Colorvision Spyder with PhotoCAL???

[Rudi]

Hi everyone,

I have ordered the above in an attempt to improve my monitor calibration. What I am trying to achieve is have perfect monitor calibration with both my CRT monitor on my desktop and my LCD monitor on my laptop.

The laptop is the more problematic of the two, as it consistently produces a cooler (blue) colour cast with photos. As a result, I avoid any photo manipulation on my laptop if I can do so, preferring to wait until I can do this on my desktop. The problem is, I am away on the road quite a bit, and my laptop is becoming my "main" computer, so I'd like to be able to work on photos and display them to potential clients on my laptop.

I know that the software included with the Spyder will produce an ICC monitor profile that I can then use with my laptop. How accurate will this be, seeing that my laptop has no colour adjustment (only brightness), and should I believe the sales pitch, which basically tells me that my monitor calibration problems will be over once I buy this thing?

What have been your experiences? Is this thing as good as the theory suggests? Are you happy with your Spyder (or similar)? Would you buy one all over again? Have you any experience with anything else that you prefer to the Spyder? Any comments welcome, all opinions invited, let me have 'em! :)

[FredT]

As good as the theory suggests? Well, I don't know about that, but it does work very well. It won't perform magic, however. The results will only be as good as the hardware allows. I've used this combination to calibrate my high-end Sony CRT and an Apple LCD monitors, which I use in a dual monitor setup, expecting to get them to look the same. They don't. The Sony is 5 years old and the results are not as good as I expected. The LCD, on the other hand, is excellent, even though it only has brightness control. Both monitors are better calibrated than software-only solutions I previously used.

[robertwgross]

Doing a monitor calibration is only as good as the stability of the monitor.

For example, I am currently using an old Nanao FlexScan F550i monitor. In about the third year of its life, it went through a stability problem and the brightness on one gun would jump erratically. Obviously, that will completely defeat any sort of good calibration by any kind of tools.

For some reason, by the fifth year of its life, it became stable again, and now there is no jumpiness of brightness. I have a good workable rough-calibration wrt the printer, so it works for me.

---Bob Gross---

[kr-foto]

I have the comination you mentioned; crt and optical.
I works great for me since i get my pictures back from
the lab identical form what i saw on the monitor. The lab uses a fuji frontier and it appears like it has the same settings.

In my opinion it´s a great tool to create a reference (this is how you should see it). When you are always working from they same reference, then it´s easier to adapt to wishes of the client (like darker or lighter on delevering images for example).

Koen

[kr-foto]

Sorry,

i use optical instead of photocal. They say it´s the prof version. But since i don´t know photocal i can´t compare,

Koen

[DavidValdez]

Hello,

I love it!! Now I am going to upgrade the software to OptiCAL which will get me more control over my monitor settings. PhotoCAL is also a great software but for my business I need the OptiCAL. I have been using Colorvision products for almost two years.

And I am also going to purchase ProfilerPLUS which will calibrate my Printer (Epson 1280) which has a CIS on it. This will help me profile different types of papers. I use this printer for my clients proofs and for fine prints that are mated and framed.

I also use PhotoCAL on my laptop and did a great improvement. You made a good choice. If you are concern about your images I would also recommend in purchasing this book: Photoshop Color Correction ISBN 0-321-12401-4. This is a must have book. I now going through all my old photos and customers and scanning them in and doing color correction. And WOW what the results I get with a simple adjustments in the Levels and Curves settings. And it will give you a better understanding about all the Color Gammas.

Here are some sights that you might like: http://www.chromix.com/ and http://inkjetmall.com

Cheers

David