calibirating screen

There is no software-only option to reliably calibrate a screen. You need a device that will basically "read" the pixels on the screen and creat an ICC profile accordingly. Something like the Spyder, EyeOne or ColorMunki (listed in order of cost, cheapest first).

The EyeOne is the best of the three for calibrating a screen, but the ColorMunki will also calibrate printers.
 
Ask any graphics professionals who have ever used them regularly on a decent monitor (the IPS displays starting at £500 and going up to several grand, not Comet/Currys/Dixons special offer monitors) and calibrated printer - of course, he may be using something even better than the three I mentioned above.

Many I know who shoot for a living started off with the spyder and ended up going for the EyeOne, or saw calibration results with both beforehand, and went straight for the EyeOne. The ones that did get the ColorMunki only use it to calibrate printers and use the EyeOne for the monitor.

I bought the Spyder myself, and while it's a great little unit and *fairly* accurate (it was accurate enough for my needs at the time), it's not perfect. The EyeOne is definitely more accurate and closer to what I see in the printed results. So, it's on my shopping list. I would've picked one up at Focus if my wife hadn't given me a limit. ;)

Can you dispute my claim? :)
 
Anyone can dispute opinions, theres no proof in your post.

Happy friday people.

Nick.
 
For the moment I've reset factory settings but changed the gamma.

I'm demented I swear...

I read something somewhere that if I get a print and the image, that it's a fair way of doing it....but surely you're assuming that they printers used were properly colabirated? (ie, jessops/snapfish, kodak) all of which, personally, I've had different results from.

Even the online tests (grey steps n stuff) are a bit hit and miss, cause what's perfect on one, isn't right on another.
 
The screen does more accurately represent what shows up on a piece of paper via a reliably calibrated printer when calibrated with an EyeOne than with a ColorMunki in my experience. Both are better than the Spyder, in my experience.

Better?

I think I'll just quit posting on this site.
 
MagicMynx said:
I read something somewhere that if I get a print and the image, that it's a fair way of doing it....but surely you're assuming that they printers used were properly colabirated? (ie, jessops/snapfish, kodak) all of which, personally, I've had different results from.
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A printer needs separate calibration profiles for each combination of ink and paper that's being used with it. I use different printer profiles depending on whether I'm using Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl, Harman Crystaljet Luster, Epson's own brand papers, or quick test prints on standard laser copier. Otherwise, you can get very different results (some papers are cooler or warmer than others).
 
Kaouthia - I will defiantly agree with you on the case of the eye one against the spyders and colourmunki for screen calibration, I administer colour management for some of my clients and have used and seen results from them all. the eye one calibrators (LT, Display2, Pro) all give monitor profiles that are more accurate when they are validated using UGRA measurement. The old spyder 2 used to be shockingly bad.

The colourmunki is an OK calibrator for the home user but still isnt a match for say an eye one pro, DTP41, DTP45, iO scanning table etc used in conjunction with Profilemaker 5
 
Kaouthia said:
A printer needs separate calibration profiles for each combination of ink and paper that's being used with it. I use different printer profiles depending on whether I'm using Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl, Harman Crystaljet Luster, Epson's own brand papers, or quick test prints on standard laser copier. Otherwise, you can get very different results (some papers are cooler or warmer than others).
Click to expand...


I think I must be tight....the first thing I thought was "wow, I bet that costs a fortune in ink!" lol

I really don't want to buy one of those programs (TBH I can't afford it) is there anything remotely reliable on the web?
What I've got ATM is better than what I had last night, but it's still driving me batty TBH.
 
If you just want to go with a visual calibration of your screen for now, the only thing I could really suggest is going to google images and searching for "calibration images", and adjust your monitor's brightness, contrast, temperature, and individual RGB controls (if it has them) until you can see all of the various gradients complete ranges.

Usually you see Black to white, Black to red, Black to blue, Black to green (or more) in a dozen or more different shades, and you just adjust your settings until you can see all distinct shades in each of the gradients.

Like this sort of thing, or this image.

But, you'll never get it truly accurate by eye, so keep an eye out for EyeOne bargains. They do come up on sale at various places fairly regularly.

You only need to do a printer calibration once for each type of paper. I only use the Epson inks in my Epson printers, so I know if I calibrate it with Ilford Smooth Pearl now, I won't need to do it again, and it'll still be just as good with Ilford Smooth Pearl a year from now. A lot of the time, your printer manufacturer will even have ICC profiles available for you to download (or the paper manufacturer). So check their websites. :)
 
I got the Eye One Display 2 with my B9180 and have found it made a big differnce to what I see on my monitors.
 
Kaouthia said:
If you just want to go with a visual calibration of your screen for now, the only thing I could really suggest is going to google images and searching for "calibration images", and adjust your monitor's brightness, contrast, temperature, and individual RGB controls (if it has them) until you can see all of the various gradients complete ranges.

Usually you see Black to white, Black to red, Black to blue, Black to green (or more) in a dozen or more different shades, and you just adjust your settings until you can see all distinct shades in each of the gradients.

Like this sort of thing, or this image.

But, you'll never get it truly accurate by eye, so keep an eye out for EyeOne bargains. They do come up on sale at various places fairly regularly.

You only need to do a printer calibration once for each type of paper. I only use the Epson inks in my Epson printers, so I know if I calibrate it with Ilford Smooth Pearl now, I won't need to do it again, and it'll still be just as good with Ilford Smooth Pearl a year from now. A lot of the time, your printer manufacturer will even have ICC profiles available for you to download (or the paper manufacturer). So check their websites. :)
Click to expand...

Thank you. That's cool, I can see each of those seperate shades, so hopefully it means my monitor isn't too bad lol. :thumbs: You're a star x
 
kaouthia i wasn't saying you were right or wrong i just think if you say something definitive to someone it's best to have evidence to back it up :)

keep posting on the site, just because someone questions you doesn't mean they're being mean, i certainly wasn't :)
 
Perhaps I'm just too used to actually typing stuff into Google to find proof to back up or dispute peoples' statements, so I just assume others will do the same. :)
 
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