Monitor Calibration
 

This is a post for anyone who has the monitor screen calibrators such as the pantone Huey. The main screen in WPF has three different shades of grey and a black. The paler of the three greys is that close to 18% grey? if it is then I could use it to calibrate my new monitor to a near correct shade. At the moment I have altered it to get rid of any colour casts and close to 18% grey with the given room lighting, am I on the right track with the shades on the website. I was going to post a screen capture but I don't have the box to post attachments. I have posted it in the gallery. http://www.worldphotographyforum.com...8&limit=recent

Christine,

Until the boffins turn up try this. http://www.photofriday.com/calibrate.php

Don

I bowed to the knowlegde and Foxy kindly set my screen up. :) But here is another link full of technical stuff http://www.normankoren.com/makingfin...l#Monitorsetup

Don

Thanks Don, I will have a go with those links. This site with its tones of grey I can easily check for any colour shifts, its getting the brightness and contrast correct that I seem to be having trouble with. What looks right for one is totally blown out or to dark for another.

Monitor Calibration
 

Hi there. I use the ColorVision Spyder2 Suite which I think works in the same way - ie: a colorimeter on the screen measuring then creating a profile for the monitor. The advantage of the ColorVision is it also has software that creates a printer profile as well so the two match. Anyway, when ever I do a calibration of the Monitor I do it in a dark room in the evening. I find that any extraneous light can cause havoc with the created profile and replication is very hard especially on greyscale. Does this help?

Thank you Andy, I am being a bit of a skinflint I don't really want to have to buy a colorimeter. I have just bought a new monitor and I am trying to keep costs down by doing the calibration by eye. If the greys in this site are true The question I am asking is those who have such an item, how do you view this site, example the thin bar where it says today, to me I would set my monitor to see it as a rough 18% grey. Am I close. I have just done the calibration from the link Don gave me and to get things looking right on that page, everything else is now way out. It would be great if nvidia used eye droppers like in photoshop to pick out the black white and greys in a displayed photo to automatically set the contrast, brightness and gamma.

Good set of info here. im going to look into this when im more awake, as i fiddled with my screen the other day and i dont think its right and also,i was in the car with Miss z740, and i thought, the car in front was a toyota..no i thought the indicators where green. Miss z740 assured me they were yellow (which i pressume they have to be) I further experimented by sticking my head out of the window to see if this effected, Still green. i waited for the car to turn to check angle-age but still green. So now im thinking...What colours are my images to everyone else, if yellow is green and my monitor is wrong!!!

Said car is a VW Jetta, looks to have tarty LED's. if anyone owns this car.. please help!

www.confused.com
Jamie

I cannot help on the car lights Jamie, but I have just found this. Colours with names and RGB values.

Link http://cloford.com/resources/colours/500col.htm

Click on a colour in the select a colour column - name in blue to see it larger.

Currently looking at greys for Christines post and there are shed loads.

Don

Gretag Macbeth colour chart here http://www.efg2.com/Lab/Graphics/Colors/ColorCharts.htm

Software Requirements
Windows 95/98/NT ........... works fine on XP pro

Don

Re my previous post then the colours do not look right if you see the smaller version displayed here. http://www.poynton.com/notes/color/G...orChecker.html

Don

And right up Robs street http://www.imatest.com/docs/colorcheck.html :D

Don

Monitor Calibration
 

Hi Saphire, As I said I use a Colorvision Spyder2 on my monitor - it was last done two days ago. I have been to Don's link for the greyscale and dragged it over the greys on this site. They show through and read as follows:
Light grey merges in between f/g;
Middle grey merges in between l/m;
and dark grey merges in between r/s.

I have to say that a device like the Spyder that calibrates the monitor and creates an equivalent profile for a variety of printers helps save photo paper and also ensures you print what you see on the screen. I reset mine every fortnight and I really don't know if it is worth trying to do this on the cheap. I get a full range of greys from brilliant white to darkest black and I was never able to get that manually. When printing I always had to increase brightness by about 25-30% and now it sorts itself out automatically.

Thank you Andy for taking the time to do that, that gives me something to work on in the future if it goes pair shaped again.
After a lot of playing with various setting it turns out that my gamma was way out, once that was corrected I only needed a bit of brightness and contrast.
The new Acer monitor wouldn't adjust enough so I have left that at its default settings. I used nvidia to create a colour profile which I have now saved.

Andy
I am interested in the Spyder2Pro monitor calibrator, but have yet to make a decision.
From your experiences, is the spyder worthwhile? Also, does it calibrate automatically or do you have to make your own adjustments?
Barry

Hi Barry. Please bear in mind I am an Apple/Mac user but I understand it is the same with a PC. The colorimeter automatically creates a monitor profile for the monitor you attach it to. You run the program and end up with a profile and if necessary you just make the monitor run that profile and it automatically adjusts it to those settings. The beauty of it for me is that it comes with an equivalent printer program - I use an Epson 1800 - and you then run the monitor profile through the printer program an it creates a printer profile for that printer. You need to see that you have a matching photo printer as listed on their web site, but I have an Epson Aculaser C900 which is not on the list. However it has an sRGB Laser profile that I find works perfectly. The result with both is WYSIWYG !!

Would you say it was an easy program to use? I have been trying to calibrate monitor and printer using Naturalcolor, the program that came with my monitor and I don't seem to be able to get the results I would like. My printer is still darker then my monitor. I suspect that some of the pictures that i post are being seen as dark on other people's monitors.

Hi Andy
Thank you for the advice which I find really helpful. I will have to check my printer - an Epsom 1400 - to see if it is compatible. In any event, I will investigate further. Thank you once again.
Barry

It is a very easy program to use. You load it. Then follow on screen instructions. I takes about 5 mins. It reminds me every fortnight to check again. As I said earlier - I do it in complete darkness to avoid any light contamination.
The following is the list of supported printers from their website:
Canon S9000
Canon i9100
Canon i9900
Canon i9950
Canon i900d
Canon i950
Canon i960
Canon i965
Canon iP8500
Canon iP8600
Canon iP4200
Canon iP6220d
Canon iP6600d
Canon 9900i
Canon I-Series Printers
Canon iP-Series Printers

Epson 1280
Epson 1290
Epson 2100
Epson 2200
Epson 4000
Epson 7600
Epson 9600
Epson R1800
Epson R2400
Epson R200
Epson R210
Epson R220
Epson R300
Epson R310
Epson R320
Epson RX500
Epson R4800
Epson R7800
Epson R9800
Epson R800
Epson C62
Epson C80
Epson C82
Epson C84
Epson PictureMate
Epson PX-G5000
Epson PM4000PX
Epson PX7000
Epson PX9000
Epson PXG900
Epson Dye Ink Printers
Epson Pigment Ink Printers

HP DesignJet 30
HP DesignJet 90
HP DesignJet 130
HP PhotoSmart 7660
HP PhotoSmart 7760
HP PhotoSmart 7960
HP PhotoSmart 8250
HP PhotoSmart 8450
HP PhotoSmart 8750
HP PhotoSmart Series Printers

RGB Color Laser

Interesting thread - I am just about to buy my first LCD monitor as my trusted CRT is on the way out. I am looking at the Dell 2407 -HC but understand that it needs to be properly calibrated for photo editing.

I think that I'm going to have buy the program. I'm just not satisfied with my present situation.

I just bought an LG 22" LCD widescreen monitor. I have to say I think its great to use. I have played around for ages with various calibration pages on the internet and with the inbuilt software. I had a 20" Sony Trinitron which gave up the ghost but I was surprised how bright this new monitor was in the default settings. I now have the brightness at 30% for all photo use and I think it may still be a bit bright. I wonder if a Spyder or Huey would help in this situation. I notice that the black in the Gretag Macbeth chart is not deep black but on the screen other item are a rich full black. Am I misinterpreting what the chart is about.

Andy has been very helpful with advice, but I now find I have a further problem.
When printing from my PC the colour is not replicated on my printer. I understand the spider2 suite will calibrate my monitor, but unfortunately my printer - an Epson stylus photo 1400 -is not supported by the spyder software. This means that I cannot then set my printer to the monitor calibration.
Unless monitor and printer are in harmony, there is nothing to be gained by just fixing one part of the problem.
Bear in mind that I am a computer illiterate (tell me which button to press and I am happy) does anyone have any advice as to how I may solve my problem??
Thank you..Barry

I'd say no, you aren't misinterpreting what the chart is all about. I bought a flat panel monitor for a 2nd PC and found its colour reproduction was hugely improved by using a monitor calibration device. It made a difference, though not a massive one, when I used the calibrator on my CRT, but the difference it made to the LCD screen was very appreciable. A work colleague bought a Huey Pro (or to be more accurate, bought the software upgrade to "Pro" from the Huey basic he already had) and was astonished by the difference it made to his 2 screen setup. He'd never been able to get the two monitors looking the same up until then. The basic Huey doesn't allow for 2 profile/2 screens on a single PC.

You can find my reviews of both the monitor and the calibrator in the equipment reviews sub-forum.

Duncan

Now confused
 

I have downloaded the WDC test chart from AP website. In Explorer (unmanaged) and Lightroom (managed) the blacks are really black I can see separate tones from 3 (99%) onwards, so why does the images I see of the Gretag Macbeth chart show muddy black in the darkest square wherever I see it. What am I missing. There is virtually no colour cast in the greys. This is the chart. http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/downloads/

Looks to me as though you need to calibrate your monitor before you try to assess the various colours, tones and shades from charts! Try using the small monitor calibration program called QuickGamma, it's free to use as long as you like. It makes a very good job of keeping your monitor calibration in spec. Log on to Norman Koren web site here http://www.normankoren.com/index.html . Download the program and read the help file, it's full of good tips and links to setting up your monitor and printer, here's the download link. http://www.normankoren.com/QuickGammaV2EN.exe.

nirofo.

I have sussed the problem. I was looking at poor reproductions of the GM chart. I have calibrated my monitor using Quick Gamma already. I am now getting prints which look like the screen and and a screen that is a delight to look at. I think it is easy to become obsessed with this topic, I know I did. I do not have to make scientific colour comparisons, I just want my screen to look good to me and the prints to be close to this image. I think I got led astray by the difference between CRT and LCD monitors. My old monitor an excellent Ilyama Pro 17" is not as bright at full brightness as my new LG 22". I also had a Sony 20" which was getting on a bit and finally quit. I now have my monitor set at 25% brightness and get good black and near black separation.

Anyone any ideas why my Huey pro isn't recognized anymore. I have it set to remind me once a fortnight to calibrate and when I went to do it today, it keeps asking me to plug the sensor in. I have tried it on two other computers and it won't work on those either, do you think the sensor has died, I wouldn't be surprised if it had the wiring is so flimsy..

Have you checked that your USB connections are still working, if they are try re-installing the software. I use a Spyder 2 Pro, if I plug in the sensor before I run the program it says it can't find sensor attached to this computer. I then have to unplug the sensor, close down the program, restart the program which then can't find the sensor, plug in the sensor and it finds it! Weird, but that's USB and Microsoft for you. Incidentally, which version of Windows are you using?

nirofo.

I think I have tried everything even doing a restore to the last time it was working, I thinks its dead. I will try emailing pantone to see if I can purchase just the sensor.

Has anyone any input on the spider 3 pro, will it calibrated dual monitors the same as the Huey. Doing a restore has set both my monitors back to default setting and the colours are crap so need to sort something out soon.
I have found the Spider 3 Pro at roughly the same price as Huey and it looks more robust.

Sorry I am another spyder user.

Could well be a duff device but what may be worth checking is to see if the PC can see the hardware. Locate the Device manager window and look under usb devices when the Huey is pluged in.

Attached is example for Spyder device

Thanks Rob, I have just looked I am running XP, it's seeing that an item is plugged in but doesn't show what it is. When I unplug and plug it in it beeps ready to load so it's being detected in the port but the head of the unit isn't flashing like it should be. I think its dead, I have tried it on my laptop and on Mario Computer but with the same results.

I think I will go for the Spider 3 Pro, it looks more robust than the Huey, I will just wait on any user reviews. Its spoilt me having my monitors calibrated I don't think I could work on photos the way they look at the moment because I don't trust what I am seeing.

Christine, I have no 1st hand experience of the spyder 3 pro, but the product comparison chart suggests it can:
http://spyder.datacolor.com/s3compare.php

See also:
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/r...pyder3pro.html

Thank Duncan, that's a good review and tells me all I need to know, It also has the ambient light measure which I find very useful.

Its £89 on Amazon so not much more than the Huey, I just hope the wiring is better.

I have not read the posts right through but recently I bought a new monitor (a Samsung) which was way too bright at default setting but otherwise looked great. However I shot a couple of pictures for a friends Golden Wedding to put in an album and when I printed them there was a strong colour cast. Nightmare so I bought a Spyder 3 Elite which also monitors background light. The difference is striking and a test print of a grey subject came out absolutely spot on for both colour and brightness on my Canon IP 6700D printer using Canon paper to reduce variables. Bliss and relief. Hope that helps. Windows XP by the way.

I have decided to go ahead and get the Spider 3 Pro. I don't think I will use some of the features that is with the elite, if I find in the future I do need them there is an option to upgrade.

Another calibrater to consider is 'eye-one display 2' a bit more expensive than most but a superb piece of kit.

Thanks Roy that's another one to consider but I think it will be the spider, I will do a comparison and see how it looks.

Hi Saphire

The Spyder 3 Pro is an upgrade from the Spder 2 Pro that I am using at present and I can swear to the excellence of that on several CRT and LCD monitors. A friend of mine has the Spyder 3 Pro version and obtains equally excellent results on both his CRT and LCD monitors, can highly recommend it. I must say that the Huey was never as highly regarded as the Spyder both on results and build quality.

Incidentally, the problem with your Huey sensor may just be a broken connection in the wiring, it may be possible to repair it. If you don't get any satisfaction from the manufacturers PM me.

nirofo.

Thank nirofo, I have ordered it now so hopefully I won't have to wait to long. Its not the colors I can't get right, that's the easy part, its my perception of the contrast and brightness I can't trust.

I also think its just a broken wire probably close to the sensor, that's the area that gets kinked when putting it back on the stand. I might have a look inside the sensor myself if I don't get a reply to my email and test each end to see if there is a break.