Calibrate Monitor at home for cheap?

[SuzukiGS750EZ]

Hey guys. I'm not TOO too crazy about having a calibrated monitor as in i don't want to spend money to calibrate this computer, but i was wondering there was an at home way to "improve" the monitor i have on my laptop? I think i will eventually get a desktop setup when i am happier with my photos and need an upgrade, but for now this will do . I sometimes wonder how the photo's i edited on my PC look on another persons PC. I'm sure they can't be too far off?

 

[smoke665]

You'd be surprised at how far they're off. Windows tends to skew colors, that you don't really notice till you calibrate. This is the cheapest best solution X-Rite ColorMunki Smile you might be able to find it a little cheaper at other online sites or used on ebay.

 

[Ysarex]

I'm sure they can't be too far off?

Oh yes they can.

Joe

P.S. And if you do any amount of editing now and then switch to an appropriately calibrated display later you may at that point realize that all the editing you did made the photos worse and you need to start over from the beginning.

 

[tecboy]

The cheapest solution is to manually adjust your graphic card app. Get Color Munki or Spyder. It worth every penny.

 

[KmH]

I sometimes wonder how the photo's i edited on my PC look on another persons PC. I'm sure they can't be too far off?

Actually they can be way off depending on what type of display you have, what type of display another person has, and how much color bit-depth any 2 displays have.

Cheap TN (Twisted Nematic) displays usually only have a 6-bit color depth and very limited color accurate viewing angles.
Note that to properly display digital images (in the sRGB color space) a display needs at least an 8-bit color depth. Though having narrow color accurate viewing angles like TN displays have tends to distort colors.

To display digital images in a broader color space, like Adobe RGB, an IPS (In-Plane Switching) display having broad color accurate viewing angles and a color bit depth of 10 or more bits is needed. With IPS displays we also want to consider the type of back lighting used, be it the el cheapo W-LED, CCFL or LED, or the more desired GB-R LED.

The best displays are IPS displays that have a 16-bit color depth, but them puppies ain't cheap.
The better IPS displays start at about $3,000 and go up from there to over $10,000.