Monitor Color Calibration Hardware and Software

[Kenworth]

Good afternoon ladies and gents, need a little friendly [H] advice. I have a Dell U2713HM as a secondary on my machine that I use for picture editing via Lightroom. I know it isn't the best monitor for this purpose but it is what I have and it does the job . The issue I am having is a two fold really. After editing photos to the desired result and ordering prints, the pictures I receive are not my finished product of what I saw in LR. I know there are two points of possible failure here with calibration and the company I use to develop my digitals.

What I would like to know from the forums is what hardware/software do you use for your calibration needs? I really don't have a budget but these $400 units are probably north of where I want to be while $100 is comfortable if not the minimum if needed. I am an amateur photographer that isn't looking to go pro or anything, but I would like my finished products to at least be predictable and to my specifications.

I appreciate any responses or recommendations.

 

[Cube Rhino]

Have also been interested in this! I've simply been holding up color cards of most used colors and trying to match it to my monitor...ghetto fabulous I guess

 

[shipwreck-zombies]

I use an older version of the X-Rite i1Display Pro. It's not top of the line but it certainly does the trick.

I have a triple monitor setup; two identical monitors and one slightly different. Before calibration when a window was halfway between two monitors you could tell the colors were off. After calibration the colors are consistent. Very easy to use. Once calibrated, you can export your profile and use it on your laptop or with people you are may be working with

In terms of printing - it may serve you to check out color management - in particular the first set of images comparing different color spaces. Calibrating your monitors will give you true color and consistency between monitors but it won't always mean you get true to color prints. For this, check out printing profiles. Find what printer your using, download its profile, and you can switch back and forth between your native color space and the printers color - the two often look quite different and when you make adjustments to the photo in the printing space it often makes the native profile look ridiculous.

I work with a local printer that has a machine I found to be fairly consistent with my monitors profile so when I go to print I load the printers profile and make some minor adjustments that can often be done with a batch

edit: One thing that I had a runaround with was figuring out ambient light in my studio. I eventually got the color the way I wanted it by calibrating at night, however, I have been told that it's best to use an ambient light sensor. I suspect one of the things that sets the cheap units apart is that their ambient light sensors aren't as good as I was getting awful results during the day or with lights on

 

[Kenworth]

Thanks a lot for your feedback, shipwreck. You answered my question and posed a couple new ones that I hadn't even thought about such as the color space and then finding the right print shop that recreates mine accurate to mine. I have also been cramming information in this subject and ambient light came up quite a bit as well which you addressed. I do most of my editing at night in the dark room and was always suspicious if that was the best way. I just thought since it is something I can keep constant and not have to worry about a sunny day versus a cloudy day with my shades pulled, I can take that variable out of the equation. I think I will stick with night and make sure the unit I get has a favorable opinions on the ambient light sensor.

It pretty much looks like Datacolor and X-Rite are the two brands I am going to go with in the consumer (pro-sumer?) space. I probably can't go "wrong" with either of them as I am working with pretty awful settings as of now but if you are anything like me, I research the life out of something before buying. It's a flaw in this situation because the more research I do the less time I get in LR actually editing. So I am going to pull the trigger on something like this Spyder model or this X-Rite one. I don't mind paying more but I need to start drilling down on the real world benefits as the price goes up.

 

[spacediver]

from what I understand, the colormunki display is locked and will only run with its own software. If you don't mind spending a bit more, I'd go with the OEM i1 display pro.

I may be wrong about this, but it's what I remember being discussed. There are some discussions over at avsforums in the display calibration subform that may shed more light.