Laptop Monitor Calibration Issues & Solutions

[Pegasus_Thrust]

Good Evening All.

No doubt someone else has had issues with this and it has probably appeared on here before so apologies if it's going over old ground.

Can anyone suggest any decent processes/software/hardware to help calibrate laptop monitors?

I have my 3 year old dell XPS 17 and recently acquired a newer XPS 12 ultrabook. I just finished some high key shots on the xps 17 via LR and they all seemed fine enough a little darker towards the bottom but to be expected- yet when I viewed them on the smaller laptop they were more yellow than darker- infact they looked like different photos. So I started to play around and make comparisons side by side and am staggered at the differences in colour. I've even pulled the equivalent photos up on my Samsung Note 3 and and Ipad 3 and they all seem to be different... incidentally the Samsung Note and the 17 XPS are similar, the smaller XPS is the most extreme from a darkness with the Ipad slightly better............ I am now doubting everything!!!!

I've ran the windows 7 (both XPSs) calibration tool but it isn't great, I've downloaded Calibrize but the settings don't seem to hold.

Anyone any ideas on how to get the 2 laptops correct and similar?..... ideally I will be using them both for post but obviously need to rectify this.

 

[hollis_f]

You want a hardware solution. DataColor's Spyder (now on v5) is a popular choice.

 

[Chappers]

Agree with the hardware option. It's the only real way to get multiple screens calibrated. O

ne point to bear in mind is that not all screens can be accurately matched. It's a question of the screen and the video driver. If the combination can't produce the same dynamic colour range as other units then there will be a difference. I had a similar problem several yeas ago with a MacBook Pro. It calibrated well , but the calibration showed it was not able to give the required output in the blue ( Only small, but showed up on the calibration curves). Now whilst for most people this wouldn't make much difference, when comparing it to an iMac screen, the MacBook Pro had a slight warm bias.

 

[Pegasus_Thrust]

Thanks both. Ordered one of the spyder express versions this evening so hopefully this should help- although I reckon the the larger screen XPS is LCD and the small LED so this might have a bearing.