CS3, Vista & Monitor calibration?

I've just purchased a new PC with Windows Vista and I've installed Lightroom and CS3 with no problems.

Can anyone suggest how I can calibrate my monitor without spending a great deal? Before I used Adobe Gamma, but CS3 doesn't seem to come with it and the Colour Mangement settings in Vista are really confusing.

Anyone have any suggestions?

I'm starting to get very frustrated with the whole monitor calibration saga. It's a real pain in the a*se and I'm really fed up!

I just want to know that the colours it's producing are somewhere close to being correct, but I have no idea! Without Adobe Gamma, I'm snookered!

I've looked through this; https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=296149

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

But nothing makes sense! The Gamma chart shown at normankoren.com just seems unuseable. There is no point on that scale where I can see a continous grey, no matter how far back I stand from my monitor or squint my eyes!

Are LCD's just useless for work on images?

Am I making an unnecssary fuss about this, or should I be concerned about my display. Why does everybody else seem to find this so easy and yet I don't understand it one bit?

Somebody HELP!

I use the eye-one display 2 gadget. It's about $200 and works like a charm.

My issue is with my laptop. It runs Vista Business and has an nVIDIA graphics card in it. I can set the calibrated profile for the monitor and I can see that the system uses it as the laptop starts up. But then (I think when the graphics card engages) it goes back to the original system settings. Sony has been zero help.

Fortunately, if I set the View option in CS3 to Monitor RGB at least CS3 windows are calibrated. But when I look at stuff on the web, it is not.

What monitor are you using? Secondly as a photogrpaher you really should get a monitor calibration unit such as mentioned or the Spyder2 Pro, Huey etc.

It's the cost of a cheap lens and worth it for so many reasons.

Complaining that an LCD is hard to work with and trying to do it by eye just isn't applicable in the real world. You need hardware to do it right on any display. You owe it to yourself and your craft.

My understanding is that CS3 puts the Adobe Gamma program in the Common Files - this is certainly where CS2 puts it.

Go to :-
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibratio​n and in that folder you should see the file Adobe Gamma.cpl - Double clicking on that should start the Gamma progam as you know and love it (I use it too and find it works well for me). Also in the same folder you should find the file Adobe Gamma Loader.exe. When you run the Gamma and save the new profile then the loader.exe should be automatically added to the Startup folder. If this doesn't happen then you may need to add it to the Startup folder manually.

I've just upgraded to a new PC and a new LG monitor. I kept running Adobe Gamma, watching the screen alter and then saving the new profile. Every time I rebooted the monitor went back to the uncalibrated state. Eventually I discovered the problem was in the settings for the Video Graphics card. Under one of the menus I had to tell it not to use the default profile but to load the new icc profile I had just created. Never had to do that before but I am now back to the state of getting prints that look the same as the view on the monitor.

Thought I'd throw that last bit in just in case your new setup has a similar problem and you pull out as much hair as I did!! I'm not talking about setting the default profile in Colour Management under the Display properties but as an additional option inside the Graphics card settings.

(My monitor is a Samsung SyncMaser 193V)

Ok, some research has revealed that CS3 doesn't come with Adobe Gamma so looks like I'll have to find an alternative. I'll make do for now and save up for something more accurate.

Can anyone explain to me, in simple terms what the color settings do in PS? For example: when you choose the working space, what does this actually do and how does it determine the way in which PS displays your image?

Surely when you open an image it is tagged with a profile (assigned during export from the RAW conversion) and so it contains the infomation necessary to render the colours correctly.

What does selecting a working color space in the settings actually achieve?

This is what i use to calibrate my 20" Dell LCD, it works great.
It works on both LCD and CRT monitors.
It's only $80 MSRP
http://www.colorvision​.com/product-mc-s2e.php

If you still have CS2 then try reinstalling it (CS2 & CS3 will happily sit alongside one another). Adobe Gamma and Adobe Gamma Loader will then be installed as per my post above. It's what I have done.

Try this link http://www.normankoren​.com/makingfineprints1​A.html which gives very useful info on why and how to calibrate a monitor. I have used Adobe Gamma to calibrate this LCD monitor plus my previous monitors and on each occasion, after some fine tuning, I get the correct gamma levels for Windows according to Norman's chart. However, the important test is that my photos print exactly as they appear on the monitor. Photography is a visual experience and I, personally, see no reason to spend on hardware to achieve the same result I get with AG.

You are correct in that you can embed the profile in the image when you export from the RAW converter. PS will pick this up and, if your working space is set to the same, import the file without comment and interpret that file to give the correct colour rendering. However, if you try to import a file with a different profile you will be offered options to convert, temporarily assign or use existing profile (providing you have set those options) and PS will then use your choice to give the appropriate rendering. If using a wider gamut than sRGB it is logical to set the working space in PS to that gamut. Converting 'down' to sRGB would lose some of the information.

My next step, after monitor calibration and setting the working space, was to set up the soft proofing (Custom) in PS to use the printer profile for the printer and paper I planned to use so that what I saw on the monitor is what the printer should produce.

This link may explain better than I can and the article contains further links re monitor profiling etc. Reading through all of these should give you a better idea of the profiling route you need to follow. http://www.earthboundl​ight.com …nagement-changes-cs2.html

I also use Qimage for printing and this takes the monitor profile, the profile embedded in the image plus the printer profile and then manages all of these to produce accurate prints. You can also soft-proof within Qimage.

As Adobe RGB has a wider gamut than sRGB it is possible to convert 'down' but not recommended to convert 'up'. You can't add gamut if it isn't already there. Because browsers, in the main, aren't colour managed any photos for the web should be converted to sRGB so that they will be interpreted and viewed correctly by the majority of browsers.

I have always calibrated my monitors (using AG) but sometimes had problems with colour casts on prints using some papers until I read and understood the full requirement for a colour-managed workflow. Now I have such a workflow I can alter settings via the different printer profile options to ensure no more colour casts etc. as I use different papers. Printer and paper profiles are available on the web although recent printers tend to provide these with the installation CD.

If you use online printing services then you would need to check what embedded profile such a service requires. i.e. will Adobe RGB print correctly or do they need all files in sRGB.

It can take a while but once you have your head around the issue it all makes sense and makes for satisfying printing. I guess the 'experts' on this forum will be able to use more technical terms than I have above and it would be wise to read their comments. This forum is where I learned to properly understand the whole colour management issue and modify my setup to get good results.

Thanks Pugwash! Your post was very helpful!