what calibration device should i get?

[chris82]

I have an IPS screen and I should probably get it calibrated, my screen is a Dell ultrasharp IPS screen. It's not the most expensive monitor, well its probably one of the cheapest IPS monitors on the market so I wonder do I need to buy an expensive calibrator or is there cheaper alternatives? Thanks in advance.

 

[KmH]

Consider buying a used device as a way to save money.

Many print labs and image editing experts recommend X-RITE's colorimeters and software:

X-Rite i1Display 2 Color Calibrator for LCD, CRT, and Laptop Displays

Xrite EODIS3 i1Display Pro

X-Rite i1 EOBAS Basic Pro

If you also want to profile a printer, scanner, or projector in addition to calibrating a display a spectrophotometer can be used instead:

ColorMunki Photo - Monitor, Printer & Projector Profiler

Xrite CMUNDIS ColorMunki Display

 

[Big Mike]

Maybe not as highly rated/recommend is the Spyder from Datacolor.

 

[chris82]

Ok thanks. I will have a look at the ones you have both suggested. KmH you mentioned that the calibrator has software with it. Not to sound stupid or anything but are they easy enough to install and use. All this is a bit daunting as I know nothing about the technical side of computers or screens. What's scares me even more is you mentioned something about profiling a printer! Are you telling me that if I want to print my images I need to calibrate a printer aswell? Eventually I would like to try and make some money from my photos I didn't realise how much work I would need to put into the printer and computer. I mean the cameras and lenses are expensive enough let alone the computers,screens and printers and then to top it all off you have to spend a small fortune to just get your image from computer to printer.

 

[Alex_B]

for my purposes the spyder did a good job. but it is certainly not as accurate as some other devices.

 

[Big Mike]

Basic monitor calibration is very easy. You just plug in the device hang it on the monitor and run the software. The device reads the output and the software creates a profile which is loaded by the video card. It's all pretty automatic in my experience.

 

[KmH]

Are you telling me that if I want to print my images I need to calibrate a printer aswell?

Not calibrate - profile. They are not the same thing, but only if you want to soft-proof so you know you are going to get consistant print quality BEFORE you print.
Printer makers usually have ICC profiles for their own papers you can download.

Printing and it's technicalities is another entire sub-set of knowledge beyond photography.

Many don't understand how technical and involved printing high quality photographs is, because the consumer and pro print labs take care of a lot of those issue for the customer.
In the days of film, even more of the technical stuff was handled by the print labs for the average customer. That was part of the cost of getting film developed and printed.
With digital, many of the technical considerations labs used to handle for customers are now up to the customer.

Have you seen these tutorials? - Tutorials on Color Management & Printing

 

[Garbz]

Ultimately it's a bit more complicated than that.

Firstly the i1 Display 2 has been discontinued so Amazon's is old stock. I have it, it's a quite capable calibrator for monitor only, but I can't recommend a product which has been discontinued.

For calibration it's important for us to know what you're hoping to achieve. Are you:

1 Trying to get some consistency in your colour response?
2 Trying to combat colour casts in the monitor compared to your workspace?
3 Start a fully colour managed workflow to get accurate prints?
4 Trying to compare your monitor to a print?
5 Trying to make two monitors perfectly match?

Each has a different method and a different complexity. i.e.:

1 To get consistent colour response the calibration software simply must profile the display and check to ensure the grey parts don't drift off a neutral grey as lightness increases. All other settings should be left untouched including white balance.
2 If you're trying to combat colour casts then it's important to set your white balance to the conditions of your room lighting. Ideally your display should be the brightest thing in the room and your lights should be dim to ensure your eyes adjust to it. If this isn't the case (big windows, non-dimmable lights) then you need to adjust your white balance to your ambient lighting or your screen will have a colour cast.
3 Going down the colour management route is complicated. There's a lot to learn about different profiles, monitor profiles, working profiles, printer profiles, and "softproofing" between these profiles so you know for instance how your photograph would look on a different device.
4 To get accurate prints you basically need a calibrated lightbox as well or some really careful matching of colour conditions.
5 To match monitors you need to manually set everything. Your gamma curve, white balance, brightness, contrast ratio, etc.

On most colour calibration programs if you start them up and using the default settings you'll typically end up with number 2 in the list, except often setting white balance isn't important and the default value of 6500k is actually quite a bit crippling as it's quite far from the native white point of a typical LCD.

 

[chris82]

Thanks garbz. That's big help. I want to calibrate for printing if you have any advice it would be greatly appreciated. I can't imagine it would be to difficult to set up for printing! Could it?

 

[Garbz]

Option 3, welcome to our little hell

Basically if you print yourself you want a colour calibration device capable of measuring a monitor and a printer. They are more expensive. If you print through a professional you want to calibrate your monitor as per 1 or 2 depending on how bright your room is and then go down the colour management path. You'll need to obtain the colour profile from your printing company. Then you can use your monitor profile along with their printing profile to "soft-proof". I highly suggest googling soft-proofing + whatever software you use to edit pictures to find out how it applies to your case.

 

[chris82]

What does how bright my room is affect my prints (head scratch) :/

This sounds complicated. So it would be best to use a pro lab to print for me, yes? But then I have to soft proof my monitor, CS6 and the colour profile of the lab I use?

I need a paracetamol. Ok I'll get right on that.

 

[KmH]

How bright the room is, or to be specific, how much ambient light falls on your computer display, affects how your display shows the photo. A key display calibration tool feature is an ability to detect ambient light levels falling on the computer display.

Photos are fore lit. To accurately compare prints to your computer display you need a light box next to your computer display to properly illuminate the print.

 

[chris82]

Not to sound stupid but what's a light box?

I really am a complete noob when it comes to screens and calibration.
Sorry

 

[Helen B]

A lightbox is simply a box with lamps in it, covered by white acrylic (or similar). They aren't usually used for print viewing - all you need is a lamp of the correct colour temperature (Solux are good) and a neutral background. If you want to be fancy you can use a proper viewing station with dimmable lamps.

The best instruments for print profiling (spectrophotometers) are not always as good as the current best dedicated monitor profiling instruments (colorimeters) like the i1 Display Pro for monitor profiles. If you want one instrument to do both, I would recommend the new i1 Pro 2 spectrophotometer (you need to be careful with the i1 names - they can be confusing).

 

[chris82]

Confused!! My brains are scattered all over the wall. I thought all I needed was a decent IPS screen and I would be set!


Ok so I have my IPS screen what should I get next?