[slip]

The benifits of a monitor calibrator are many (not the software calibrators like adobe gamma)

1) you will acually see what your camera is capable of..... a calibrated monitor will show you EXACTLY the right colors, hues, etc that you want out of your camera.

2) you can get the same colors at your printer as on your computer monitor

3) you can see websites in the exact way that they are mean't to be viewed

4) you can be confident in your photo editing as your input will be the same as the output (providing you don't go to Walmart for your printing)

5) very easy to do..... I have a GretagMacbeth Eye1 display, and it is a walk through the park to use.

6) you can select a color temperature to display your photos so they look the same as the printer...

7) seems rather strange that people would spend hundreds of dollars on camera equipment, lenses, computers, and let an uncalibrated monitor be the weakest link

They range from the Huey for under $100 dollars

review: Pantone Huey review



then the next one up is the eye1 display


here is the review:
Eye One Display 2 monitor profiling review

and another opinion
Eye-One Display 2
I can't remember the exact price, but is around a couple of hundred dollars or so.

I calibrate my monitor with the eyeone display and get all of my prints at Costco. I get EXACTLY printed what I see on my monitor.
at $2.99 canadian dollars for an 8x12" and 3.99 for a 12x18" I don't think I can get the paper and the ink for my inkjet for that price. they use professional paper and the results are second to none

These are two affordable examples, with the eyeone display being the more accurate of the two.

some food for though on how to make photography a better experence for you

cheers

[clarenceclose]

I guess I have been lucky so far with the Adobe gamma (though it is a bit of a pain) as my shots have come out looking like the corrected colors on my monitor. (maybe my eyes aren't so good anymore too) This looks like a reasonable cost approach to monitor calibration over others that I have read about on the net and probably a lot easier to do than the Adobe fix.
Sure wish we had a Costco here.
Thanks for the info.
Going to have to do more sidewalk and driveway shoveling for the neighbors so I can afford all the extra hardware and LBA that is coming my way.

[Heinrich Lohmann]

You are absolutely right, I use Monaco, EZcolor and OPTIXxr. You can not get consistent color without some sort of color managment.

Take care, heinrich

[slip]

I guess I have been lucky so far with the Adobe gamma (though it is a bit of a pain) as my shots have come out looking like the corrected colors on my monitor. (maybe my eyes aren't so good anymore too) This looks like a reasonable cost approach to monitor calibration over others that I have read about on the net and probably a lot easier to do than the Adobe fix.
Sure wish we had a Costco here.
Thanks for the info.
Going to have to do more sidewalk and driveway shoveling for the neighbors so I can afford all the extra hardware and LBA that is coming my way.

In the case of Adobe Gamma..... it is your judgement that makes the calibration, with a monitor calibrator, your monitor will be calibrated to internation standards.

BTW, if you can change the color temperture of your monitor, the default is usually 9300K which gives a cold cast.
move it to 6500K for normal viewing, or 5000k for proofing prints.
you will notice a warm yellow cast, but your eyes get used to it and soon your will like it a lot more.

cheers

[Heinrich Lohmann]

If costco does your printing you can go one better. Dowload the printer profile for your particular costco store, embed it and tell costco on your print order: no adjustments. You'll find the profile page here:
Canada digital photo lab profiles

[slip]

If costco does your printing you can go one better. Dowload the printer profile for your particular costco store, embed it and tell costco on your print order: no adjustments. You'll find the profile page here:
Canada digital photo lab profiles

thanks.... that is exactly where I get mine.
I guess I will have to give a lesson in soft proofing with that profile soon.....

[ericc]

Good points Randy. I have had the Huey for about 6 weeks now and I am very pleased with the performance. I didn't need the spyder2 package and they huey was about the right price. Yes, the software is a little dumbed down but that's OK for me for now. Perhaps I'll bite the bullet on the spyder2 next year. After the K10D and the new flash and the new printer and ....

One thing I'm pleased to report is the first batch of prints that I made after calibrating (at Walmart no less) were markedly better than the previous batches I had printed. I'm actually quite chuffed at this years' Christmas card photo.

[slip]

Good points Randy. I have had the Huey for about 6 weeks now and I am very pleased with the performance. I didn't need the spyder2 package and they huey was about the right price. Yes, the software is a little dumbed down but that's OK for me for now. Perhaps I'll bite the bullet on the spyder2 next year. After the K10D and the new flash and the new printer and ....

One thing I'm pleased to report is the first batch of prints that I made after calibrating (at Walmart no less) were markedly better than the previous batches I had printed. I'm actually quite chuffed at this years' Christmas card photo.

Thank you Eric
I am sure the Huey would fit the needs of 80% of the people..... I guess being really a sort of a perfectionist when it comes to color matching, I fall into the 20%
I did not meantion the other solutions that costs thousands.... I am not that fussy

cheers

[jfdavis58]

Before any tutorials or suggestions to folks that they start messing with system settings-like monitor color temperature and profiles, we better be on the right page of the manual.

In practice and the absence of a specific calibration package like those from Pantone/Huey/Gretag-Macbeth/Monaco/or SpyderVision the notion of resetting the monitor color temp to a lower color temp is good advice. This has little to do with the monitor and more to do with the fact that we use mostly tungston lighting in our homes. It's C-temp is about 3500K.

With any of the above packages, a step to reset the monitor color temp is included in the process and the specific directions call for setting the temp of the monitor to match the temp of the light surrounding the monitor. Matching in this fashion is the greatest possible relief for eye strain. It is synonymous to the WBing done in camera!

Precise matching would require a Light Color Temperature Meter, an expensive luxury. The simplest solution is to use your camera custom WB feature and a white card in the 'surrounding light'; match the WB temp in the EXIF of a sample image of the working environment around the monitor to enter the appropriate value into the calibration software editbox.

Third party profiles are provided for Soft Proofing; "what might the print look like if sent to xyz printer is shown on the users monitor---it's a best guess assuming good monitor calibration and profiling and very useful for certain green-yellow and red-orange problems.

Costco and the source of their profiles: "http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/profiles.htm"] (and most other color space aware printing organizations) state(s) quite clearly that they EXPECT an sRGB color space tag on a file sized to 300 ppi for the desire output, i.e 1200 by 1800 pixels for a 4 by 6 inch print.

To use the Costco profile as the tag might cause double application of the same profile. This will generally not occur if the file header and the EXIF are included with the submission--software is supposed to recognize the input colorspace tag. This is usually why folks get away with improper tagging. If for some reason the header and the EXIF tag are deleted or damaged and the print software is asked to assume a profile, it will assume sRGB and the print will be wrong. Many low priced/third tier (P&S) cameras and similar (proprietary) editing packages produce a protocol correct, basic JPEG (one without a colorspace tag). Assigning other than sRGB will be a disaster.

[slip]

Before any tutorials or suggestions to folks that they start messing with system settings-like monitor color temperature and profiles, we better be on the right page of the manual.

In practice and the absence of a specific calibration package like those from Pantone/Huey/Gretag-Macbeth/Monaco/or SpyderVision the notion of resetting the monitor color temp to a lower color temp is good advice. This has little to do with the monitor and more to do with the fact that we use mostly tungston lighting in our homes. It's C-temp is about 3500K.

With any of the above packages, a step to reset the monitor color temp is included in the process and the specific directions call for setting the temp of the monitor to match the temp of the light surrounding the monitor. Matching in this fashion is the greatest possible relief for eye strain. It is synonymous to the WBing done in camera!

Precise matching would require a Light Color Temperature Meter, an expensive luxury. The simplest solution is to use your camera custom WB feature and a white card in the 'surrounding light'; match the WB temp in the EXIF of a sample image of the working environment around the monitor to enter the appropriate value into the calibration software editbox.

Third party profiles are provided for Soft Proofing; "what might the print look like if sent to xyz printer is shown on the users monitor---it's a best guess assuming good monitor calibration and profiling and very useful for certain green-yellow and red-orange problems.

Costco and the source of their profiles: "http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/profiles.htm"] (and most other color space aware printing organizations) state(s) quite clearly that they EXPECT an sRGB color space tag on a file sized to 300 ppi for the desire output, i.e 1200 by 1800 pixels for a 4 by 6 inch print.

To use the Costco profile as the tag might cause double application of the same profile. This will generally not occur if the file header and the EXIF are included with the submission--software is supposed to recognize the input colorspace tag. This is usually why folks get away with improper tagging. If for some reason the header and the EXIF tag are deleted or damaged and the print software is asked to assume a profile, it will assume sRGB and the print will be wrong. Many low priced/third tier (P&S) cameras and similar (proprietary) editing packages produce a protocol correct, basic JPEG (one without a colorspace tag). Assigning other than sRGB will be a disaster.

Hi jfdavis:

what I am trying to do is make it as simple as possible for ppl to understand.

here is a bit more information about white point color temperature:

Choosing white point and gamma settings: The whole purpose of monitor calibration and profiling is to create a situation where the image on your monitor is a close match to the image as it will appear on a print, a proof, a press sheet — or, if your work is destined for the web, as viewed on the average un-calibrated PC or Mac monitor. The white point may range from 5000K (yellow-red) to 6500K (bluer).

here is the link to the drawn out explaination: UPDIG: Monitor Calibration hopefully this will explain better what I am trying to help people understand.
BTW, only the newest calibrators are capable of taking into consideration of the ambient light in the room..... my eye one display doesn't
As far as the costco explanation goes, I am just explaining what works for me

cheers

[Cloggie_UK]

Hi, I have got the GretagMacbeth Eye-one display 2 but when using the advanced way of calibrating my monitor and get to the part where you have to set your brightness to 0 and then turn it up until the software prompts you, I never get to this stage. It continues to ask me to turn the brightness up and never get to the "optimum brightness reached" stage.

Any ideas??

Thanks,

René

[tswill2]

Does anyone have experience with the ColorVision Spyder2 Express unit? I did a Amazon check and it is available for $65 vs $70 for the Huey. Which is the better package? Any comparison reviews?
Tom

[slip]

Hi, I have got the GretagMacbeth Eye-one display 2 but when using the advanced way of calibrating my monitor and get to the part where you have to set your brightness to 0 and then turn it up until the software prompts you, I never get to this stage. It continues to ask me to turn the brightness up and never get to the "optimum brightness reached" stage.

Any ideas??

Thanks,

René

Hi Rene

My monitor doesn't reach the optimum brightness either. how close does it come?
there are 3 things you can do.....
1) if it is really close like mine, then once it gets to that stage, instead of waiting just push the button (I can't remember what the button says, it's either cancel, finished, continue etc) and then just continue

2) once the software wants you to adjust the monitor brightness, and you know you did it a short time ago, just skip that process and go to the next one

3) use the simple instead of the advanced controls at the beginning.
I wouldn't do #3 unless the brightness is way off. advanced is the best way to do it.

hope this helps?
BTW, my eye one has exactly the same software as your eyeone 2

cheers

[Cloggie_UK]

No it doesn't even come close... The indicator is over to the far left and doesn't move. It just keeps telling me to increase brightness until I can't go no further.

The simple mode leaves my monitor washed out so I don't want to use it.

René

[slip]

No it doesn't even come close... The indicator is over to the far left and doesn't move. It just keeps telling me to increase brightness until I can't go no further.

The simple mode leaves my monitor washed out so I don't want to use it.

René

HI again, Rene

It sounds like your monitor is not doing so well.
is it a crt or lcd?
the other thing to try is to update the eyeone match software and try again.
could be that your monitor is just to worn out to adjust.

let me know how you make out.

randy