Need Help w/Spyder3 Elite, Pls.

sara505

After spending several days trying to calibrate a monitor that turned out to be the wrong one (s2209w - but it would be best to banish this model # from one's mind asap), and have now received the correct one. the dell 2209wa, but am having a terrible time with it, even though I have another one, identical, in my alternate location, and have it calibrated nicely and do so regularly with no problems.

I have reset all the controls to factory settings.

I'm using Full Calibration.

I am using the ambient light control in order to use the white luminance control, which is set at 125.

I've got gamma set at 2.2, Kelvin at 6500 (all recommended settings)

My room is measuring moderately low for ambient light (depending on where I put the sensor and whether my shades are drawn or not.)

I have the brightness level on the monitor turned at its very lowest setting "0," and my screen is still measuring 144.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

ivar

sara505 wrote:

but am having a terrible time with it,

what exactly is the problem?

Terrence

I recently had a heck of a time with my Spyder 3, but I am using Color Eyes Display Pro, so I don't know if any of this will translate. I found the following to work for me:

0. Wait until night, after the sun is completely down and there is no ambient light entering the room. You'll want the room as dark as possible.
1. Make sure the display is on and warmed up for about 1 hour.
2. Set the Spyder 3 on the display and leave it there for about 15 minutes so it adjusts to the temp of the display.
3. Set up calibration software for your target white point (120cd/m2 in my case), desired gamma (2.2 for me) and desired color temperature (D65/6500K for me).
4. Turn of all lamps, room lights, and other sources of light, other than the display itself (I even close the door) and start the calibration.

I learned this after trying to calibrate mid-day with ambient light all over and bouncing off the display. There is enough of a gap between the Spyder 3 and the display that ambient light will reflect into the sensor and throw off the measurement.

Another thing I learned from the Color Eyes forum is the ambient compensating feature of the Spyder (and other software packages) is really a waste because an accurate calibration depends on everything staying the same. Once the light changes, the calibration has to be re-done.

Granted, this is probably splitting hairs and is a real pain for those of us without the luxury of purpose-built editing suites and perfectly daylight balanced light sources, but if you want the ultimate precision you have to remove all the variables you can.