Calibrator is my friend

sashbar · Jun 13, 2013

Screen calibrator is my best friend now. Finally I splashed a bit of money on a used Spider 3 and OMG - it makes such a difference. I use a 17 inch Lenovo laptop with very good specs, but whatever I tried I could not even come close to great colors of my friend's MacBook Pro. I thought - oh, well this is probably Mac Colors.. It took literally 2 minuts for the Spider to adjust it - and surprise surprise - it looks now identical to MacBook, and probably even better. I should have done it long ago. Probably this little thing saved me two grand. :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

SCraig · Jun 13, 2013

The problem with this is that you are going to have to continually calibrate things. Laptops are very difficult to use for editing purposes because how the ambient light falls on the screen changes everything dramatically. How the laptop is angled, how the screen is angled, everything and anything can change exactly how the screen projects light back to your eyes. Many people using a laptop for editing have found that an external monitor is a very worthwhile investment.

I understand your point though, a true screen calibration using a hardware calibration device makes a world of difference.

cgipson1 · Jun 13, 2013

^ This! An external monitor is the best way to do editing with a laptop... you need consistency of viewing angle!

sashbar · Jun 13, 2013

You tell me ... everyday my photos look like new..

But you know what - after calibration there is much less fluctuations of color/brightness with different angles. There are changes of course but much less dramatic. It is sort of more stable.

BTW do you have a good monitor in mind? I have a very limited space, so I need a thin/compact one that I can put away when I am not using it.

SCraig · Jun 13, 2013

sashbar said:
You tell me ... everyday my photos look like new..

But you know what - after calibration there is much less fluctuations of color/brightness with different angles. There are changes of course but much less dramatic. It is sort of more stable.

BTW do you have a good monitor in mind? I have a very limited space, so I need a thin/compact one that I can put away when I am not using it.

Both of my monitors are big and nothing that would be considered "compact". Worst case, put some tape on your desk or table so that each time you put your laptop there it's at the same angle to the lights in the room and where you sit. Put something behind the screen so that it's angled the same way each time. Anything that you can do to make how you place your laptop remain consistent between uses will make it more accurate.