iMac Screen Calibration

[Big Nick]

I've just bought a new 27" iMac as my ageing laptop is just not up to photo editing

Will the screen need calibrating to get the colours true and if so how do you do it?

Thanks in advance

 

[PJ S]

i1 Display Pro (ColorMunki Display exactly the same?) or Datacolor Spyder4 Pro should do the trick.

 

[gadgeteer]

First off I'd start with using the built in software.

Settings -> Displays -> Color -> Calibrate

I've a 21" iMac (can't afford the 27" ) and I calibrated my monitor using the software then a few weeks later borrowed my friends Spyder. To my surprise the Spyder didn't seem to change much. An ever so slight tweak. So I surmise that the monitor & calibrate software is by default pretty damn close.

Not sure of other people's experiences though.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

i1 Display Pro (ColorMunki Display exactly the same?) or Datacolor Spyder4 Pro should do the trick.

not exactly the same but if you are asking this question you probably don't need the full i1 Display Pro just yet. ColorMunki is a slightly simplified version and works fine for my needs
Spyder 4 is a competing product

 

[six6six]

I have the Spyder 4 Pro, It calibrates my iMac fine and reminds me every 2 weeks to redo it. You can set the reminders entirely up to you.

I haven't tried the spyder4 pro on the macbook retina yet. As I don't use it for editing photographs, I don't think I would bother. I upgraded from the i1 Display 2. Can't remember why I did it in the end.

 

[Chappers]

Any good calibration system will work well. I use the i1 Display Pro which works fine on my iMac and rMBP.

It was claimed that the new iMac's would be factory calibrated to an international standard. Now no mention as to what that is. I assume it means normal profile calibration. However no mention to brightness level, which is usually a problem with most displays ( not just Mac's) is they are too bright. So additional calibration is required
especially to tame over bight displays