Spyder 3 Express

I am thinking of buying a Spyder 3 Express, and have a few questions, and hope someone here will be able to answer them.

The software supplied will run at start up and calibrate the monitor and then after calibration will always run at start up to make sure the correct profile is loaded. Am I right about this?

The software will also create an ICC profile?

Will this profile have to be applied under window WCS system to the monitor?

If I am using Canon DPP, will this profile have to be selected as the monitor profile in DPP preferences so that any prints will match the screen if I use proper ICC profiles for my printer?

Is this right or way off any help appreciated?

Let's see -- you install the software. Then you can plug in the device into a USB port and start the software. The software will then step you through the calibration routine -- it will have you place the device over the screen and then will do measurements and may make suggestions to you -- at some point then it will be done and will likely show you a graphic with colors that you can switch between the old and new settings (I'm not sure about some of this -- I had a Spyder2 Express a while back but switched to the Spyder3 Pro). If successful it will then create a profile that will be stored in the system and load when you log in.

Something to be aware of is that the calibration will likely not do anything to your monitor brightness or contrast. For contrast this is typically not an issue, but brightness typically needs to be manually lowered for photo editing and printing. How much depends on your monitor and on what your monitor will allow without turning things ugly. If you go to DPReview.com and go to one of their camera reviews, scroll down and you should see a strip of grayscale "patches" that will go from white to black. Lower the brightness until you can clearly see the difference between the two brightest patches and can still tell the difference between the darkest and you will have made a beginning.

From there the best test will be prints, either from a desktop printer or from a reliable print shop that you can work with and who won't apply "corrections". Run a few shots through and compare, see if you want to re-do the calibration or lower the brightness or whatever. Repeat and rinse.

I'd suggest you also look at the top of the Raw PP & Printing section here, in the stickies, and find the two threads mentioning Color problems and Color management as take the time to go through them and soak them in.

Oh, and read the User guide that comes with the Spyder.

As to software support, Photoshop and Lightroom automatically "see" the profile. DPP has to be told to, so go to Tools/Preferences and to the Color Management section and you will see the Display properties section so you can choose the Monitor profile -- it will open a browse widow and you should see your profile. The software does give you the ability to name your profile so make sure you give it a recognizeable name!

When I was using the Spyder 2 & 3, it would automatically load the profile at start up every time. It will pop up a window as well reminding you at start-up that it is time to recalibrate. I never had to apply the profile to any of my software.

match14 wrote in post #11267397
The software supplied will run at start up and calibrate the monitor...

No... You need to connect the puck to a USB port and then start the calibration software. Follow the directions to calibrate the monitor and create a custom monitor profile.

The LUT loader will run at startup and load the profile to the video card LUT.

Only when you run the calibration software. I already answered that.

It's done automatically. You don't have to do anything.

Yes. You set this one time only, in the color management preferences in DPP.

I would not buy the Spyder3 Express when for a few bucks more, you can have the Spyder3 Pro or the X-Rite EyeOne Display 2.

Thanks for the replies so far. The monitor I will be calibrating is a laptop screen it has backlight control via Fn Keys on keyboard and brightness and contrast controls via the graphics card. Will this be ok for calibaration? I am aware that laptops screens are far from ideal but it is all I have at the moment.

One of the first questions is to pick which type of screen you are calibrating - I think one of the choices is a laptop screen.

It may be worthwhile getting the manuals for your laptop, as when I first calibrated my screen, I was asked questions about the monitor that I didnt immediately know the answers to (and had to refer to the manual).

The way the spyder program works is that you need to be able to adjust the settings without having to exit the program adjust then run the program again. Basically you need access to the adjustments while the software is running and it is a full screen software, I don't think you can minimize it, adjust then continue. I have the Spyder 3 Elite if you are interested in purchasing it. Basically used it to calibrate dual monitors maybe 5 times, mint condition and have no use for it anymore, I moved to the Colormunki system.

Here's a link to a good video on the Spyder3 Express:

http://www.photoradar.​com …itor-for-accurate-colours

Cheers for the link.

Hope I can ask these questions in a way that makes sense...

It sounds like the Express software always has to be running in the background in order to load and use its ICC profile -- correct?

So, do the higher end models also work that way, or do they allow you to generate and save an ICC profile file that you can use without having the extra software running all the time?

As best as I can understand from what I have read, the Express can only be used on one computer, while the higher end models can be used to calibrate multiple systems. Is this correct?

Thanks.

Rimmer wrote in post #11449838
It sounds like the Express software always has to be running in the background in order to load and use its ICC profile -- correct?

The LUT loader runs at startup.

Yes and Yes. Understand, that the profiling software is NOT running. Just the simple utility that loads the LUT.

Incorrect. You're confusing calibrating multiple systems with calibrating multiple monitors on ONE system. DataColor allows you to install and use the software on as many computers as you have. They don't even mind if you use it to calibrate a friend's monitor, as they believe it will encourage another sale.

Now, the Spyder3 Express doesn't calibrate/profile multiple monitors on one computer. You need the Spyder3 Pro or Elite for that. And if you want to "match" monitors, you need the Spyder3 Elite.

Personally, I can't recommend buying the Spyder3 Express unless you just need a good colorimeter to use with some other calibration software. And I'm not a fan of the Pro version because it doesn't allow you to specify a luminance level. I recommend either the X-Rite EyeOne Display2 or the Spyder3 Elite v. 4.

Chas P --

Thanks for the speedy and detailed reply! I think I understand much better now, although I'm still confused by the "yes and yes" part.

Sounds like you can generate an ICC profile for the monitor and then point the operating system and/or software (such as DPP) to it and not have to have the loader running at startup. Am I understanding that correctly?

That would be particularly useful on a dual-boot system where the profile was generated under Windows but then a copy of the profile was placed on another partition to be used by a second operating system.

I think there is a clearer way to ask my question:

Why is the loader software needed? The OS (Windows 7 in my case, and also Ubuntu Lucid Lynx) has a setting for telling it what profile to use and where to find it. Same for software such as DPP.

Rimmer, I apologize, but I don't have experience with the scenario you're describing. I'm more of a "KISS" kind of guy.

No problem! Thanks very much for the information you've given me so far. This has helped my understanding tremendously, and I'm probably trying to dig into details that, from a day-to-day use perspective, don't matter at all.

Maybe this is why, although I think I'm a "Leonard," my wife insists that I'm a "Sheldon" (hope you get the Big Bang Theory reference ).