney suggested a package with an X-Rite colorimeter.  I was amazed at the difference and the consistency of my work afterward.

As you have found out there are quite a few different modestly priced device and software packages on the market and each of the manufacturers touts the benefits of why theirs is the best. Over the ensuing years of first entering color management, I have been very well pleased with X-Rite’s devices and software from a practical and professional user viewpoint.

So, cutting the bottom line, I don’t believe that you will go wrong with x-rite’s display pro, which should provide a most suitable display profiling solution for your needs at a reasonable cost.

Good Luck,

[James Billett]

I used the Spyder3pro last year and found the results to be very inconsistent, I decided to sell it to a student on my course and bought the X-rite i1 which I found to be much more consistent.

[ComputerDork]

I can't say if the Spyder 3 is really that great because it's the only one I've ever used, but if you get that one I'd look carefully at the Spyder3pro vs. Spyder3elite. After I bought the elite I was glad I did because there seemed to be a few features that the pro doesn't have that the elite does that turned out to be pretty important.

I have also read that colorimeters are best when "tuned" to the color of the RGB components of a specific monitor. If I buy this fancy wide gamut NEC monitor I plan to get their colorimeter for this purpose. (Reviews I've read say it seriously outperforms the others on this particular monitor that it's made for.)

[feppe]

I can't say if the Spyder 3 is really that great because it's the only one I've ever used, but if you get that one I'd look carefully at the Spyder3pro vs. Spyder3elite. After I bought the elite I was glad I did because there seemed to be a few features that the pro doesn't have that the elite does that turned out to be pretty important.

To clarify, the Pro and Elite have the same hardware, just the software is different.

Also, the puck can be used with other software, although YMMV. For example, Pro doesn't have projector calibration with the software that comes with it, but the puck can be used with free HCFR software to calibrate projectors.

But yeah, the differences between the different Spyder packages are significant and well worth a close scrutiny. Unless one is a tinkerer it's probably not worth the hassle to use non-native software.