Display Calibration

fool4thecity · August 29, 2011

Looking to purchase a device to calibrate my monitor and maybe a printer in the future. Anyone have any suggestions on what to look for, or a brand? What if you use two monitors? I'm a PC.

Thanks for your help!

Newsy · August 29, 2011

For monitors, at the budget end of the $$$ scale, look to either the

Datacolor Spyder3 Elite
- about $180-90 at B&H. On sale recently for $148 at B&H.

or

Xrite i1Display Pro (new, replaces the i1Display 2)
- about $250 at B&H last week.

I've specifically mentioned these due you indicating that you are looking to a dual monitor system. Both units have non-crippled full feature software that has a "brightness" module that allows you to set a target for white luminance. White Luminance is the value by which you measure your monitors brightness.

With two monitors sitting side by side where you want to use both for critical review of images, it is important to have both monitors at identical brightness levels as well as being calibrated and profiled to a standard.

If you are only going to use the second monitor to hold tools, email, and a browser window, then you can likely make do with a less expensive monitor and absolute brightness will not be so critical. Being able to target a specific brightness level for the #1 monitor would still be of value. It saves a lot of time ensuring the monitor is matched to the ambient light levels of the room you work in. Monitor CCFL back lights will dim noticeably in the first year or two of use and correcting that drop will be easier.

The Spyder3 Pro is similar to the Elite but its' version of software is crippled - it lacks the brightness feature though it does report the white luminance value at the end of the calibration (about 11 to 13 minutes). If you want to adjust this value you have to go through the entire calibration process again and as it does not have a screen to help you work towards the desired value, you work by eye and guessing, hoping your tweaking hits the value you want. IMHO the $60 to buy the Elite difference is well worth it just from the time savings and less frustration aspect.

http://spyder.datacolor.com/s3compare.php

The i1Display Pro replaces the i1Display 2. The i1D2 (I use this model) has a screen dedicated to helping you adjust to the desired value and I would expect the new Pro to offer the same or better. It's puck is a new design, very similar in form factor to the Xrite ColorMunki. I've not read the reviews or too much in forums comments on this new model.

If I had to pick between the Spyder3 Elite with the latest v4 software and the older i1Display2 and I had a wide gamut monitor, I'd take the Spyder3. A year ago my choice was different.

At that time there were a lot of reports of problems with the Spyder v3 software and pucks that has issues straight from the factory. There are still some issues with pucks but the latest Spyder3's are all calibrated/checked at the factory prior to shipping and the v4 software is far superior. I've read some interesting comments in various forums that the latest units are superior to the i1's for wide gamut monitors. Datacolor's CSR's seem to be very good in dealing with bad puck issues. Furthermore I now have some real world experience with the i1D2 and it has not been "optimal".

My i1Display2 has been cludgey on my Vista 64bit system with dual monitors, failing to sense puck location. I had to manually copy files from the install disc to specific folders to get it to work. I used to use an old Spyder2 Pro and it installed seamlessly and worked seamlessly when I transitioned to my new Vista 64bit system from an old WinXP system. I expected better from the i1D2 and did not get it.

The above devices are colorimeters. For more $$$ you can look to a spectrophotometer as used by many HDTV calibration technicians but these run About $1000 and are not without their weak points.

For printers I have very little experience but have read of the Xrite ColorMunki which costs about $450USD. I used to use a system from DDI Software called "Profile Prism". I was able to correct some issues with it but went through a lot of ink, paper, and time in doing so. It is easier to send things out for the limited amount of printing I do.

http://xritephoto.com/ph_product_overview.aspx?id=1115

There is also the Datacolor Spyder3 Studio SR.

arodney · August 29, 2011

i1Dispaly Pro, most advanced colorimeter on the market (today). Don’t skimp on the software assuming there are versions at a lesser cost using the same hardware.

Two differing displays may indeed need differing luminance targets to produce a match, the same is true for White Point. The numbers are basically meaningless. What is meaningful is a visual match.

The older i1Display-2 is end of life, you can probably find it at a discount, but you want to pass and get the newer hardware.

If you have no desire to build printer profiles, you don’t want to be using a Spectrophotometer, a Colorimeter is a better instrument for display calibration and cost less.

Display Calibration

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