Colour Calibration - What do you use

Warspite

Warspite

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As in the title.
(not sure if this is the correct area to ask this - if not please relocate to an appropriate one)

Im looking to get more accurate calibration mainly for my monitors, although I'd be interested in how, or what you use for printers aswell.

Basically do you use software like Adobe Gamma or hardware calibration like the Spyder devices I have seen available. Also how do you rate them - are they worth it or do you use because you must for absolute accuracy, etc.

Thanks:thumb:
 
I use Adobe Gamma, but purely to achieve the best monitor display I can from a working point of view. After many hours, much ink and many sheets of photo-glossy I have given up trying to get parity between what I see on screen and what I print. I've decided it's eutopia and I'm certainly not going to waste more money on hardware calibration.

If I need to print a photograph I use Canon's Easy Photo Print which seems to interpret my 20d's profile most closely. But if I want a batch, like a holiday set, then it's off to Jessops - it's more cost effective and gives a very true likeness.

So to come back to topic, yes, it's Adobe Gamma I use. But to add to the thread - I am aware that a monitor interprets colour differently to a printer and I am happy that as long as my prints look good I'm not bothered about them looking different to the monitor. So, to me, I'd rather put the mullah towards a lens rather than something like Spider (which I honestly don't think will give a finite solution).

regards
 
I have wrested with colour management for months:confused-

Firstly I used the Adobe Gamma and played around with my monitor Contrast/Brightness etc but was never quite happy.

Decided to purchase Spyder........still was not happy with my set up:dizzy:

Finnished up setting my monitor to factory settings......Brightness 100% Contrast 50% (Spyder on screen intructions advised this)......then just set anything and everything I could find to work in sRGB.........a little happier with things now.

I will try with Spyder again.
 
Adobe Gamma...

Although... it makes little difference to anything I transmit for publication as most Picture eds will do Auto-levels and Auto-colour corrections on everything that passes across their desks - savages!
 
I tried Adobe Gamma but could never get the central boxes to "dissappear" into surrounding lines as per guidelines..... so gave up ;)
 
I use adobe gamma also, seems to do a pretty good job. I get all my photos printed in a lab, they always seem to come out as on screen.......Unless the lab takes it upon themselves to screw with my pics (this seems to happen sometimes, even when I ask for no changes to be made).
 
just as a side note, i downloaded an ICC file from Epson for my R200 printer last week, its still sitting on my desktop, anyone know what folder to put it in, and when thats done, how do i tell it to use it before printing???
 
digitalfailure said:
Boon

Have a look HERE for Epson's ICC pack for the R200

If you download them and save them somewhere where you can find them, you'll be able to install the profiles correctly if you read and follow Pook's excellent guide

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1454

Hope that helps you in your search for colour match.
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Thanks mate, looking forward to some decent colour pictures:thumb:
 
Thanks for your responses people - I was thinking of getting a Spyder 2 or possibly a Spyder 2 Pro as I have multiple monitors on my machines.

Looks like your experiences may have saved me some cash as I dont think I'll bother now;)

Thanks for all your experience:thumb:
 
I'd love to read some comments on the spyder's

Around the net you read some people's glowing comments, while others say they went back to Adobe gamma.
 
digitalfailure said:
I'd love to read some comments on the spyder's

Around the net you read some people's glowing comments, while others say they went back to Adobe gamma.
Click to expand...

I gave Spyder 2 another try last night but again uninstalled........returned my monitor back to default Brightness/contrast and just set everything to sRGB.
 
:eek2:

What issues were you having with it?

At the moment i'm pretty happy with how the monitor looks after setting in adobe gamma, but even with the right ICC files for my printer/paper combo the results are unpredictable.

one print came out with a warm cast to it, the next had a sort of green cast :dizzy:

in both cases images looked ok on screen.
 
I will post my problems with it when I have more time (her who must be obeyed telling me to get ready for night out).

One thing if I can ask.........what Kelvin setting does everyone use on their monitor's?
 
Ok will try and keep this as simple as I can:dizzy:

Install Spyder 2 and let it create a profile for my monitor......ok so far.

Edit an image in CS2 working in sRGB colour space.

Save for web or just save the picture.........now my problems start.

When I view my picture either on the web or just on my monitor using Windows fax viewer..........the picture looks oversaturated so nothing like what I edited in CS2.:Ponders:

So can anyone tell me what I am missing here and why don't I just set my monitor to sRGB and forget the Spyder profile?

Not sure if any that made any sense to anyone.........my head hurts:dizzy:
 
On a side note, from watching some official CS2 training DVDs they recommend Adobe RGB(1998) for colour Mgmt....not sure why , but they do.
 
DJW said:
On a side note, from watching some official CS2 training DVDs they recommend Adobe RGB(1998) for colour Mgmt....not sure why , but they do.
Click to expand...

And where would that setting be m8?

I'm a bit on the pap side with PS cs :embarasse
 
DJW said:
On a side note, from watching some official CS2 training DVDs they recommend Adobe RGB(1998) for colour Mgmt....not sure why , but they do.
Click to expand...
it gives a greater gamut - wider colour space.
quite amused by the responses here, sounds like many are having probs with colour managment...i read through the bit about it in the PS help and found that quite useful
 
shiato storm said:
sounds like many are having probs with colour managmentl
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Your not joking:dizzy:

I am sat here arguing the toss with the missis what the correct shade of grey I should be looking at on here,:banghead:
 
There are many ways to get a "near enough" profile but if you want an accurate profile for YOUR monitor then you need something like the Spyder. This reads the colours and luminance and then creates a profile with specific adjustments to bring the displayed values back to a known value.

They do work very well and used in conjunction with a printer profiler is the only real way to get a reliable output.


I'm not saying you can't achieve a satisfactory result without "real" profiles but is the easiest route. Whether people find it cost effective or not is a much bigger question though. :)
 
Well I have done plenty of reading up on this colour management thingy the last few days.............of which is way over my head.

Anyway I gave Spyder another go and I am now happier with my monitor profile.:thumb:
 
After weeks/months trying to solve my problem I think I finally figured out what I was doing wrong in CS2.....

Before going to 'save for web' I now convert to sRGB...EDIT>CONVERT TO PROFILE.

It seems to have done the trick as I now see the same image on the web as I edited in CS2 with no colour shift.

Only problem now is I scratched my Spyder2 cd and my drive fails to read it:doh:
 
There is a guy in Sheffield who does it professionally if anyone interested. Monitor calibration £25 plus £30 per paper profile. Minimum charge about £75 plus travel at 30 p a mile for travel costs. Or he can hire you the kit.

No connection except as customer :)
 
Converting to sRGB helps but it still doesn't always eliminate the problem, as I found out today. The reds in the shot I've just put up look more orange in a browser (and in windows picture viewer) than they did in PS.

I use a gretag-macbeth Eye-One Display2 to calibrate my monitor, by the way. Very happy with it.
 
fingerz said:
I use a gretag-macbeth Eye-One Display2 to calibrate my monitor, by the way. Very happy with it.
Click to expand...

Also use Eye One after selling Spyder.

A lot happier with my monitor now.
 
P-E said:
One thing if I can ask.........what Kelvin setting does everyone use on their monitor's?
Click to expand...
My Proview monitor is at set at 6550K and I've never had reason to alter it.
 
CT said:
My Proview monitor is at set at 6550K and I've never had reason to alter it.
Click to expand...

Found I had to set my monitor to 7100K for the Eye One to calibrate it to the target of 6500K.
 
fingerz said:
Why's that then? Mine seems fine at 6500K but I'm not 100% sure what I'd looking for.
Click to expand...

When I calibrate the target is 6500K.

If I set my monitor to 6500K with the pre-sets..........the profile target using Eye One will always show the Kelvin at 6100K/6200K.

Set my monitor to 7100K and Eye One will hit the target of 6500K most times.

This is just my monitor and everyone's is different.

I read somewhere not always to trust monitor pre-sets to give the correct Kelvin readings.
 
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