Monitor Calibration

[bugdog]

Anyone give me advice on monitor profiling.
My choice is between the huey or spyder.
Anyone got one of these and can help me decide which one.

Regards Bugdog

[Slea_]

Hi bugdog, I have the Huey but have never used any other similar product so cant compare them. I can say that the Huey is easy to use and seems to do a good job, 1 thing I really like with the Huey is that it can be permanently connected and will adjust the brighness of your monitor as the ambient light changes

Once I had my monitor calibrated I found a company that gives you a downloadable colour chart that you print and then send it away to them, they then produce a unique printer profile for your printer/paper/ink combination for you to use, so now what I see on my monitor is what I get when I print

Slea

[Mr. Pickles]

Might do a search here, or other places. The Huey is a good product from what I read, but it falls short in a lot of ways. Most say the Spider is better if you got the bit extra money, but Huey is better than looking at gray patches on screen with your eyes crossed, adjusting contrast & brightness.

[Slea_]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pickles

The Huey is a good product from what I read, but it falls short in a lot of ways.

You cant just make a comment like that and leave it there without an explanation Mr.P Where does it fall short as I havnt found any short comings at all

Slea

[Mr. Pickles]

Well dang, as far as I remember (thus the search statement) is that some used it and the colors just weren't close to what they expected. I believe they were washed out looking. I thought that they always on and monitoring worked too inconsistant at times or in their environment, as it made adjustments. Some believed it was because of possible shadows between the Huey and the screen itself (monitor or other was shadowing the Huey). Also, lots figured it was an LCD monitor issue, as there was always talk about did they use on, which one, etc.

As I said, after beating it up and talking bad and all, the vast majority thought it was better than nothing, but didn't know if it was worth the $100 or so. I, like you, believe it is a moot point if the print doesn't match. Seems all a waste then.

[Slea_]

Thanks for the explanation Mr P I must admit that I have had no issues like you explain and after getting my printer calibrated also I now get a print that matches my screen so it certainly seems to work for me and I am quite happy with the Huey (I also use an LCD monitor)

Slea

[blumesan]

I have been using the Huey for several months now, on an LCD monitor. I upload my images to an outside lab for printing (whcc.com). The prints are an excellent match with what I see on the monitor, so naturally I'm happy. No experience with other calibration devices.

Mike.

[bugdog]

Thanx people

Regards Bugdog

[Mr. Pickles]

I went off and found some general "dislikes"/"discussions", and here is some comments...

Well, I received the "huey" yesterday and installed the software on a HP DV1340 laptop. It is really a simple, straight-forward procedure to run the calibration with the device. It did warm up the screen, but the whites are indeed white. The screen seems too bright, tho.

There is not much documentation with the device. There is not a way to set gamma or kelvin. Don't know the values the huey set for them.

I am not enitirely clear or satisfied with how the huey continous ambient light measuring and adjusting functions. It generall seems like the screen is too intense.

I pulled up an Ole no Moire image. Seems like it carries too much magenta into the blues. As bright as the screen was, it was difficult to discern the lightest gray scales. Generally it seems to work better when the ambient light monitoring function is disabled.

I'm not sure if the brightness is all the huey color calibration. I had recently calibrated the laptop screen at school using a Monaco colorite calibration. The general colors seem nearly the same.

Don't know quite where to go from here with the screen intensity. Simply adjusting the screen brightness from keyboard darkens image, but doesn't change the hue.
-----------------
Sounded like the right thing for me - under $100 so I could afford without much planning, easy, quick, not a lot of options but maybe consistant color from my dell flat panel.

Bought one from Amazon for 69.99 and it arrived today. Easy install, easy setup.

But lousy color. I mean REALLY crappy color on my monitor. The dgrin background greys are now a warm "taupe" like color. My Smugmug Calibration Print (that I've been trying to eyeball to, pre-Huey) looks nothing like my monitor. In the Gretag colorchecker chart in the center, the white is pinkish. And the asian girl on the left now has a good warm tan.

So, being the good troubleshooter that I am, I turn off the ambient room light monitoring and recalibrate. Note: I have recessed spots in my office with flourescent (supposedly daylight balanced) bulbs - probably a problem. Same result, taupe greys, warm whites.

So I have another idea. I turn off the office lights completly - no ambient light when it does it's first check of the calibration process (where it looks at the room light). Still really bad color with no change from previous results.

I now have gone to Pantone's website and tried to use the "ask a question" link. Link broken.

I've come to the conclusion that my little buddy, Huey, doesn't like Dell flat panel monitors and he will be heading back to Amazon.
-------------------------
I have seen way more uncalibrate-able Dell flat panels than I can shake a stick at. Huey going strong for me, with my Apple 23" ACD and also 15" Powerbook...

[Slea_]

If you do a search on the Internet for any product you will always get good and bad, all I can reiterate is that I use it and in my experience it works well and it has certainly calibrated my monitor properly as I do get a printout that matches the colours on my monitor (I have a custom printer profile which is the only way to do this properly).


Slea

[Mr. Pickles]

I know you can get good and bad. I posted both. I don't have one, and if I did, should I have posted my results? They would be either good or bad, correct?

It seems the Huey has an issue with Dell monitors, or so some say. Maybe it is a particular one or a couple, but not all? Some comments mention a lack of being able to set or know some values. That could be a good thing, or it could be a bad thing.

I think the whole key is, does it look right to your own eyes, and does it match prints you get from your preferred vendor. If you team it with a good printer profile, like you did, then it is certainly better than nothing.

[jfrancho]

I use a Spyder2 Pro and get excellent results. Use D65 and Gamma 2.2 as a target and make sure you profile and calibrate with a measured luminence. You'll have to go through the process twice the first time, but it's worth it in the end. My biggest frustration - before monitor calibration - was with prints not matching is in the brightness/contrast realm, not so much with color.

[Tzuknami]

i use a Spyder 2 and could not be happier. It is extremely easy to use, and my prints come out like the monitor finally. Gone are the days of tweaking for hours just to print out a photo and see that it looks completely wrong.

[TonyK]

Let me chime in on the Sypder2 Pro. I use it on a Sony LCD monitor and am very satisfied with the results I get on my prints.

[dvperrin]

New to the group. Love the site!

I just purchased a new computer, chose the 19" LG lcd monitor. Need help with calibration software choice, because my printer is not printing what I see on my computer.

I've been reading everyone's posts, and need to ask this question.

Since I've heard often that CRT's are better than LCD's when it come to retouching photos, I need everyone's advice here. I have one more week to decide whether or not to keep the monitor or return it.

I don't have my monitor calibration software yet, so I guess I'm putting the horse before the cart, but should I keep the LCD or return it and get a more reliable CRT?

I've heard CRT's are better for PHotoshop and they're better at keeping the calibration.

What do ya'll think? Send me some advice!

Nannydeb

[jfrancho]

I use a CRT. A CRT is more economical than a real good LCD. High end LCDs have pretty much caught up with CRTs. LCD is more stable, and experience less color shift/drift after calibration than CRT, therefore you don't have to calibrate aw frequently. As far as a good calibration harware/software bundle goes, look for measured luminance and black point. Look to spend $250-$350 on this bundle.

[Slea]

Hi dvperrin, if you want prints that look like they do on your monitor, then after your monitor is calibrated you will need a custom printer profile for each printer/paper/ink combination you use, you can buy hard/software to do this yourself or use a company that will do it for you, in the UK I use...
http://www.pureprofiles.com/?gclid=C...FQ-wQgod-1I5aA
...but you should be able to find someone wherever in the world you live

Slea