• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

looking for color calibration device...

D

dboy

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 24, 2003
Messages
189
I'm interested in getting better color calibration (something like a Spyder or similar)... what do people use and recommend?

I need it to have:
1. Handle CRT and LCD monitors
2. Handle dual monitors
3. price is important - getting a used one off eBay would be great

I'd like it to have:
1. Handle TVs too
2. Calibrate printers
3. Calibrate scanners

I know the wish list there adds quite a bit to the price...

So, what do people use and like/dislike?
 
For handling dual monitors, you need to get Mac OSX. None of the current crop of Windows Operating Systems can handle having two ICC color profiles for a monitor/output display device. Basically only 1 monitor will be calibrated correctly under Windows. Though both could end up looking very similar even with this limitation.



As for color-correcting a TV...not really possible as there is no ICC color profile attached to it.

What the color-calibration devices do is make an ICC color profile that corrects for the response of the monitor. So the moment you play with the contrast/brightness on the monitors OSD, you need to recalibrate.


As for color-correcting a printer/scanner...I don't think you'll find the equipment for doing that to be cheap.

There are some services where you can send in your printer & ink & paper and they'll calibrate an ICC profile for you, but in general this is some specalized stuff. Just calibrate your monitor, and send your files to a print lab that is calibrated. Both are calibrated to the same standard (we would hope) so your prints would be the same color-wise as you saw on your monitor.



BTW, I don't color-calibrate. I just eye-ball it. At this point, I can't afford or justify the calibration equipment...
 
Colour calibration is pretty important if you plan to print. I use a Monaco Optix XR to cal my left hand monitor and then just eye ball the contrast and brightness on the right hand one (I use the right hand monitor for the tool pallates). I recently calibrated a professional photographer's single monitor system using the XR and Epson's ICC profiles for his 4000 Pro printer. Now what he sees on the screen is exactly what comes out of the printer - and one mighty impressive printer it is!

Here are some good tips for calibration:

- monitor profiling
- printer profiling: part one, part two
 
Printing those linked articles now for reading later...

Anyway, I bought a Gretag Macbeth EyeOne 1 Display (the original model, not the newer ver 2) off ebay for cheap - think it was around 80 shipped. That'll be enough for now I think, since it'll work with the newest software.

Profiling the printer will be harder, whenever we get to that point. We have a Canon printer (the MP750 which is the multifunction version of the ip4000), use Epson Glossy photo paper, and megatoners.com generic inks. The combo is actually VERY good - we like it better than using the Canon Pro paper (but suspect that if we used genuine canon inks our paper choice would be reversed). Since it's such an odd combo of paper and ink, there's not gonna be a profile already out there...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top