colour calibration of displays - advice?

[Shiraz]

Hi. Just bought a new PC with a LED backlit display - all my images now look totally different because they were set up using an older PC with a conventional backlight. Anyone have any advice on calibration of displays? I would like to get colours on my 2 PC's looking similar and tied to some absolute colour standard if possible. Thanks Ray

[Steffen]

Colorimeters for display monitors are relatively cheap and easy to use these days.

I recently bought an Xrite ColorMunki Display new off eBay and paid US$180 incl shipping. This sort of colorimeter/software bundle will do what you want. It'll help calibrating the display to a defined standard response (such as D65, gamma 2.2) and also create a profile for it so colour management aware imaging software can compensate for the characteristics of your display.

Cheers
Steffen.

[Shiraz]

Thanks for the good advice Steffen - will get a colorimeter.

Many thanks, Ray

[acropolite]

+1 for the Xrite Colormunki, if you shop around you'll find them at good prices. The Colorminki I have does printer calibration as well, I got mine from an OS dealer and paid a couple of hundred less than the Oz price.

[Shiraz]

thanks Phil. Regards Ray

[sheeny]

I have a Spyder 3 which works well too.

Al.

[Shiraz]

thanks Al. Regards Ray

[bmitchell82]

I have a spyder 3pro like sheeny and i can vouch they are top rate!

[Poita]

I have a Spyder (I think it is V2? Not sure, I'll check) that I bought for a job that never came off. I haven't used it so make me an offer and it is yours :)

[Shiraz]

Hi Brendan - thanks for the advice

Hi Peter - thanks for the offer, but I have already ordered a device....

Regards Ray

[Omaroo]

Gawd... These devices are ONLY useful if you and your monitor are sitting under a standardised daylight source at 5,000 deg.K. Otherwise their white point ref is completely wrong. I'm involved in this professionally, and always run purpose-built light booths for our graphic artists. Your bedroom desktop is hardly standard, so instrument-driven calibration is generally ineffective, or at best guesswork and compromise. Do your calibration as best you can and bring it in to my office. I'll tell you how far out it still is.

The procedure is still useful if you want to match one out of calibration monitor with another...

[Steffen]

Chris, we're talking about monitor calibration, and while ambient light can have an impact on how the screen content looks the monitor can nevertheless be calibrated to a standard response using a colorimeter. The ambient light impact is going to be negligible if the aim is to match two monitors under the same ambient light.

If you wanted to compare (or even match) prints with the screen image then you'd definitely need standardised room lighting because the appearance of prints totally depends on the stimulus.

BTW the ColorMunki mentioned above can adjust the monitor output to changes in ambient light if you leave it plugged it and place on your desk. I found this of limited utility since the ambient light in my office never changes much.

Cheers
Steffen.

[Shiraz]

thanks Chris and Steffen.
Yep, all I wanted was to harmonise my 2 displays and get them as close as practical to an accepted absolute standard. I will not be printing anything, so ambient light effects etc are of little consequence - after all, who knows what equipment/environment will be used by persons viewing my images over the internet.
Thanks Ray