Monitor calibration fact or fiction

The F1 Man

The F1 Man

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Keith
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Hello again out there:lol:
I have a dilemma. When I look at my pictures on my PC monitor all looks well. When I print all does not look the same. I have been told that my monitor needs calibrating and that there are software packages availoable. Now the person who told me this could not explain what he meant or how or even why. Have I just had a most bizzare encounter with some wierdo or did what he say make any sense to you good people.:lol: PLease advise as I am now very curious.
Many thanks in anticipation.
 
I've a spyder 3 which is great as it monitors ambient light also. It makes calibration easy, but you can manually calibrate using test prints from somewhere like photo box and compare it to an image on their website, but it's never as accurate.
 
:lol::lol:what exactly is it and how does it work, you will have to speak in simple tongue to this monkey.:lol::lol:
 
Color Munki, it is a full colour management package that allows you to calibrate your monitor so what you print is very close to what you see on your screen, which hopefully is what you captured during the shoot.
 
Fact, I can see my monitors are work are much warmer than my one at home, and both are wildliy different from each other. I can tell just looking at white on web pages.

Neither are calibrated but I do want to get a calibration tool as I can see they aren't right and it's winding me up. I've tried the OS built in calibration but they just aren't up to the job IMO.
 
Is it fact that you can't calibrate laptop screens?
 
Eye1 display2 is another alternative which i have. Seems to work OK
merv
 
The F1 Man said:
:lol::lol:what exactly is it and how does it work, you will have to speak in simple tongue to this monkey.:lol::lol:
Click to expand...

Basically, you need your monitor to show colours correctly, so you need to calibrate it (you might also need to adjust printer settings to reproduce colours correctly, taking into account the inks and the paper used).

Read about it here - ColorWiki Monitor Calibration FAQ
 
MJWC1 said:
Is it fact that you can't calibrate laptop screens?
Click to expand...

Some types of monitor panels calibrate better than others.
 
The F1 Man said:
:lol::lol:what exactly is it and how does it work, you will have to speak in simple tongue to this monkey.:lol::lol:
Click to expand...

Software calibration doesn't work as it relies on precise accuracy which many eyes are not.

When you use a hardware device like the Spyder or Colormunki (I use that), then you place the device in front of the monitor and the application that runs shows various colours. Your devide will display it and the device will measure what it sees and compares against hoiw it should be. It then builds a profile (icc or icm file) and when your PC starts the calibration software runs and sets the proper profile for your monitor so it displays colours correctly.

That is part of the scene. Printer calibration may also be required.

Your printer uses inks and paper. Each different manufacturers inks are different, each paper type is different so you need to build a profile for the inkset you use and the paper you are using. These icc profiles are set in Photoshop (or other printing software) so that the printer knows what paper you're using and can adjust how it lays down the inks.

The colormunki can profile both the monitor and your printer. The others noted above do only the monitor.

Having the ability to profile the papers you use really is great.

Hope that explains it a little better. Colour management is a bit of a minefield

As Mark says above some monitors calibrate better than others. I have 2 samsunb monitors - One profiles well, the other is always a bit too bright lol
 
Oh yes and always give the monitor at least 30 minutes to settle after switching on and before calibrating.
 
neil_g said:
Plus you have to consider viewing angles which often alter colour.

I've always had mixed results on a laptop so stick to a calibrated ips on the desktop.
Click to expand...

There are laptop OS / hardware combinations that cannot be calibrated!

I cannot calibrate my laptop with Vista and the default Dell laptop graphics hardware. I saved a few quid not upgrading the display hardware because I don't do gaming, not realising I would have a problem.
I think this problem was only Vista and older / newer versions of Windows are OK.
 
DuncanDisorderly said:
There are laptop OS / hardware combinations that cannot be calibrated!

I cannot calibrate my laptop with Vista and the default Dell laptop graphics hardware. I saved a few quid not upgrading the display hardware because I don't do gaming, not realising I would have a problem.
I think this problem was only Vista and older / newer versions of Windows are OK.
Click to expand...

interesting, ive not had any bother calibrating under vista previously. maybe it is a limitation of the graphics card that 7 (as it has more calibration options built in) can overcome?
 
merv said:
Eye1 display2 is another alternative which i have. Seems to work OK
merv
Click to expand...

I also have the Gretag Macbeth Eye-One Display 2 (Eye-One Match 3 software) but unfortunately it's not compatible with Windows-7.

I'm now wondering whether to downgrade back to XP-Pro, or look for an affordable upgrade option to replace the Eye-One.
 
visagephoto said:
I also have the Gretag Macbeth Eye-One Display 2 (Eye-One Match 3 software) but unfortunately it's not compatible with Windows-7.
Click to expand...

That's strange, mine's been working fine on my windows 7 machine for the last eight months.
 
visagephoto said:
I also have the Gretag Macbeth Eye-One Display 2 (Eye-One Match 3 software) but unfortunately it's not compatible with Windows-7.

I'm now wondering whether to downgrade back to XP-Pro, or look for an affordable upgrade option to replace the Eye-One.
Click to expand...


Check if they have any updates, as the Eye-One Match 3 software would not work the new OS X on macs, but , after a huge number of protests and a long wait they release a free alternative so if a problem with Win 7 or 8 they may do the same
 
That's strange, mine's been working fine on my windows 7 machine for the last eight months.
Click to expand...

Check if they have any updates, as the Eye-One Match 3 software would not work the new OS X on macs, but , after a huge number of protests and a long wait they release a free alternative so if a problem with Win 7 or 8 they may do the same
Click to expand...

You're both correct, Thanks! I remember previously being offered a discounted device upgrade (via email) as the Eye-One display-2 wasn't compatible with Win7, and as the device had been discontinued Windows 7 drivers wouldn't be made available

However I've since found a link to an upgraded (Windows 7 compatible) version of Eye-One Match-3 on the X-Rite website, Oddly though, it has the same version number as my current Eye-One match-3 software (V.3.6.2) which is probably why I couldn't find the update and using the "check for updates" option insisted that I had the latest version already installed.

All sorted now thanks.
 
Last edited:
sorry for the late replies you all, Ive been away. Thanks for all your comments.
 
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