Best method to calibrate screen contrast and luminosity

What is the best method ?
I have found several method on the web which gives me different results.

Here's a good site...

http://www.normankoren​.com/makingfineprints1​A.html

Or Adobe Gamma if you're a PS user.

This is the one I use:

http://www.photoscient​ia.co.uk/Gamma.htm

Near the bottom of the page are links to different gamma values. I use 2.2 (sRGB) and then edit the individual channel curves in the gfx driver until all the squares on the sample look the same brightness without a colour cast. In can take a while to get it right but the results are really good and match prints from my Epson perfectly.

The best method is undoubtedly one that uses a colorimeter; I use Monaco OPTIX XR Pro. If you want a software only method, I'm afraid I don't know which are better and which are worse, though you could try getting the manufacturer's profile for your monitor, then using Adobe Gamma.

David

Adobe gamma works fine for me. With my ip8500 I'm getting prints that match my monitor exactly. I do agree with David, a colorimeter is the best way to insure that your monitor is calibrated correctly. Is your concern that your prints aren't matching your monitor?

Hardware is the only reliable method. I use Monaco, not the pro version, the normal version works fine, costs like US$200.

Having prints on your own machine matching your monitor is good. However, there's another measure that I think is important.

Do other people (with properly calibrated monitors using colorimeters) see your pictures the same way as you do? For many folks, that doesn't matter. For those of us who share photos via the web, it can be important.

If you are really at the point where you want to accurately post-process your raw files, and get the best possible prints, you MUST get something like the Gretag Macbeth Eye One Pro spectrophotometer.

This will let you calibrate your monitor and printer, and with a little inventiveness, your digicam.

I thought I was all set by using some very sophisticated gray and color charts for my monitor, and ICC profiles for my printer. I WAS WROMG.

I went with the Eye One Design (which I do NOT recommend, go up one step to the Eye One Photo to get usable inkjet calibration.

The benefits are that your monitor WILL be profiled correctly, and you will be able to get the largest gamut out of your printer, with the exact ink carts and paper batches you use, even as your monitor and printer age, and the mfr changes their products.

It's expensive buying a spectro, but the much cheaper colorimeters don't calibrate printers, and that's half your battle. After all, the whole point is to get the screen accurate enough to allow soft-proofing, and while you're at it, maximise the prints.

Me, too. At Costco, I'm getting prints that match my monitor exactly. Try matching car colors to a print sometime!