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Monitor calibration - Which one?

haring

Member
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!
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
What I've been using since 2004 was recommended to me by various friends in ColorSync and display engineering when I was working at Apple ... the Xrite Eye One Display 2. It's about $200 at B&H nowadays.

It's been a very consistent and reliable tool, I've used it on my own and on many clients' systems with excellent results.
 

Wayne Fox

Workshop Member
While I also believe the EyeOne is the best, the spyder isn't bad. Getting three different displays powered by possibly very different video cards to "match" when compared side by side may be expecting too much, and the spyder may not be the problem. There are many factors that contribute to the quality of a display and the cards that drive them.

Our eyes do adapt to color quite well, and normally slight variation in monitors would only be noticeable if you put them right next to each other. Put them on opposite sides so you can only see one at a time ... how bad are they? If one is "bad" it may not be the profile. If both are acceptable then trying to get a "perfect" match may be an exercise in banging your head into the wall and perhaps not that necessary. We have two identical Eizo's, both profiled and managed well, and side by side they are not exactly the same. But they are both very good and output from either of them is fine.
 

thomas

New member
The two i1Display 2's I had went down after 1-2 years... one of the primaries slightly went blind so the calibration produced a color shift. Too, they are quite sensitive to temperature... you have to warm them up on the screen 15 minutes or so to produce a decent calibration curve in very low tonal values.
Try to get a DTP94b... clearly the best device in this price range (low sample variation; consistent results).
Also the software is important...
Different monitors with different panels will never really match... when you mix ~ sRGB panels and wide gamut panels it's even harder.
 

weinschela

Subscriber Member
On new(er) iMacs with illuminated LED screens, the Spyder2 I had was unable to calibrate. Color Munki was the only one I found that worked. so the answer may also depend on the technology in your screens.
 
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