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Bruce I
Registered Users Posts: 14 Big grins
How hard is it to calibrate the monitor with this ?? I'm not real computer literate ...I get by nicely .. I have an older monitor too Videoseven .. thanks for all answers !!
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If I had it to do again, I'd have just got the ColorMunki to begin with since it calibrates printers as well as monitors. But alas.
http://spyder.datacolor.com/s3compare.php
This is because a lot of people now are considering using a dual monitor set-up and the Elite just makes the task of getting two external monitors to look similar so much more easier than either the Spyder3 Express or Pro models.
The Elite has full function software where the Express and Pro are crippled. The key feature that the Elite offers is that it has a dedicated function to target a specific monitor brightness and then walk you through measuring and setting that brightness level. The Pro only reports the brightness at the end of the calibration session and the Express does not quantify it at all. Brightness is measured by the white luminance value of the monitor.
If you have two monitors sitting side by side, you want them to look a close to identical as possible. In addition to setting gamma (2.2) and temperature (usually 6500K), and adjusting RGB values to get as close to the sRGB standard as possible, you also need to ensure they are similar in brightness. Your eye is not a good instrument to do this. It has too many perceptual issues to be accurate.
Brightness is critical if you do any editing of images where you adjust the brightness of the image via levels or other means. If you're editing on a monitor that is too bright in contrast to the the ambient lighting levels of the room you edit in, your eyes' perceptual bias will fool you into lowering the levels of the image. When you later print that edited image, you'll find that it appears too dark when viewed under normal light levels.
There is no one specific white luminance value that is "correct". The proper white luminance value is only known for sure from edited prints. What is typical is this:
80 cd/m2 ...... a very dark room
120 cd/m2 .... a typical setting for a moderately lit room
150 cd/m2 .... maybe the level for a commercial office that meets WCB light levels
If you're shopping the used market... be aware that the Spyder2 series is not recommended for use with "wide gamut" monitors, strictly standard sRGB color space monitors. Your current monitor is most likely a standard sRGB monitor. Also be aware that the Spyder2 is a LOT slower than the Spyder3 and as you should re-calibrate at least every couple of months, you may find the time savings worthwhile to justify a few extra $$$.
For the most part, with a single monitor the calibration process is easy - just follow the instructions. Setting the brightness is the most tedious part as you will have to do some print comparisons between an un-edited image and edited versions of the image to determine if you have the "right" brightness level.
However, the Elite also has a light sensor that measures the ambient brightness of your editing space and will suggest you use a certain white luminance value. It's not 100% accurate, but it gets you close.
A couple of other points.... if you are still using WinXP, a calibrator can be somewhat problematic as the native version of WinXP lacks a color management utility (there is a download from MS though). Vista and Win7 have this. Your OS is??
Your monitor may not have a full set of controls to allow you to make the most of a calibrator.
The calibrator I'm suggesting probably costs more than your monitor and it may not make enough of a difference to justify purchasing it.
Perhaps you should try this next web site and see if it helps:
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/
For setting brightness you can try this very rough method - grab a sheaf of white printer paper (several pages thick) and hold it up next to your monitor while it is displaying a white screen and while the room has its' typical lighting used while you edit. If the paper looks brighter than your monitor, then your monitor is too dark. If the paper is darker, then the monitor is too bright or perhaps you need to increase the ambient lighting of the room. The paper will appear yellow under incandescent lighting so another trick is to buy some 6500K compact fluorescent bulbs for the lighting in your room (if your monitor temp is 6500K) and use them while attempting this paper method.
FWIW... I previously used the Spyder2 Pro (the Spyder3 Elite replaced this model) and I now use a Xrite i1 Display2 with dual monitors. If I had to buy another calibrator today, I'd likely get the Spyder3 Elite. I don't print much at home.
Bruce... I see you are in Ontario. I'm in BC. Western Canada pricing for this type of hardware is a rip-off imho. Locally I'm looking at about $320 for either the Spyder3 Elite or i1 Display2. With our dollar being so strong atm against the US dollar, I suggest you look at ordering online from a US reseller if you can't find a good price from Henry's, Vistek, or Aden in the Toronto area. I've used B&H and found them very good to deal with - you can get the Elite for about $186 US today.
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As for what target calibration settings to select, its all about matching to the print. All summed up here:http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/why_are_my_prints_too_dark.shtml
Author "Color Management for Photographers"
http://www.digitaldog.net/
Thanks so much everyone!
Keep an eye on EBay and/or Craigslist for a Spyder 3 Elite. You'll save a bundle.
www.leefortier.com
Here's a fix that worked for me. I downloaded the drivers for Vista 64 bit...worked like a charm. I too thought that I was going to be forced into buying an upgrade. Found this fix by doing some research on the INTERNET. This worked on my new AMD Phenom 2 X4 system as of November 2010.
Hope it helps you.
Educate yourself like you'll live forever and live like you'll die tomorrow.
Ed
I wish that worked for everyone, but some of us are having a problem that although the program will run with the Vista driver it starts to flash a solid gray screen which prevents calibration. checking around it seems people think it might be caused by the monitor driver. In my case I kept my old monitor when I got new tower, and there is no new driver for the monitor, so we think that's probably the problem. Have to either buy new monitor when I have no real reason to replace the one I have, or upgrade to Spyder3.
It's worth giving a try, but if you run into the gray screen problem check for updated monitor driver.
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I don't think the monitor driver is the issue. In my experience it was the video card utility that was the culprit.
As I understand it, when you "install" the OEM monitor driver its' main function is to copy to your drive the manufacturers' default ICC profile for the monitor and then set this as the default profile which can be seen in the Windows Color Management utility.
Something like this:
You can see here my custom calibration profiles but also at the bottom of the list the OEM Dell ICC profile loaded by the driver.
I've used a Spyder2 Pro on my Vista 64bit system without any hiccups.
Where I've run into problems was I when I added a second monitor. I changed from a Nvidia GPU to an AMD/ATi GPU and once into the new ATi utility I started fiddling with settings. Then I acquired the second monitor and a new Xrite i1 Display2 colorimeter. I had all kinds of issues with the i1D2 - fixed gray screens that prevented calibration and other wierd issues like no auto sensing of the puck.
It turns out it was a function within the ATi Catalyst Control video utility and once disabled, everything worked fine. Under "Hydravision" I disabled the "Desktop Manager" and that fixed the issues.
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Much better software than Spyder
Gear List: Canon 5D Mm2 | T1i (backup) | 16-35 2.8L | 27-200 2.8L Mk2 | 24-105 4L | Sigma 85mm 1.4 | Canon 580ex flash
Hmm... I didn't realize it needed to be dark to calibrate. Mine took readings of the ambient light prior to calibration. My dgrin isn't green and black, it's more brown and black to me. Lol. Guess I need to spend more time with it.
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I didn't see anywhere that calibration had to be done in a totally dark room. unless that is how you have the room when you do your workflow, it doesn't make sense to me. Why would the ambient reading step even be necessary?
edit to add:
my dgrin is two shades of slate and black....no green......this is the way it has always been.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Cr8ingWaves-Photography/119946782908?ref=ts
Exactly! Normal ambient light is fine though many prefer to run the actual RGB part of the calibration in a dark room to ensure no stray light gets into the face of the puck. If your room is not super bright and you have no direct light shining onto the front of the monitor, and your puck is perfectly flush to the screen, I figure normal ambient is OK and required to use the ambient light feature of this device.
As is mine.
Merry Xmas.
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So it seems like calibration is dependent on ambient light, so you shouldn't do calibration in dark room unless you are going to work in a dark room.
I just beginning to try to understand this color stuff so I may be missing something here.
There is a little Spyder icon in the Windows tray that gives you access to a number of things and turns red if Spyder thinks your calibration might be off, for example due to a change in ambient light.
It also includes a utility to change the profile being used.
http://www.danalphotos.com
http://www.pluralsight.com
http://twitter.com/d114
Kind of... You calibrate the luminance based on the print viewing conditions next to the display, the print you want to match visually. Other ambient light should be lower (as low as possible) and consistent (fixed). This is all outlined in the URL I posted.
Author "Color Management for Photographers"
http://www.digitaldog.net/