Bought Spyder 3 Pro... Now What?

Hey everyone - I couldn't think of a better place than here for me to post this. I've noticed some huge differences in the way my photos look on various monitors. I know that this is to be expected but some of them look a little over exposed on several systems at home and at work but not on the system I processed them on (I shoot RAW and process through DPP).

With this in mind I bought a Spyder 3 Pro and did the "Calibration" on 2 of my LCD's and one Laptop. I will say that when it was done and looking at the before / after in the Spyder Software there was a very noticeable difference.

Since I can't seem to find any additional documentation I'm curious how this actually works once I calibrate the monitor. Am I correct in assuming that this "Calibration" is now applied through all of your applications as long as the software is running? If this is the case why don't I see any visible difference when I disable to application in my system tray?

I feel that my images look better / more consistent but this could just be my mind playing tricks on me.

I'd like to hear from some people that have experience with this.

Thanks in advance.

I don't think you need to keep running the software. You set each computer to use their calibrated profile and then... that's it.

Granted, I'm on a Mac here - I ran it on all my computers, chose the profile it created for each, and that's that - but I doubt you have to keep running it... someone with Windows experience re: monitor profiles can tell you more.

I did notice when I rebooted my computer a little while ago that the color changed on the monitor when the Spyder Application Loaded.

The biggest bummer is that I won't be able to calibrate my Dual Head Monitor System. The Release Notes say that unless I have two different video cards (which I don't) then a single profile will be applied to both monitors and that is what I don't want as I can see a noticeable difference between the two monitors

funhouse69 wrote in post #7069454
I did notice when I rebooted my computer a little while ago that the color changed on the monitor when the Spyder Application Loaded.

The biggest bummer is that I won't be able to calibrate my Dual Head Monitor System. The Release Notes say that unless I have two different video cards (which I don't) then a single profile will be applied to both monitors and that is what I don't want as I can see a noticeable difference between the two monitors

That is when you use the spyder to manually adjust the other monitor's internal settings.

just sent mine back to BnH, what a headache it was with this software, after calibration was finished, the blue looked like violent and pink look like magentas, in order to get back to normal i had to reformat my HD, i tried all kind of changes but no luck!! after refomatting 4 times i was pretty fustrated!!! kinda suck that the manufacture don't have a live tech support line, i email back and forth and finally they told the sensor might be defective!! oh well!!! i went ahead order the Elite hopefully it will work!! wish me luck!!lol.....

I admit I was very hesitent to order the Spyder wben I saw B&H wouldn't take it back unless device was defective. Usually not a good sign and a high return rate item

funhouse69 wrote in post #7069997
I admit I was very hesitent to order the Spyder wben I saw B&H wouldn't take it back unless device was defective. Usually not a good sign and a high return rate item

I think it's because people can just calibrate their monitor and then try to return the item to get a free calibration.

Exactly.

btw... the Elite uses the same hardware device as the Pro. I have no idea why you would buy the Elite ?

bohdank wrote in post #7070265
Exactly.

btw... the Elite uses the same hardware device as the Pro. I have no idea why you would buy the Elite ?

Different software. It allows you to change more settings... And it's $99 to upgrade if you want to do it later - which I consider a ripoff.

iacas wrote in post #7070390
Different software. It allows you to change more settings... And it's $99 to upgrade if you want to do it later - which I consider a ripoff.

i like the more setting option that's why and also it can be use to calibrate tv too

iacas wrote in post #7070390
Different software. It allows you to change more settings... And it's $99 to upgrade if you want to do it later - which I consider a ripoff.

Would you know which settings are in addition. I looked at it when I was buying the Pro and couldn't see any use, in my case for the Elite.

I have to say it took a little time but I was able to calibrate my two 19" Lacie Electron Blue Monitors Manually. I have them connected "Dual Head" to my main editing system.

I had to run to work but I did a quick test and reprocessed an image using the new settings and I think it made a huge difference. Here's the before / after...

1. Before

funhouse69 wrote in post #7069454
The biggest bummer is that I won't be able to calibrate my Dual Head Monitor System. The Release Notes say that unless I have two different video cards (which I don't) then a single profile will be applied to both monitors and that is what I don't want as I can see a noticeable difference between the two monitors

One dual head video card should also work (if your version of the spyder does dual monitor: not sure there)

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk …_monitor_calibr​ation.html

In the release notes it said something about not being able to calibrate dual head monitors "If the monitors are connected to a single video card" this is due to an issue with Windows and not with the application itself. If however you have two different video cards (which I do not) then it will work.

The software DID detect them both and allowed me to go through and tweak them equally but I believe it is only using the last profile and not both of them. Since I use my second monitor for my editing then I made sure that was the one I did last.

I think that I managed to manually tweak them to the point that I am happy with the results so far. I will see how it goes and might consider getting another video card at some point.

I'm using windows 7 and I can load different profile for each monitor with a single video card.

Which os are you using?