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Which Calibration System?

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Brad Snyder

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Nov 20, 2007
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Port Deposit, Maryland USA
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Can we talk hardware based calibration systems ?

Preferences, favorites, advice, opinions, pros/cons ?

My 'commercial' work is mostly action sports; 'close enough' color fidelity is fine. So, I currently use the monitor vendor's software cal.

I'd like to move up to hardware based, but these are expensive enough to make me want to get it right the first time.

Maybe even a poll, if there's enough interest?

......brad s
 
Any hardware calibrator will be better than doing it with software alone. I use a Monaco Optix calibrator. It cost around $4'' when I bought it. I think that Monaco got bought out by X-Rite or someone like that. It works exactly like I would expect it to for calibrating and profiling monitors. I never got results that I was happy with when I tried profiling my scanner and printer. That may be because I lost interest during the process and didn't really give it my best shot. For simply calibrating your monitor, I would think that something in the $4''-5'' range should work out fine. I've used a $12'' X-Rite calibrator before and it didn't seem to do any better of a job.
 
I use the i1 Display 2 for the monitors. I tried the Printfix Pro Suite from Colorvision, it worked fine for the monitors for a while but recently developed a nasty habit of uninstalling the USB driver for the colorimeter randomly and frequently. Colorvision's TS dep't. was, to put it kindly, less than helpful the one time I had any reason to use them so I just went out and bought the i1D2. It works well and reliably(so far).

The PrintFix Pro printer profiles worked adequately as long as you have the time and patience to use the 729-patch target. Profiles made with the other targets were worse than what I could download from the paper manufacturers.

If business ever picks up, I'll add the i1 Photo package for printer profiling. Until then, I'll stick with manufacturer's profiles.

My experience, YMMV.
 
I now use the Spyder3Elite. The other likely choice is the I1D2 (Eye-One Display 2), but unfortunately I've never seen a meaningful comparison of the two.

I like the Spyder3 hardware, though I think the software seems somewhat amateurish. I can't remember off the top of my head, but there are typos or an odd/inconsistent user interface or something that seemed a little less than well-polished.

Still, it's a nice device, easy to use, effective, and relatively quick.
 
The Monaco Optix Pro was superceded by the i1 Display 2 and is the current offering from X-Rite.
However, the hardware is not considered o be an improvement by experts in the field simply because it came after.
While you will be perfectly happy with the i1 Display2, and I certainly recommend X-Rite products, if you want to get the Monaco Optix Pro, they are still available from Chromix at www.chromix.com.

Personally I use, and have used, X-Rite DTP92, DTP94(optix xr) and Sony Artisan colorimeters.
 
I have been using a Monaco Optix Pro for a few years with two different monitors. My printing through CS3 and Lightroom matches the monitors just fine.
 
I use the Spyder Pro and it works pretty well.
 
I've tried both Huey Pro, Eye-One Display 2 and Spyder2Express.

I could never get the Huey Pro to work, all it gave me was a terrible green cast. The store took it back.
Then I got to try the Eye-One Display 2, and it was very easy to work with.
After that they gave me a Spyder2Express, and it's not as advanced as Display 2. The profile is slightly different between the two, but my personal feeling is that the Spyder feels more natural.

All 3 work with dual monitors (on a Mac). The Spyder needs a small tweak to work with dual monitors though.
 
i1 Display here too - but I've combined it with basICColor software for an even more accurate profile.
 
i1D2 here as well. It even does a passable job on my laptop that appears to have a purple light sabre as a backlight!
 
I use an i1 display 2 with my NEC 269', and I love the one button calibration with NEC's Spectraview software.
 
I've used a Spyder2 for a number of years on CRT, LCD, and laptop screens. No problems; does the job simply and easily.
 
Monaco

The ones you all talk about were not on the market when I buyed mine. It is an old Monaco Sensor (Sequel Imaging device) with the Monaco software.

Those devices were not so popular at that time so it costed me 1'''$CAN!

At least, it does the job fine for the monitor. But as rcanon say, it is a hassle for calibrating scanners and printers so, I also gave up on these too.
 
Spyder Pro2 here, and a somewhat cheap monitor, the Viewsonic 2235wm, Lr 1.31 and a Canon Pro9'''. Works very well. Anyone else have the Canon Pro9'''? Do you like it?
 
Huey Pro here.
I run dual 21" monitors and both are identical in every regard. I've tested the calibration w/ my local print shops [SIZE=-1]spectrophotometer and it's spot on.

[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] The main things is that you have a color managed work flow. It doesn't matter how perfect your shots look on screen if you don't have a basic understanding of this. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
Spyder is a great calibrator. Huey just got a bad rap since they pulled the trigger to early and released all those bad sensors. That's long been replaced though.
[/SIZE]
 
Eye one match 3

and on a 17" LCD i just can't seem to get corrections curves close enough!
 
Braders;84'3 said:
Eye one match 3

and on a 17" LCD i just can't seem to get corrections curves close enough!
Close enough to what?
 
Have used Spyder2. Am happy with it on my Mac (laptop screen). Have tried to calibrate two screens on a dual-head-PC (Win XP Pro) with it and it was hassle. It would not properly recognize the second screen without some jiggery-pokery I dug out on the web somewhere. But I think this device is now out of date and the newer ones might be better.

My point: if you want to use multiple displays on one machine, make sure that is supported.
 
My point: if you want to use multiple displays on one machine, make sure that is supported.
That's one of the main things that dileniate between the standard and pro models.

I know that it works for Huey and I'm sure it will work for any other brand. You can just order an upgrade online and the company will send you the firmware update and you can then switch over to dual monitors w/ no hassles (relatively speaking).
 
You can use all calibrators for dual monitors, since they are creating an ICC profile.
It's just that the ones that say "supports dual monitors", the software does it for you and you don't have to do anything.

This is how you do it on a Spyder2Express for example.

* Calibrate monitor #1
* Save and exit
* Locate the ICC profile
* Rename it to some appropriate and unique. Don't forget to rename it inside the profile too. On a Mac you double-click it and you will see where the name should be.
* Set monitor #1 to use that profile

Repeat for monitor #2

Easy :)
 
So you calibrate your monitor in the daytime, then use your puter at night..
Only one monitor will adjust to the ambient light.

Sure it will get a monitor closer. But it won't hit the mark. Not to mention your not even calibrating luminosity if your using LCD monitors.

To go through all those steps to just save 2'-3' bucks and not know htat your screen is calibrated correctly... Just doesn't make sense to me. JMO.
 
I've had great success with the Pantone HueyPro.
Decent price, easy to use, room light monitoring which is great because I sometimes work near windows and the changing light really effects the screen image. (Never tried any of the others so I don't even know if room light monitoring is a standard feature.)
If you have dual monitors, get the Pro version. If you are working with a single monitor you can save a few bucks and get the standard Huey.
 
With time spent since the original posts I've learned a lot and am very happy with the Eye 1 D2, I'm even ignoring the one dead pixel most of the time (progress!).

From everything I've read and heard from other users of the Huey, most everyone is very happy with the HueyPro as well, but the standard Huey has far fewer fans, even on single montiors. Just my $'.'2.

Sean
 
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