Color calibration for Win 8 machine

HarlanBear

Hi All,

Had to get a new computer and got a Dell with Win 8, which is okay, but appears my Spyder2express, which worked great in Vista, is not compatible with Win 8. It will not read that I have a Spyder 2 device plugged in. Has anyone had experience with a good calibrator that works with Win 8?

Thanks,

Sam

HarlanBear wrote: »

Hi All,

Had to get a new computer and got a Dell with Win 8, which is okay, but appears my Spyder2express, which worked great in Vista, is not compatible with Win 8. It will not read that I have a Spyder 2 device plugged in. Has anyone had experience with a good calibrator that works with Win 8?

Thanks,

I don't know the Spyder product line, but it looks like the Spyder2Express is an older model.

Their website shows a model Spyder4express that is compatible with win 8 and is pretty cheap at $119.00.

I would highly recommend giving the manufacturer a call and you can get the real story from the horses mouth.

Sam

Newsy

Time to retire the Spyder 2 as in all likelihood the sensor color filters have aged and are not longer accurate.

What monitor did you get with your Dell system? If you bought one of the new UltraSharp's, the U2413, U2713H, or U3014, then you definitely want to consider the X-Rite i1 Display Pro due these models have a writable LUT. Other UltraSharp models don't offer this feature.

This colorimeter is a mid priced unit in the $250-300 USD range. Mid priced means it is not as expensive as the $1000 to $2000 spectrophotometers the pro's use to calibrate HDTV's and other devices. This particular model's hardware "puck" can be used with the Dell OEM calibration software that allows you to write your ICC profile to the internal LUT (Look Up Table) of the monitor. By doing so, using the 14bit LUT of the monitor, you potentially lower the amount of banding that can be seen in color gradients over the method most people use to calibrate a monitor. There are some other advantages as well but reduction of banding and color accuracy are the two key points.

There are a couple of other hardware colorimater kits you can consider but none work with the Dell software.

Most people buy one of the following hardware colormeters and calibrate their monitors with it and also create an ICC profile that the OS uses and is often referenced by color managed software such as Adobe Photoshop CS3/4/5/6 or FireFox and others. The ICC profile is written to the computers hard drive and loaded at boot up into the 8bit (typical) LUT of the video card. 8bit means possibly more issues with banding in gradients as versus 14bit when using the internal LUT of one of the advanced monitors listed above.


X-Rite Colormunki Display (about $250 in Canada; maybe $160 in US)
- uses a similar puck to the i1 Display Pro but this model is locked to the software that comes with the kit. I believe you cannot even use it with open source 3rd party calibration software like Argyll or HCFR
- noticeably slower than the i1 Display Pro


Spyder 4 Express (cheapest)
- bare bones feature set
- a lot of people buy this model to get the puck and then use it with Argyll or HCFR for their more advanced feature sets including the ability to read the white luminance level (Brightness) of the monitor.
- I don't recommend this model to anyone except if using Argyll or HCFR


Spyder 4 Elite or Pro (about $250 and $160 USA)
- their pucks can be used with 3rd party software as above
- most people use the Spyder supplied software to calibrate as it is easy to use
- the Elite offers the most features including a module dedicated to setting the brightness of the monitor (something I find very useful)


Go to this link, scroll to the bottom, and click on the "Comparison" tab to compare Spyder model features:
http://spyder.datacolor.com/portfolio-view/spyder4elite/


You can read reviews here:
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/reviews.html#Monitor_profiling

.

HarlanBear

Sam wrote: »

I don't know the Spyder product line, but it looks like the Spyder2Express is an older model.

Their website shows a model Spyder4express that is compatible with win 8 and is pretty cheap at $119.00.

I would highly recommend giving the manufacturer a call and you can get the real story from the horses mouth.

Sam

Thanks, Sam. Good idea on contacting Datacolor on this, though I'm always leery of salesperson talk and like to know others' real world experience as well.

HarlanBear

Newsy wrote: »

What monitor did you get with your Dell system? If you bought one of the new UltraSharp's, the U2413, U2713H, or U3014, then you definitely want to consider the X-Rite i1 Display Pro due these models have a writable LUT. Other UltraSharp models don't offer this feature.

I have a Dell 2209WA 22" monitor, which I have had for a while and really love. Bought it because it was a good priced IPS panel monitor. I've also had very good experience with it matching lab prints, etc., using the Spyder2express. But you are right; time to retire that piece of equipment and move on. And thanks for the info on other calibrators. This is one good reason I come to DG when I have equipment and other photo related questions: helpful and very knowledgeable info.

I will research the options you recommend.

Thanks for the help, Newsy. Much appreciated.

Newsy

I have a 2209WA in portrait mode next to a Dell U2412M. They almost match perfectly when freshly calibrated. I'm looking to replace my current i1 Display2 which I have been unhappy with from day one due software glitches with dual monitors. My old Spyder2 Pro was flawless in that respect.

I'm probably going to go i1 Display Pro just in case my next monitor is one of the Dell's or an NEC. With NEC I can also use the i1 Display Pro's puck. I have been dithering for months simply because I'm still so ticked off from dealing with X-Rite a couple of years ago.

.