Dell U2414H calibration confusion with Spyder2

[Greg11]

Hi Everyone,

I'm an enthusiast photographer in the middle of overhauling my printing workflow, aiming at eliminating as many variables as I can to work towards more satisfactory prints.

I've got myself a new Dell monitor, but one of its features has caught me by surprise.

Is anyone out there able to shed light on my dilemma? It's the Dell 2414H monitor, and I'm confused about its horrible selection of color presets.

I brought the Dell because of positive reviews from the photographic world, but, horrors, it comes with all manner of unwanted presets. (Screenshot 1 of the on-screen display, taken from TFT Central for convenience, not my settings) The default color preset is standard, btw.

I use the Spyder2 calibrating device, the Spyder2express_2.3.6 to be precise, and this works smoothly in W7 x64.

During calibration I get Screenshot 2, confirming that the profile will automatically load with Lightroom.

Now everything is most likely fine, because when I boot up my pc, I get a further confirmation that the profile has successfully loaded. However, as I'm having lots of issues getting my monitor and prints to match, I'm looking at any and every angle.

So I just need to know, if I reset the monitor to factory default, calibrate, then Lightroom will find the correct preset every time, and I don't need to do anything further.

Any tips and pointers gratefully received. Thanks All!

W7 x64, Lr 5.7, Ps5.

[deejjjaaaa]

I use the Spyder2 calibrating device, the Spyder2express_2.3.6 to be precise, and this works smoothly in W7 x64.

you can actually start with throwing it (Spyder 2) out and buying i1DisplayPro Colorimeter and then getting Argyll (U2414H is not hardware calibrateable - so Argyll is the way to go) with Dispcal UI = http://dispcalgui.hoech.net/   (it is a free software)

it has a nice FAQ/help there

[D Fosse]

Absolutely. The Spyder2 is cr*p (I have one).

3 and 4 are vastly better, but still the i1 D3 is the best buy on the market.

[eliedinur]

Aside from questions about the quality or lack of quality of the calibrator (I have Spyder4 Pro and Dell U2311H), to answer your real question as posted above,

"then Lightroom will find the correct preset every time, and I don't need to do anything further"

Lightroom and Photoshop use whatever monitor profile is set as your system default - automatically, nothing for you to do other than checking that the profile made by the Spyder2 is indeed the system default. The DataColor software should have made its profile the default, but just to be sure go to Control Panel>Color Management>Devices tab. Set the device menu to the Dell and the profile should be listed in the box below. If it is not already the default, select it and click the Set as Default Profile button.

[chris24]

Hi,

To me, your problem comes from your colorimeter. Unfortunately, the Spyder 2 (that lots of people baught) is not reliable.
You should reset your monitor and calibrate it with a Spyder4 Pro, which is not only for pros but simply one of the best colorimeter for every photographs ! You'll find many valuable advices in this very comprehensive guide created by a french photographer specialized in color managment : http://color-management-guide.com/advices-buy-purchase-colorimeter-monitors-calibration.html 

[D Fosse]

Now that we all agree the Spyder 2 is no good, back to the original question about monitor presets.

A calibration and profiling can in principle be based on any of those presets. But most of them limit the unit's response in some way, to achieve a certain "effect". You don't want "effects"; you want a response that is as linear and neutral and unrestricted as possible.

That means the "custom color" preset. Set the unit to that and ignore the others.

Next, and this is important: Set the white point luminance and temperature. This is the crucial first step in the calibration. What you're aiming for here is a visual match to paper white. Normally, that means values in the vicinity of 120 cd/m² and 6500K. But it depends on the ambient light. This is where the disconnect between screen and print most often happens!

High-end calibrators for high-end displays will let you set these values directly, and the calibrator then communicates with the monitor and adjusts the monitor hardware.

The Spyder isn't quite as advanced, so it has to do these adjustments in the video card, which is suboptimal for a lot of reasons. Much better to do it by adjusting the monitor OSD controls. Many calibrators, for this reason, have a "pre-calibration" function where it reads the values off the screen as you adjust manually. The Spyder "express" edition may not have this.

Once you have the white point set this way, the "normal" calibration can start. This linearizes the three channels to give a neutral color response.

That's the calibration part done, but this isn't all. Next, a monitor profile is made. The profile is a complete and detailed description of the monitor's response in its now calibrated state. This profile is used by color managed software, as a normal profile conversion in the display pipeline, and adds another level of precision.