Can anyone recommend a LCD calibration tool?

[Adam Hicks]

I'm looking for something like the Spyder, etc. I'm going to be formalizing my workflow a little more, using expodiscs or grey cards more often, shooting all RAW and want to make sure my ICC and color profiles on my 19" LCD match closely to my i9900.

Anyone in Dallas have a Spyder Pro or something of that nature? If not I'm going to go buy on (and Dallas Ft. Worth folks are free to borrow it when I do)

Recommendations are appreciated! I'm just working on locking down and 'maturing' my digital photography workflow, and this is a piece I don't want to miss.

Thanks,
Adam

[MDJAK]

I too have been considering getting the Spyder Pro 2. It seems a shame that stores that rent photo equipment don't rent this item. While I realize recalibration should, perhaps, be done monthly, It would be nice to not have to shell out the dough for it when it is not an oft used product.

It is very nice of you to offer to let other people to use it. However, now that I think about it, the software it comes with would probably not allow that type of use; therefore, putting the kabosh on rental of same.

[Adam Hicks]

Yeah I was thinking about that. Maybe someone could use mine with the Mac software since I'm a Windows guy. I'm sure they figured out a way to lock it down per user considering the price they charge for it!

[Mike Panic]

we use eye-one at work from gretag macbeth... simply amazing stuff... we have the spyder 2 as well - but the majority of the time we use eye-one

[jbradc]

I just got a new laptop (Toshiba with a 17 inch monitor) and I also got Spyder 2 to calibrate the monitor and it worked great, I highly recomend the Spyder 2, it worked perfectly on the laptop and my 19 inch Samsung (CRT) on my desktop.

[Adam Hicks]

Awesome thanks... quick question... did you have any problems using it on both screens / machines? Does it seem pretty protected to prevent others from using it?

Thanks!
Adam

[chris.bailey]

In the UK you can load the Spyder software on up to five machines, it comes with five licence codes for this purpose. Do bear in mind that the canned profiles for printers are not perfect so unless you have your printer custom profiled (for each , you will see some differences between the screen and print. Even then the different colour gamuts of the two devices will mean that some colours will be rendered on the screen differently to the printer. So though profiling your monitor is one step closer, it is not the end of the matter.

[Adam Hicks]

So did you do the deal where it prints a color sheet which you scan in and adjust the printer from there? I noticed the Spyder2 Plus has this feature and am wondering if it's worth the extra $50 or so. Sounds kinda gimmicky.

Thanks!

[MDJAK]

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/acd-profile.shtml

Check out this article on monitor calibrating.

[chris.bailey]

So did you do the deal where it prints a color sheet which you scan in and adjust the printer from there? I noticed the Spyder2 Plus has this feature and am wondering if it's worth the extra $50 or so. Sounds kinda gimmicky.

Thanks!

No, the version I have does not have that feature. I am reasonably happy with the canned profiles for my Epson 2100, at least in terms of skin tones, so have left it at that.