Windows 7 calibration

[stamper]

Is the display calibration in windows 7 a substitute for Spyder or similar products? Or is it similar to the Adobe gamma utility, pretty useless?

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

Is the display calibration in windows 7 a substitute for Spyder or similar products? Or is it similar to the Adobe gamma utility, pretty useless?

The so-called calibration without a measuring device allows for full use of the possible monitor gamut under normal conditions. No more. It will never guarantee some sort of wysiwyg. So - pretty useless.

If you want a color managed workflow there is no way to go around a measuring device.
I myself use Windows 7 64bit Ultimate and a DTP94 with an Eizo CG 243 W Monitor,
which is a great combo and gave me a quantum leap in image processing.
But the biggest leap was not the awesome cool Monitor, but the measuring cell and the software
which was delivered with it.

[stamper]

The so-called calibration without a measuring device allows for full use of the possible monitor gamut under normal conditions. No more. It will never guarantee some sort of wysiwyg. So - pretty useless.

If you want a color managed workflow there is no way to go around a measuring device.
I myself use Windows 7 64bit Ultimate and a DTP94 with an Eizo CG 243 W Monitor,
which is a great combo and gave me a quantum leap in image processing.
But the biggest leap was not the awesome cool Monitor, but the measuring cell and the software
which was delivered with it.

Thanks for the reply. I am using Spyder express and I wondered if the Windows 7 calibration was better?

[Pat Herold]

From a serious photographer's point of view, a non-instrument calibration is pretty useless.  On the other hand, this kind of calibration is better than no calibration at all.  But in the end, you really need some quality instrument to measure color (rather than depend on your eyes to do this) in order to get accuracy and especially consistency in your monitor image.  

Just this week we put out a newsletter article that talks about the different calibration devices out there, and which ones are better for what:
http://www.colorwiki.com/wiki/Profiling_Devices_for_Monitors