Monitor calibration Arghhhhh!

After getting some lousy prints I thought it was about time I tried to calibrate my monitor. I only have Adobe Gamma, but I find it absolutely useless!

It says "move the slider until the centre box fades into the patterned frame". Well, I can't get it even close. I've tried squinting, looking at it from a distance etc... where am I going wrong.

I really don't want to have to spend 100's of pounds calibrating my monitor!

Have a look in the tread linked from my sig.
There is an explanation on Adobe Gamma, and a few other links to monitor calibration.
Also a bit of info on color settings for various software...

I think I've read Adobe Gamma is (almost?) useless on LCD screens. (Still CRT here ) What monitor do you have? What settings?

There are cheap options for monitor calibration. The Huey and Spyder come to mind. You do get what you pay for however...

You will only be able to get reliable results using a calibrator, they are not all that expensive these days.

_BUT_ with the Adobe Gamma, squint your eyes or blur your vision a bit and the center box will dissapear (almost).

Thanks guys. I'm using a Samsung SyncMaster 193v (LCD).

I find myself looking at images now and wondering if the colours are real or just a poor rendition from my monitor. Afrer some ghastly results from my printer, could my monitor really be that off?

I would take one step at a time. Monitors and printers can have different color profiles and an image that looks good on the screen can come out horrible in print (I know this from experience). I have a Spyder which works well enough, but I don't use their software. If you can swing it, I would recommend getting a calibrator.

Try opening an image that you know is neutral (grayscale image), or make one in PS. Does it look neutral?
Alternatives to Adobe Gamma: Have a read here: Click.

I have an LCD monitor and use only Adobe Gamma. The advice about squinting is correct - it takes a bit of practice but I have found my monitor now gives me the correct colours.

I have followed this through by using the correct profiles for my printer/paper and soft proofing in CS2 and QImage and am very happy with the colour match on the resultant prints.

I also found advice on one website to set the monitor to 6500k as opposed to 9300k. At first this makes the screen appear too warm but it did make a heck of a difference to my calibration results. 9300k may give a more pleasing effect for most of the program interfaces but it makes it difficult to calibrate for photographic work. Of course if you want to get really technical you can work out the custom colour temp. but I found I didn't need that as Adobe Gamma lets you choose what you consider to be natural grey.

Some on the forums have rubbished Adobe Gamma but I have found it has worked for me on more than one monitor.

Another tip is to repeat the calibration every few months which will either cater for changes in the monitor's performance as it ages or will confirm that you had the right settings in the first place.

ForeFrontPhoto wrote in post #3338806
Monitors and printers can have different color profiles

Off course they do. That's one of the reasons for color management & soft proofing