Best Color Calibration Software Under $150

zod96

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I'm getting my new U2410 Dell this week. And I would like simple yet effective color calibration software that I can use to make the colors correct. I want something that a beginner could use and wouldn't break the bank. Something under $150 and maybe even under $100. Does such software exist?

Thanks
 
Do you have a colorimeter? The software will need hardware to see what the monitor is doing.
 
I use an i1Display 2 colorimeter from X-rite combined with the software they provide. Cost me less than 100 Euro and gives more than acceptable results :)
 
Check out the Spyder3 Express on Newegg, selling for $87.

I'd avoid the Spyder3. Its calibration results are sub-par, and with the much better i1Display 2 being only a few bucks more expensive you'd be foolish to go for the lesser option.

Just my 2 cents :)
 
I have the Eye One Display 2 Colorimeter and love it but have to say the programs inlcuded (Eye One Match) aren't that great and really don't provide enough info. I will have to try this free software, thanks for the recommendations.
 
I have the Eye One Display 2 Colorimeter and love it but have to say the programs inlcuded (Eye One Match) aren't that great and really don't provide enough info. I will have to try this free software, thanks for the recommendations.

Eye One Match is indeed just basic calibration software. It doesn't give you extensive analysis data or anything on the display. It's just there to get the job done, and I must say that it works pretty well for most purposes, including the ones I use it for (weekly/monthly calibration of CRT/LCD monitors).
 
Eye One Match is indeed just basic calibration software. It doesn't give you extensive analysis data or anything on the display. It's just there to get the job done, and I must say that it works pretty well for most purposes, including the ones I use it for (weekly/monthly calibration of CRT/LCD monitors).



Yup. It does very good job in calibration and it even helps to find optimal contrast setting for your monitor, something some calibration softwares lack (like Basiccolor), but it doesnt go much into detail about the results and even those are rough estimates.
 
Which version are we talking here? Th Eye One Display LT?
 
I went ahead and got the spyder3 express from amazon for about $40. I had a credit their so I just used it. I only want basic stuff so we'll see..
 
I thought you need a hardware first, then the software to calibrate it. I read that Eye One Display 2 is good. You can get it used on fleabay.
 
Can I calibrate more than 1 monitor with the express version?
 
I'd avoid the Spyder3. Its calibration results are sub-par, and with the much better i1Display 2 being only a few bucks more expensive you'd be foolish to go for the lesser option.

Just my 2 cents :)

I have the Spyder3, bought it on sale for less, and it has made a significant difference for me.

As with most things, YMMV.
 
I have the Spyder3, bought it on sale for less, and it has made a significant difference for me.

As with most things, YMMV.

If you look at an analysis of the calibration performed it's night and day between the Spyder3 and the i1D2. Check for example a site like www.tftcentral.co.uk where they actually test these things :)
 
So far I had been in luck. (I think) or either I dont see color well.

My HDTV, I get the setting from a website (avsforum). I just follow someone else calibration. It comes out pretty good. When watching movies from my PC to it, I need to bump up the brightness.

My 3008wfp, I just put in preset mode for Desktop. Color looks good.

My 3007wfp. This I am not sure. It was just bad all around with muddy screen.

I want to get Eye One Display 2, but dont know if I need it.
 
So far I had been in luck. (I think) or either I dont see color well.

My HDTV, I get the setting from a website (avsforum). I just follow someone else calibration. It comes out pretty good. When watching movies from my PC to it, I need to bump up the brightness.

My 3008wfp, I just put in preset mode for Desktop. Color looks good.

My 3007wfp. This I am not sure. It was just bad all around with muddy screen.

I want to get Eye One Display 2, but dont know if I need it.

Yes you need it. IMO having an IPS or PVA display is utterly pointless if you don't have a calibration unit. Other wise you are only really benifitting from the viewing angles and size.

I bought the Eye One Display 2 for my 120hz TN and it was worth it as the color is 100% better.
 
How much different does sRGB look (on a U2410) after calibration vs the default "out of the box" settings?
 
I do not recommend buying used colorimeters as they will likely no longer be accurate since all colorimeters have filters that degrade over time. If you are serious about calibration, buy a brand new one from a quality vendor (such as www.curtpalme.com)
 
Question: If I buy some good equipment, like let's say an i1Pro and/or a Chroma 5 from the above mentioned curtpalme, then how do I develop the skills to make good use of them? I would be inclined to put the money towards it if I was confident that I'd be able to learn to use it properly for me and my friends/family's equipment.
 
Read this they show the color comparions between the default and calibrated settings
What is shown is a profile validation that measures actual colors and compares them with the transformation of the same RGB values through the display profile. You get some hints regarding linearity* (if you are using a matrix profile) and the the point at which a recalibration is recommendable. But it makes no sense to compare these values to a measurement against a working color space which is often done prior to calibration. A hypothetical display with a sRGB coverage of 20% can of course have a perfect profile validation - but you could never reasonable use it.

Regarding the right measurement device: If the display doesn't have a CCFL backlight without extended gamut (~72% NTSC) it gets quite tricky. (Link and Link).

Best regards

Denis

*
Linearity was a problem with the DELL U2410 in custom color mode. The (summed) brightness of the primaries did not match with the brightness of white. These inconsistent colorimetrical values can not be stored in a matrix profile (instead they are "forced normalized") which leads to the high deviations in profile validation (and you could of course never reasonable use it for CEPS in this mode - with our without color management).
 
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I've been researching LCD calibration because I have a few panels I wish to correct.

Hopefully the argyll software can create similar results to what we'd get with the x-rite / Lacie packages.

I think I'm going to use the argyll software + GUI, as suggested in this thread, with the X-rite Colormunki create ($75 on Amazon or ebay (8% BCB on ebay)), and same hardware as the i1 display 2/LT, and Lacie blue eyes). It seems like an inexpensive way to get a pretty good colorimeter setup. In Argyll, it recognizes as the i1 display 2.

I'm hoping that all of these devices are exactly the same, and feature the same calibration from the factory. They may be the same hardware, but factory calibration is important.
 
If you are going to calibrate TN panels, be prepared to be disappointed. I calibrated two Samsung TN displays for a friend with the same model number, but clearly difference between the panels used, with the right one have a far strong shift towards blue, among other things. TN panels are very hard to calibrate anywhere near the same values. In this case I got both panels to look more or less similar, but it wasn't easy and I had to toy a lot with the RGB sliders.

Now that same friend got a new Iiyama LCD (TN) which he wishes to use together with the other two displays. It just doesn't get any better :(
 
im a big fan of the lacie blue eye pro

but i think its the same as i1d2 just with some different software
 
I'll be calibrating the following, initially:

(2) Dell u2311h (e-ips)
(1) NEC 20wmgx^2 (as-ips)

+ my friend's Samsung TN panel... with the 2048x1152 resolution.

The Colormunki Create ($75) is the same as the i1D2 as well, as I mentioned in my previous post. I'll try that with the argyll + GUI.
 
The Colormunki Create ($75) is the same as the i1D2 as well

It looks the same, do you have a link that can verify this? I already have a blue eye pro but its a few years old and this is a cheaper option to replace the colorimeter.
 
(scroll until you find the "eye-one display" section) http://www.argyllcms.com/doc/instruments.html#i1d - first, from the argyll site. That isn't full proof, but if you search for the colormunki create enough, you'll find more evidence.

"The ColorMunki Create colorimeter can also be used, and will appear as an i1Display2 colorimeter."
"The ColorMunki Create package is another alternative, and will operate identically using Argyll."

http://www.colormunki.com/product/show?page=2 - from this site we can verify that it is a colorimeter, at least.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1122943 - In this thread, they have eventually concluded that the colormunki create is equivalent, but then their source appears to be argyll again.

It seems that one difference is that the colormunki may be somehow locked out from using the x-rite software.

I'm hoping I'm right...
 
I've got the BlueEyePro and have had some odd behavior out of it so far and even after a call to technical support we're stumped.

Basically the application (4.2.2 & 4.5.5) never popup a box or message stating when I've hit the optimal brightness or contrast. I can gauge the setting with my eye pretty good but never hit the 120 cd/m2 that I'm looking to achieve.

Technical support suggests it might be that I'm using it on monitors other than Lacie but I find that hard to believe. I've ran this on 4 monitors so far with the same results.

Any one else seen this type of problem?

Here are my calibrations since i got home so you can see the difference this makes:

beforestandardmode.jpg


afterstandardmode.jpg
 
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