Spyder2express LCD calibrator

O

onamae

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Jun 14, 2006
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Wow, I just purchased the Spyder2express calibrator, and I am absolutely floored with the difference on my LCD. I know that hardware calibration is the best way to get the most out of any monitor, however I did not realize how huge the improvement would be. I used it on my Viewsonic 20" widescreen VX2025wm, and now the blacks are more deep, the colors so saturated, not to mention the grays are now smooth as butter. It feels like I purchased a brand new top of the line LCD. I don't recall being this satisfied with a sub 100$ PC peripheral ever. I just wanted to let the people in this forum know that for about 70 bucks you could possibly improve the picture quality on your monitor by alot!
 
where did you purchase it from. I've been wanting to invest in one of these.
 
I'm going to go ahead and pick one of these up, $70 isnt bad at all for what you are getting.

I have a rather expensive 24" LCD and will have a 30" LCD as soon as those come out.

Good investment.
 
Here is what the manufacturer has to say about the subject.

"On Windows, It is necessary to use a separate video card for each monitor. Multi-head video cards (one card that drives multiple monitors) will not work because Windows will not allow you to assign a different profile to each monitor.
Only PCI express video cards are able to handle two profiles at the same time."
 
I may be wrong but I thought the Express version achieves adjustments via monitor profiles rather than letting you adjust the monitor itself. Is this right? If so, the viewable colours will be more accurate but the overall colour gamut will be reduced.
 
All the Spyder calibrators achieve their adjustments primarily through the monitor profile. The only way your color gamut would be limited is if you choose to set the white point calibration to a certain setting ie 6500k on LCDs. Most professionals recommend setting the white point calibration to "native" on LCDs which uses the brightest white that your monitor can achieve thus preserving the full range of colors your monitor can produce. Setting to 6500k will give you pretty much the sRGB standard gamut but generally isn't recommend for LCDs you should use "native" instead. You should remeber that you are already using a monitor profile to define color reproduction on your monitor, just that it is a general one that doesn't know the reality of what it is told to produce and what you monitor creates, calibration is aimed at making the output match what was actually requested which isn't the same generally on an uncalibrated monitor.
 
Primarily, yes. It might not be noticeable but I don't know how you can say the gamut won't be affected at all. If the monitor is way off (maybe unlikely), colours may be affected more noticeably (OK, I'm stretching). The PreCal stage (not sure what it's called with the Spyder 2) is a useful step, unavailable in the express version. A monitor profile is best used to make up the small (hopefully) difference post precal. Still, even a purely software calibrated monitor is far preferable to the alternative.

(If I'm wrong feel free to shoot me)
 
O... ok I see what your saying. But I use the PRO version of the software ;P, so I can adjust the RGB to the highest and bring them down slowly until I achieve my target of 6500k and still preserving my highest contrast ratio. But ya the express doesn't let you adjust the RGB levels to achieve your target so that a downer.
 
Is this calibrator easy to use? Like how can you tell that it's actually working? Is there a reference to refer to?
 
So you can ingnore the default software and install the pro software? Where did you get the pro software?
 
DusanV said:
So you can ingnore the default software and install the pro software? Where did you get the pro software?
Click to expand...

He downloaded it illegally. :rolleyes:
 
Sgt_Strider said:
Is this calibrator easy to use? Like how can you tell that it's actually working? Is there a reference to refer to?
Click to expand...

It's pretty easy to setup. At Windows startup, there is a ColorVision program that loads the color profile, you can tell immediately that everything looks better. My 2405FPW no longer looks washed out. :p

Somehow, I don't think calibration works in 3d modes?
 
onamae said:
Here is what the manufacturer has to say about the subject.

"On Windows, It is necessary to use a separate video card for each monitor. Multi-head video cards (one card that drives multiple monitors) will not work because Windows will not allow you to assign a different profile to each monitor.
Only PCI express video cards are able to handle two profiles at the same time."
Click to expand...

If you pick up an NEC 80 or 90 series monitor with Spectraview you can save your profiles in the firmware of the monitor and can also pull your colors from 10 or 12 bit look up tables respectivley.
 
travbomb said:
If you pick up an NEC 80 or 90 series monitor with Spectraview you can save your profiles in the firmware of the monitor and can also pull your colors from 10 or 12 bit look up tables respectivley.
Click to expand...

And the MSRP on a Spectraview monitor is? :p
 
aznx said:
It's pretty easy to setup. At Windows startup, there is a ColorVision program that loads the color profile, you can tell immediately that everything looks better. My 2405FPW no longer looks washed out. :p

Somehow, I don't think calibration works in 3d modes?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know it doesn't work when you play games... it kicks back to the default profile for your monitor prior to the calibration... I don't know why this is so, but it sucks.
 
Depends on the game. In WoW, if I have "use desktop gamma" checked, it will use the profile and all is good when I close WoW. So if the game is reseting your profile back to default setup after it's closes, it probably uses it's own color controls. Now we have to get more developers to allow you to use the desktop profile.
 
for free you can use WYZIWYG from www.praxisoft.com.
Its not perfect, but if you just want to improve your overall viewing pleasure (rather then photoshop repro/6500k perfect) then its well worth running.

I would be very interested in how it does compare in software mode compared to the Spyder hardware calibration - from both a technical compare to a "that looks nice" compare?
 
aznx said:
It's pretty easy to setup. At Windows startup, there is a ColorVision program that loads the color profile, you can tell immediately that everything looks better. My 2405FPW no longer looks washed out. :p

Somehow, I don't think calibration works in 3d modes?
Click to expand...

So everything is automatic? I don't need to make any adjustments myself?
 
Sgt_Strider said:
So everything is automatic? I don't need to make any adjustments myself?
Click to expand...

When you run the calibration software the first time, there are adjustments you need to make. My 2405 had seperate settings for RGB, so I used those. The scanner would read the colors and tell me how close I was getting to 6500K & 2.2 gamma (I think I used 2.2). I did this at night with lights off and 50% brightness, DVI. There is a setting in the pro version software I used that lets you specify if you have other lighting, etc. Pretty simple, took a while to get it right, but overall easy to do.
 
SixFootDuo said:
where did you purchase it from. I've been wanting to invest in one of these.
Click to expand...
I also just got one of these. It is $61 at Amazon (although I'll be upgrading to the Pro...you can upgrade a license from Spyder themselves).
 
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