Monitor Calibration

[Naicidrac]

Hello all,
I have and LCD and a regular monitor with a ray tube. At home my pictures look one way and then at the work monitor they appear darker. I have not printed them yet, but I was wondering if you guys knew of some way to calibrate a monitor. I rember seeing some wesite that showed you some stuff and if you could see it or something like that, then your monitor was working well. Thanks for the help.

 

[Big Mike]

I have seen those test strips...supposedly, if you can see all the different blocks, your monitor is OK. Well, I've found that's not good enough.

You can use software like Adobe Gamma but again, still not good enough.

To really do it properly, you need a hardware device. I have the Colorvision Spyder II and the Express software package. There is also the Pantone Heuey, or somthing like that. These devices actually measure your monitor and create a profile to give you accurate tones and colors.

 

[Flash Harry]

if your used to colour printing and can "see" colours correctly then adobe gamma isn't too bad, I've used it since turning digital and put together many albums without a worry, and I send the shots to be printed at a lab, telling them not to correct any of my files.

The only time they came back messed up was when the printer autocolour corrected them without reading the notes, this process actually reverses the work you already did. I contacted the lab immediately on receiving the shots and got another batch sent out next day for free. However, if your unused to colour production or photographic practise in general get yourself a hardware calibrator tool as Big M suggests.

 

[TomHuck-wa]

I use the spyder 2, it takes about 5 minutes once a month and does a fine job. It will work on lcd or crt monitors.

 

[Alpha]

I use Monaco Optix. Fantastic stuff, but very pricey.