Monitor Calibration: Reassure Me, Please...

Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
At the urging of some of my faculty I dropped the required dinero on a monitor calibration tool; more specifically the Spyder4 Pro which came highly recommended. The box arrived yesterday but I haven't had time to perform the operation yet. Will probably tackle it this weekend.

So... Those of you who calibrate, is it *REALLY* worth the effort? Should I expect to see significant improvement somewhere or... What?

I guess I'm just dubious about this whole thing and want to be told I didn't flush perfectly good money down the crapper.

Thoughts, comments, cash donations... All welcome.

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Krs_2007

Senior Member
Honestly, it was for me. All of my pictures were bright and the colors were off, after I calibrated it using the one you purchased, they were noticeably better and true to life to me. I now use 2 different brand monitors and use it on both, after calibrating I compare it on my ipad they are all 3 really close.

It was worth it to me

My first time was a bust because I didnt follow the on screen directions, re-did and followed directions and all was good. I do it once a month on both monitors.
 
Fred Kingston_RIP

Fred Kingston_RIP

Senior Member
I didn't notice a great deal of difference, initially... been using the Spyder3 for a couple of years...but, here's the thing... My monitor is a 27" iMac, which was probably calibrated pretty good from the factory... and the older it gets, and when I re-run the calibration every couple of months, I notice a small perceptible change... so, as the monitor gets older and drifts out of calibration, the Spyder nudges it back... I imagine, if I reset my monitor to it's initial factory setting when new, and compared it with current settings 3 years later, it'd be very noticeable...
 
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Moab Man

Senior Member
Where I noticed the biggest improvement was skin tones being right and whites being white.

And I agree with Fred on the Mac screen. As much as I don't like Apple their displays are beautiful right out of the box.
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
Probably not a big difference, but a difference. Probably depends on the monitor quality, and if IPS or TN, etc. But the cost (video only, skipping printer) seems small compared to about any other camera gadget, and it probably does more. The ease of mind seems worth it. :) The software shows at least a dozen different tones of each of red, green, blue, gray on the screen, and the sensor tool reads the result, and adjusts things to actually show the actual expected value. That's something.

Also, for an in-the-field goal, compare your cameras rear LCD screen with the same image on the calibrated monitor, and adjust camera LCD brightness (-1) to match it.
 
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Mike150

Senior Member
I tried Spyder 3 last summer. I found I could not notice any improvement at all. That, of course, tells me that one of two things can be going on here. (or both). Either my monitor was calibrated very well at the factory, or my tired old eyes are just too screwed up to notice the difference. I'm voting on the second, because I really can't tell a difference between regular and HD tv either.
 
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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
I had dual monitors and they were different sizes/model and when I first put them up they were so very different and it was noticeable. Once I bought and ran this tool it was much closer but I was never totally happy with the match so I bought two new matched screens and it balanced those perfectly. Just make sure you read and follow the directions carefully. Especially about the dark room.
 
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Felisek

Senior Member
It made a huge difference on my old Windows laptop, and some difference on my new MacBook Pro. The MacBook was too bluish out of the box. I'm not sure if Apple's laptops have less factory calibration than their bigger screens, or if I was unlucky. But yes, my Spyder4Elite is quite useful. Whether it is worth the money they ask for it... I don't know.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Thanks for all the input... I've got two laptops and a desktop in the house so I plan on calibrating all three. I don't do post' on a laptop but the GF does so the idea of having some uniformity between all three sounds nice. I do find getting skin tones "just so" is a real PITA but I'm not sure I can blame that on my hardware.

Promise to RTFM...

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Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Re: Monitor Calibration: Closing the Loop

Well I did the calibration last night (AFTER reading the manual)... The display is a little darker post-calibration, but I was warned that would be the case and that I would adjust to it quickly. Well, I have and the colors do look better, no question about it. I like that the application gives you a chance to quickly flip between pre- and post-calibration display settings so you can really see the difference. The changes were not *drastic* but they were significant and immediately noticeable.

In short, I'm definitely glad I did this would recommend it to anyone serious about their post processing.

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Fred Kingston_RIP

Fred Kingston_RIP

Senior Member
Your quest has only begun young grasshopper... Now that you've calibrated your camera, and calibrated your monitors to match... move on to the printer stream/drivers in different software to find/calibrate the end results getting to paper... :D
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
FredKingston said:
Your quest has only begun young grasshopper... Now that you've calibrated your camera, and calibrated your monitors to match... move on to the printer stream/drivers in different software to find/calibrate the end results getting to paper... :D
Click to expand...
Well... Typically I send my prints to Costco. I've been reading these instructions but have not yet implemented them.

Am I on the Path of Enlightenment? Or have I strayed far, Master?




/bowing, scraping...

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Blade Canyon

Senior Member
Please clarify: the only reason to calibrate a single monitor is for printing, right? Or am I missing any other advantages to having a calibrated monitor?
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
Printing is a reason but not the only reason. The calibration kit choices have more expensive options to also calibrate your printer (fairly unimportant if you don't print images there).

The reason to calibrate your monitor is to show your images on your screen in a proper standardized way, so you will adjust them more correctly, so that your printer, and the online printing service, and your posted and emailed images, look to others like you see them too.

If all your images are adjusted when you see them too bright, others with more accurate gear will see them too dim. Including your printing.

I suppose one downside, if your monitor is calibrated, and you email pictures of the kids to your mom, and her monitor is bright (most seem to be), she will see them more dim. But... she should be used to it.
 
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