Just bought a Spyder2 express

[PSA DC-9-30]

Did I make a wise choice (using a ViewSonic CRT for a few months more as a stopgap measure)? I set out to find a Pantone Huey, but no one around here (Vancouver, Canada) had one in stock, so I bought the Spyder2 express. I'm about to open the box and install...any suggestions?

The guy who sold me this told me that older CRTs tend to lose brightness over time and that I should set the brightness much higher than I think it should be, then calibrate with the Spyder, which will bring it down to where it should be.

Actually, my problem with this monitor is with calibrating the brightness--I think my colors are fine.

[Richowens]

Kevin,

 The calibration software should guide you about where to set the brightness, whether you start high or low.
 Set for D6500, gamma 2.2 and 100 cd/m as your target. If yours is like mine you won't reach 100 but it will be ok.

 Rich

[digitaldog]

The higher you drive the luminance of any display, the less it will hold that over time, they wear out, even LCDs. You want to match the luminance to the ambient light under which you'll be working. Lower is generally better since you want that display to be useful as long as possible.

You'd be hard pressed to get a CRT to last very long at much over 100 cd/m2. 90-95 is a better target, but you need to be in that much a dimmer environment to view the display (25 lux or so).

[PSA DC-9-30]

I did the calibration last night and some of the colors do look better. The monitor was indeed too dark. However now, much of what I'm seeing seems as if it were in a fog, almost as if the contrast had been sucked out of the midtones.