Monitor Calibration

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yoshimi

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Last night I was printing a photo and the colour was completely different to that shown on my screen. Further reading has led me to look at calibrating my monitor using one of those stick on screen thingys.........Can someone please explain how these work in beginner terms (hence posting here in basics).

I'm using a MBP 13" with Aperture3/PSE9 if that makes any difference.

Thanks
 
yoshimi said:
Last night I was printing a photo and the colour was completely different to that shown on my screen. Further reading has led me to look at calibrating my monitor using one of those stick on screen thingys.........Can someone please explain how these work in beginner terms (hence posting here in basics).

I'm using a MBP 13" with Aperture3/PSE9 if that makes any difference.

Thanks
Click to expand...

In simple terms :-

Purchase calibration tool, load software, run program, place sensor ('stick on thingy') on screen where it shows you, program runs various colour samples, sensor reads colour information from samples, program adjusts settings of your computer, job done.

Takes 10-15 minutes depending on which one you chose.

Some ask you to make some manual adjustments to brightness, but all in all a fairly simple operation.
 
Will my computer remember these adjusted settings or is it something I have to do each time I reboot, also does the 'thingy' plug into a USB port, just wondering how it gets the computer to change the settings, and could you recommend one, bear in mind I'm an amateur and this is all for personal use rather than requiring professional tools.
Thanks
 
yoshimi said:
Will my computer remember these adjusted settings or is it something I have to do each time I reboot, also does the 'thingy' plug into a USB port, just wondering how it gets the computer to change the settings, and could you recommend one, bear in mind I'm an amateur and this is all for personal use rather than requiring professional tools.
Thanks
Click to expand...

it sets the monitor to the calibrated settings...you don't need to do anything, when set...mark..
 
yoshimi said:
Will my computer remember these adjusted settings or is it something I have to do each time I reboot, also does the 'thingy' plug into a USB port, just wondering how it gets the computer to change the settings, and could you recommend one, bear in mind I'm an amateur and this is all for personal use rather than requiring professional tools.
Thanks
Click to expand...

Yes it will remember them, it is all taken care of by the software, you will get a reminder to re-calibrate every month or so.

They plug in the usb port

No need to spend a fortune the Spyder 3 express will do the job LINK, any problems ring this company up they are very helpful.

I am uncertain as to the benefits of the dearer Spyder 3 range, but if you give Colour Confidence a call they will explain, and they will not try and sell you the expensive one if it is not what you need.

One major problem getting prints to match the screen is having the monitor brightness too high, I never go above 50%, improved how my prints looked compared to the screen, and reduced eye strain.
 
This is great, thanks for all your help, just about to order a spyder3 express.
Thanks again:)
 
Can you use this to reliably calibrate a laptop screen?

I've been told laptops are a pain to calibrate, any truth in this?

Steve
 
dont forget once it has told you it has finished make a note of were it has saved it to.
as you need to select it in the profile for you monitor as it dont do it itself well my spyder 2 pro dont
 
Mad Badger said:
Can you use this to reliably calibrate a laptop screen?

I've been told laptops are a pain to calibrate, any truth in this?

Steve
Click to expand...

I use the Pantone Huey and it calibrated my HP laptop okay. The laptop and desktop screens look almost identical in terms of colour and tonal range.
 
I think a problem with laptops is a consistent viewing angle - can alter how the image looks.
 
Very true Andy. I made a plastic guide which I use to adjust the angle when editing pictures ... doesn't matter for anything else :)
 
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