No I'm not using a calibrated monitor isn't that more about colour than brightness? Ive used the camera metering technique to set the monitor brightness. I don't have a problem with a inkjet at home. There website does say their printing process will print darker than inkjet so use their profiles.
"Out of the box" the majority of monitors are set way too bright.
It's obvious that, if you are seeing your images much brighter than everyone else, you are going to finish up with dark prints.
One of the first steps in running calibration software is to adust the creen brightness level to between 90 and 120 lux.
(For comparison, an iPhone 4 apparently has a maximum screen brightness of 540 lux!)
The ONLY way you can measure (and hence adjust) screen brightness is to use a hardware calibrator - you cannot do it "by eye."
It's very easy to dismoss the purchase of yet another piece of photographic equipment, especially something you only use once a month, but if you are serious about printing then you simply MUST use a hardware calibrator.
After a lot of research I've settled on the X-Rite ColorMunki "Display" which is available for just over £100 - maybe less if you shop around.
There's a ColorMunki "Smile" which is well under £100 but I have no experience of that item.
You are never going to get a perfect match between screen and print, since one is viewed by transmitted light and the other by reflected light, but I will say that the prints I get back from DSCL always closely match what I see on my Dell Ultrasharp monitor.
For club competitions I usually have standard lustre prints around A3 size, and I apply the DSCL profile, although I've noticed there is very little difference between a straight sRGB profile and the Fuji Lustre profile.
I don't print at home except for 6x4 postcard prints on a Canon "Selphy" dye-sub printer, which also come out matching my screen display.
For further information see the
DSCL Support page - the first thing it says is
"First and most importantly please ensure your monitor is correctly calibrated." followed b a video showing how to do it.
I couldn't see where they say their prints will be darker than an inklet.