Monitor Calibration System to Borrow. !!

[Stemmy]

The forum has purchased a Spyder monitor calibration System.

It will callibrate - CRT - LCD and Laptop screens. The process takes around 10 minutes and is very user friendly.

It is avaliable for regular forum members to borrow at a cost of £10 including P&P to you.

Please if anybody is interested place their names in this thread and I will add them to the list.


People on the list so far

Barry Moir - DONE !!
Mags - DONE !!
JBMUK
Andrew Griffiths
Lionhart - DONE !!
England1965 - DONE !!
Alan W
George Monaghan - DONE !!
Photoness
Newvalehouse - DONE !!

[Stemmy]

Its the basic Spyder

Spyder2 Express

There was a dearer version that would calibrate printers as well but as most people don't do masses of home printing i thought this one would suffice.

I have usually found calibrating the printer quite easy - simply print an image that looks like the screen by adjusting the colour sliders.

people recommend you calibrate your monitors every month but i reckon as Ive never calibrated mine before every four months should do it.

[tonymidd]

Hi,

Yes please, I would like to use one before I buy my own.
Please add me to your list.

From what I've read so far, you should re-calibrate about once a month minimum!

Monitors change quite quickly especially CRT's which should ideally be done weekly and LCD's fortnightly but monthly and bi-monthly should be OK.
I know I've banged on about this in the past but a monitor profiler is IMHO the most important bit of kit you can buy. If your monitor is not correct how can you evaluate the quality of your images?

[Stemmy]

Ok Spyder has arrived. really easy to use - 1hour and I had done 3 monitors - 2 flat screen and one laptop.

On its way to Barry today !!

Please remember to add your names to the list if you would like to borrow it. See first post for details.

By the way I was amazed at how far out my monitors were !!!

[richardtm]

I'd like to borrow/hire it. thinking about getting one, but would like to play with one first. How do we pay you?

[Stemmy]

PM in your mailbox Richard.

[David Worthington]

If You havent used this calibrator can i recommend it to you all..... Stemmy came over t'other day and set mine up..... unknown to my lab they came along today to check out the monitor ready for the season... he didn't do a thing .."its spot on; no need to mess with that" !!!!!!!!

[tonymidd]

If You havent used this calibrator can i recommend it to you all..... Stemmy came over t'other day and set mine up..... unknown to my lab they came along today to check out the monitor ready for the season... he didn't do a thing .."its spot on; no need to mess with that" !!!!!!!!

The spyder's brilliant but remember the calibration does not last forever.
CRT monitors, the big ones, need doing at least fortnightly preferably weekly, LCD's, the thin flat jobbies, at least once a month. More frequently if the monitors used a lot.
If you want to be really pedantic and accurate you need constant even room lighting.
I'd say borrow Martin's spyder and see the difference; then get and regularly use your own. They are not that expensive.
Anyone commenting on colour casts, contrast etc of an image on screen who is not using a profiled screen may as well save their typing fingers 'cos what they are looking at is probably not accurate and more than certainly not what the author produced.

[richardtm]

I borrowed (hired?) the Spyder a couple of weeks ago, and it made quite a difference. What comes out of the printer actually looks like what's on screen, the prints were a bit darker before. Took about 10 minutes in all to calibrate and I was so impressed with the result, I ordered one of my own. It should be here tomorrow. (Amazon, £67.48 for those interested.)

Thanks Martin, it was well worth it.

[passionflower]

Hiya could i hire this please?my laptop needs doing as colours are not as good as when it was first bought(sept.)Thanks

[tibet]

yep, I'm up for that too. it's quite urgent actually as I just bought a new monitor and have tones of pics to edit! How do I pay for it and when can I get it?

[Stemmy]

All you have to do is go to the donate section of the forum and pay your £10. Then send me an email with your address details and Ill post it out to you. It might take me a couple of days to post it to you as I'm supposed to be moving house tomorrow so its in a box somewhere.

[tibet]

Thx Stemmy! And good luck with the move! We're moving house on Friday and I don't need it before then so it's cool. ;)c

[Iceman]

Hi if its recomended to be done so often then has anybody any advice on which one to buy? Ive had a brief look at them online, but what does a £200 one do that the £100 one does not?
Any advice would be apreciated.
cheers.:grin:

[Bandit]

I just baught a Pantone Huey pro from warehouse Express. Initially I thought it was great, but the Blues look too purple and I can's get on with how dark the monitor is all the time, so much so I can see a graduation in the light from top to bottom in anything that is white.

So I have packed it up with the hope they will take it back for a credit note or something. I can calibrate the monitor to a test card from the printer I now use This is proving a lot easier and cheaper. I can spend the £100 on something more usefull.

[Alan W]

Iceman, for everyday editing when you aren't printing you own prints any calibrator under £120 will do. More expensive ones will also calibrate your printer if you need that.

Bandit, It sounds to me like you are using a laptop? The reason I say this is because in some cases where the screen of a laptop is backlit you will find that the the bottom of the screen is brighter at the bottom.

It is not unusual to think when you calibrate that a screen is too dark or the that the colours are 'off' - but persevere because because your eyes will adjust.

With the exception of applemacs, laptop screens tend not to be up to very much. One thing to consider is to buy a seperate monitor and plug it in when editing. A good quality monitor that is correctly calibrated is as important as having a good lens (and will cost less)

[BarryM]

I tend to agree about the laptop screens but im using one and its calibrated, the spyder pro, has an option about the backlighting setup when running the software, mine is calibrated perfect now.... this is one of these shiney screens (not sure what they call them)

[Bandit]

Iceman, for everyday editing when you aren't printing you own prints any calibrator under £120 will do. More expensive ones will also calibrate your printer if you need that.

Bandit, It sounds to me like you are using a laptop? The reason I say this is because in some cases where the screen of a laptop is backlit you will find that the the bottom of the screen is brighter at the bottom.

It is not unusual to think when you calibrate that a screen is too dark or the that the colours are 'off' - but persevere because because your eyes will adjust.

With the exception of applemacs, laptop screens tend not to be up to very much. One thing to consider is to buy a seperate monitor and plug it in when editing. A good quality monitor that is correctly calibrated is as important as having a good lens (and will cost less)


I do use a laptop with an external 19" Samsung TFT monitor. I can see where you are coming from but the colour blue was and is too purple when using the calibration tool. It's going back..I'll use the software with the monitor instead.

[Lee Ash]

Bandit... I just bought the Huey... I was quite impressed with it. I can now see why my prints were coming back too dark.... and yes the monitor does seem darker, but the image on screen does look like the prints now... so I guess its right!
I don't much like the ambient light sensor though, that seems not to be accurate.
Lee

[Bandit]

Bandit... I just bought the Huey... I was quite impressed with it. I can now see why my prints were coming back too dark.... and yes the monitor does seem darker, but the image on screen does look like the prints now... so I guess its right!
I don't much like the ambient light sensor though, that seems not to be accurate.
Lee

I'm glad it works for you Lee. It works for everything but Blue, some test calibrated prints I have look purple instead of blue, not subtle either, purple sky simply does not look right. I could live with it if it was not for that.

Turning the monitor Brightness down is OK, but I think it askes a bit much of the TFT back light and gives a very obvious lack of light near the top. So the pink text etc and the purple sky kind of kills it for me really.:rain:

[Kenny]

Hi guys

I too have the Huey and mine is plugged in all the time and so far(touch wood) the colours and prints seem to match each other.I think its amazing for a forum to actually get a calibration system for the use of its members and to allow them for such a small cost to borrow it.Its incredible and shows what a good forum this is.had I not got my Huey my name would have gone on the list and I would have been chuffed to borrow it.

....now do you think you could get a D3 for us to borrow....I would put my name on the list so fast it would give you nosebleeds LOL...:Dm

well we can but dream cant we!

best regards

kenny

[flybybry]

Please put me down to borrow/use your equipment, sometime in August would be preferable

Thanks

flybybry

[Stemmy]

No problem - just send me a PM when you need it and we can sort posting ti to you.