Which calibratior

[Netskimmer]

I posted a thread in the beginners forum a while back about whether or not calibration is necessary and came to the conclusion it was (or at least preferable). Now I am ready to put some money down and would like some advice on which of the following devices would be best for me.

I have a Samsung Twisted Nematic (TN) widescreen LCD monitor, I am nowhere near a pro, and I shoot pretty much anything and everything (or at least I try to :mrgreen, though macro and nature shots are what I do primarily. Here are the four I am looking at:

X-Rite i1Display 2
Amazon.com: X-Rite i1Display 2 Color Calibrator for LCD, CRT, and Laptop Displays: Camera & Photo
Discontinued but reduced in price.

Datacolor Spyder 3 Express
Amazon.com: Datacolor DC S3X100 Spyder 3 Express: Camera & Photo

Datacolor Spyder 3 Pro
Amazon.com: Datacolor DC S3P100 Spyder 3 Pro: Camera & Photo

Datacolor Spyder 3 Elite
Amazon.com: Datacolor DC S3EL100 Spyder 3 Elite: Camera & Photo

The price difference is relatively small for all of them so if I would benefit from the most expensive Elite then so be it but I would rather not throw money away if I don't need to. If anyone else has any other calibrators in mind let me know, these just seemed to be the most prevalent.

 

[table1349]

http://www.amazon.com/ColorMunki-Photo-Monitor-Projector-Profiler/dp/B00169N0BK

http://www.colormunki.com/

 

[Netskimmer]

Thanks for the response.

The first link you posted is broken but I did a search for colormunki on Amazon and was able to take a look. Most of their stuff looks to be priced at $400+ I'd rather not go that high unless I REALLY need to.

Did find this one:
Amazon.com: Xrite CMUNDIS ColorMunki Display: Camera & Photo

 

[ann]

I use colormunki, which also gives me the opportunity to make my own icc profiles for papers

 

[Garbz]

Any. They all do the same thing. I can recommend the i1 Display 2 since I have one, but there's plenty of people here who I'm sure could recommend the Spyder 3 as well. There's no real performance difference between colourimeters. Only when you get to a colour spectrophotometer that you start making a difference.

 

[KmH]

The difference between the brands is in the software.

Many print labs like Mpix, Nations Photo, Bay Photo and WHCC recommend the i1 Display 2.

Image File Preparation & Color Management Guidelines | ROES, Digital Prints ? Bay Photo Lab

 

[table1349]

Any. They all do the same thing. I can recommend the i1 Display 2 since I have one, but there's plenty of people here who I'm sure could recommend the Spyder 3 as well. There's no real performance difference between colourimeters. Only when you get to a colour spectrophotometer that you start making a difference.

Thus the recommendation of the Colormuki.

 

[KmH]

But the ColorMunki and most other spectrophotometers are overkill unless other devices like a printer, scanner or projector need to profiled beyond just calibrating a computer display.

 

[table1349]

But the ColorMunki and most other spectrophotometers are overkill unless other devices like a printer, scanner or projector need to profiled beyond just calibrating a computer display.

Agreed, but since I use it form my printers and scanner, and since it is what I have experience with, it is what I recommend since it works quite well.

 

[Garbz]

It's great if you do printers too, but if you don't ... it's twice the price.