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Author Topic: is colormunki overkill with new iMac & no printer, or still better than spyder3?  (Read 3598 times)

kimballistic

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Hi everyone,

I have the new 27" iMac.  I need to calibrate/profile it before I waste any more time processing my photos.  :)

From reading the forum I've narrowed my top choices to

1) $450 Colormunki
2) $300 Color Eyes Display Pro with Spyder 3 puck
3) $190 Spyder 3 Elite
4) $125 Spyder 3 puck with dispcalGUI

Obviously there's a wide range of prices here.  I'm not too concerned about price, but the Colormunki is at my limit.  And I certainly don't want to pay more over time by buying cheap stuff in the beginning.  I've already done that with cameras. :-\

I do not have a printer and I do not see myself getting one in the next 3-5 years.  I intend to find a good print lab.  Is the colormunki overkill in that case, or would it make sense to use the colormunki to generate my own profiles for prints from my lab?

Also, will the colormunki give me a higher quality calibration since it's a spectrophotometer instead of "just" a colorimeter like the Spyder 3?

Thanks,

Brian
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digitaldog

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Also, will the colormunki give me a higher quality calibration since it's a spectrophotometer instead of "just" a colorimeter like the Spyder 3?

In terms of measuring color, especially if you end up with a wider gamut display (or an LED) yes. Not as good at measuring darker colors but the tool you’d want if you ever decide to build printer profiles.
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kimballistic

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In terms of measuring color, especially if you end up with a wider gamut display (or an LED) yes. Not as good at measuring darker colors but the tool you’d want if you ever decide to build printer profiles.

Andrew, thank you so much for the response.  I really appreciate hearing from an expert in the field.

So the 2010 iMac is LED backlit, which leads me to conclude that the colormunki is more appropriate than the spyder 3.

But in my reading I've stumbled across this white paper from x-rite which suggests colorimeters are far better for our amateur purposes.  X-Rite makes the colormunki too so I can't believe they are just biased toward colorimeters.  This author explains the point you raised earlier about measuring darker colors being problematic due to signal-to-noise issues.

I also see this post on curtpalme.com that goes out of the way to recommend avoiding the spyder 3.  I've seen similar reports of spyder 3 inconsistencies elsewhere.

So with the colormunki out, and with the spyder 3 out, I look at the i1display2.  And then I come across numerous anecdotes of it not playing nicely with LED displays.

Oy vey.  Back to square one: colormunki.

How bad are the shadows with colormunki-generated profiles?  Or is this a non-issue in everyday amateur use on narrow-gamut displays?

Thanks again.  I'll buy your book, I swear.  ;D
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PhilipCummins

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How bad are the shadows with colormunki-generated profiles?  Or is this a non-issue in everyday amateur use on narrow-gamut displays?

I haven't noticed it being that bad to be honest... (at least, on my laptop & PC monitors; both are not wide gamut). BTW, you can get the ColorMunki Photo for under $400 US on eBay. If you really want to experiment, you can get Argyll + Dispcal GUI to do this.
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Alan Goldhammer

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BTW, you can get the ColorMunki Photo for under $400 US on eBay.
I just received an e-mail from Atlex offering ColorMunki at $339 after a $50 mail in rebate.
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howardm

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good price.  I got my Munki in January on an Amazon Goldbox sale for $359 and they included a free mini ColorChecker chart which has a $50 value.

digitaldog

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But in my reading I've stumbled across this white paper from x-rite which suggests colorimeters are far better for our amateur purposes. 

Right, a mated colorimeter is the preferred instrument but none exist for your display. A Colorimeter will do a better job measuring dark colors but can (will) suffer when measuring an illuminant its not expecting. A Spectrophotometer will have no such issues. So the ColorMunki in this case will be a better option for you.
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kimballistic

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Thank you!  Proceeding with colormunki.
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stefano

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Here is another endorsement for the colormunki. Works very well in my iMac 27" and on my MacBook Pro, and the moment you decide to get a printer you will be very happy to own a ColorMunki. I have a Datacolor Spyder also, but I would never go back to it from the Munki
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