Monitor calibration - Which one?

I have the monitor calibrator called Colorvision Spyder 3. I have a mac and two PCs. I have used Spyder 3 for a while and I have noticed that the colors are different on all three screens. I assume the purpose of a monitor calibrator is that the photographer sees the same colors his/her clients will see...Anyway.
I have decided to get a new calibrator. I don't want to spend a lot of money on it. My budget is 150-400.
What monitor calibrator can you recommend. I do wedding photography and I shoot a lot of Indian weddings where true colors are essential.

Thanks!

I've read somewhere ColorEyes Display Pro monitor calibration is good and can be used with your current Spyder 3

Which one do you have? Express, Pro or Elite?

If you have the Express, you won't be able to match the screens. If you have the Elite, you can do it. And if you have the Pro, all you have to do is update to the Elite software and then match the screens.

NicolasRubio wrote in post #11640800
Which one do you have? Express, Pro or Elite?

If you have the Express, you won't be able to match the screens. If you have the Elite, you can do it. And if you have the Pro, all you have to do is update to the Elite software and then match the screens.

How do you do that with the elite?

Staszek wrote in post #11641010
How do you do that with the elite?

I don't know

I don't own any of those, but I was reading about them yesterday because I have a Dell u2211h on order and I'd like to get a calibrator. The Elite may need the new software (4.0 IIRC).

NicolasRubio wrote in post #11641468
I don't know

I don't own any of those, but I was reading about them yesterday because I have a Dell u2211h on order and I'd like to get a calibrator. The Elite may need the new software (4.0 IIRC).

Gotcha. I have used the Eye-One calibrators and software at school for laptops. This week I rented the Spyder 3 Elite locally, for my new iMac, since I can't take the Eye-One home. The Elite worked pretty good on the iMac.

I reset my MBP's color management and calibrated it with the Elite. My grays and whites are looking really magenta-y. When I flip back and forth between the Eye-One profile and the Elite profile, the Eye-One is really yellow. I don't know which is more accurate.

I've looked at edits from my MBP with both color profiles on my calibrated iMac, and they both look good. I can't tell the difference for the most part.

NicolasRubio wrote in post #11640800
Which one do you have? Express, Pro or Elite?

If you have the Express, you won't be able to match the screens. If you have the Elite, you can do it. And if you have the Pro, all you have to do is update to the Elite software and then match the screens.

I have the pro!
Do you think the Elite can do it for me?

Thanks for the input. I guess it is a common problem.

oharing wrote in post #11641827
I have the pro!
Do you think the Elite can do it for me?

Well, it should... you can get the software update to the new Elite in Datacolor's website. I think it is like U$D 99... or something like that!

Calibrating a display is not as easy as it seems. You have to know a lot for different panel types, color gammut, working color spaces etc. and to experiment and learn a lot before you can make a good calibraton.
In general, it is a good idea to use a qualified service than rent a calibration device a try to do wonders.

If you have different displays, it is almost impossible to achieve exactly the same color on all three.

MBPs are very though to calibrate. They have cheap TN panels with limited color gammut. I've calibrated a dozen of MBPs and I can tell the 17" ones are the best, but very far from a good display you can trust for color correcting photos.

ecobo wrote in post #11642106
Calibrating a display is not as easy as it seems. You have to know a lot for different panel types, color gammut, working color spaces etc. and to experiment and learn a lot before you can make a good calibraton.
In general, it is a good idea to use a qualified service than rent a calibration device a try to do wonders.

If you have different displays, it is almost impossible to achieve exactly the same color on all three.

MBPs are very though to calibrate. They have cheap TN panels with limited color gammut. I've calibrated a dozen of MBPs and I can tell the 17" ones are the best, but very far from a good display you can trust for color correcting photos.

Really?

You just burst my bubble with an AIM-120 AMRAAM missile... I hoped that with the Spyder3 it would all be plug-play-calibrate-edit!

Of coarse, you have the possibility to do a plug-n-calibrate, but this will not be the best calibration for your display. AUTO mode is very average. If you want to do a really right calibration, you'll have to manually set ALL the settings that the calibration software offers, depending on your display type and your exact needs.

ecobo wrote in post #11642106
Calibrating a display is not as easy as it seems. You have to know a lot for different panel types, color gammut, working color spaces etc. and to experiment and learn a lot before you can make a good calibraton.
In general, it is a good idea to use a qualified service than rent a calibration device a try to do wonders.

I have no idea what you mean by having to know panel types...etc.. to get a proper calibration. The software doesn't care and there is no way to tell it what kind of display you are calibrating other than if it's an LCD or CRT. If you could elaborate, I am interested.

Some displays are harder to calibrate but this is a problem with calibration software and hardware more often than the display although there have been issues with some displays and poor quality control or design flaws.

bohdank wrote in post #11642259
I have no idea what you mean by having to know panel types...etc.. to get a proper calibration. The software doesn't care and there is no way to tell it what kind of display you are calibrating other than if it's an LCD or CRT. If you could elaborate, I am interested.

Some displays are harder to calibrate but this is a problem with calibration software and hardware more often than the display although there have been issues with some displays and poor quality control or design flaws.

IPS panels usually calibrate well with some standard settings - gamma 2.2, white point 6500 or D65, lightness 120-140cd/m2 and contrast 250:1 - these are common settings for color editing.
Almost the same with PVA, S-PVA and MVA panels.
TN panels are the real problem. Some are very good, some are awful. Usually, a Native white point is used to calibrate these, as TN panels don't support well changes in color temperature. For example, setting a White Point of 6500K often results in very magentish tints... The TN panels usually are very contrasty. Sometimes I use an unusual gamma of 2.5 or 2.4, as with 2.2 the display turns very contrast and with very closed dark tones. With MBPs, gamma of 2.5 helps a lot.
These are not standard settings for these types of panels. Calibration settings depend on monitor electronics too, so to determine the best settings, multiple calibrations are needed. And the results are controlled visually with a test chart.
The main condition to achieve a good calibration is to start with a high quality display with quality panel and good electronics. You always get what you pay for

Ah...ok... I just didn't understand what you meant in your original post.

I currently have a NEC PA241W-BK, previously a HP LP2065, both IPS. The NEC was not easy to calibrate without actually using the monitor LUT, which meant buying either NEC's software or BasICColor, directly. I ended up buying BasICColor when the SpyderPro3 software and Color Eyes Display Pro left a pink tint (CEDP was slightly better but still not perfect) using the Spyder 3 puck.