calibrating scanner/monitor/printer

[stevescivic]

I would like to calibrate my monitor/scanner/printer but I don't know where to start.

I was checking out the local stores in town and they have two products that will supposedly do it all for you.

Spyder and Spyder Pro: 180 and 340 respectively
monaco ez color: 650

Do these products really work or is it better for me to manually calibrate my hardware?

Thanks

[elwood58]

I just recently purchased Colorvision's ColorPlus Spyder. The cost was $100 US. I calibrated an LCD Screen on my desktop system, and the LCD screen on my tablet PC. The results seem fairly dramatic when you compare calibrated to uncalibrated. Keep in mind that I am a rank amatuer, and easily impressed when it comes to Digital Darkroom stuff. A few notes so far.

1. Depending when the box you get was packaged, it may contain software version 1.0. Do not waste time loading this, as it crashes at calibration time. Download 1.0.1 from the Colorvision website, and use the Serial Number on the CD sleeve. Remember not to plug in the sensor until after the software installation is complete.

2. If Adobe Gamma is running in your startup folder, you will need to delete it.

3. I have been unable to figure out how to calibrate multiple monitors on the same system. My desktop spans two (2) 17" LCD monitors. So far I have just calibrated the primary monitor, and will make sure I review my work on that screen. I do plan to contact Tech Support at Colorvision when I have a few minutes to spare.

[donlavange]

Make sure you delete the old version software prior to installing the new.

[ejwebb]

You might want to check out this thread:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=50922

It includes some useful discussion and links to reviews of the calibration products. I recived the Spyder2 ($169 at B&H) for Christmas and it seemed to work very well. I thought my monitor was pretty good but evidently it was way off!! After fiddling with the color management settings in PSE3 and the Canon print manager my prints are very, very close to the monitor. Skintones are still a little tricky, though.

Based on the review I linked it appears that the Spyder2 is much improved over the older one, although there are better products (at a higher cost, of course!). Good luck.

[HKFEVER]

Sprider Pro 2 is good for monitor setting. But for printer setting, I spent overy 3 days time, a lot of paper and ink. But still not get the colour right for the printer.

I am using Epson 2100 printer and try to set it with PrintFix.

Anyone can help?