Color Calibrated Monitors

[LoveOfSelene]

I'm just wondering how many of you color calibrate your monitors.

Any sugestions? Does it really help?

[The Mangler]

I use the Huey, by Pantone.

The colors on my monitor seem to match my printer (Canon iP5200) pretty good. I'm happy with it.

[Robert Besen]

I use the ColorPlus, also by Pantone. It does seem to help my prints match the screen, but not alot. My LCD monitor didn't change much when I calibrated it, but that may have been luck. It does seem to drift, so I recalibrate every couple of months.

[Paul79UF]

I need to borrow my friend's monitor spyder....but so far I just have it set to the factory defaults since I don't print much.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/colorvisionmonitorspyder/

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/colorvisionmonitorspyder/images/frontview-001.jpg

[D Thompson]

I've got mine pretty close the cheapo way. I downloaded a color calibration file, printed it, and then adjusted my lcd to match as close as I could. It's not perfect, but I get pretty close to what I see on screen with my prints. I either use the local Wal-Mart or Adorama depending on the size I need printed.

[JLV]

I've got mine pretty close the cheapo way. I downloaded a color calibration file, printed it, and then adjusted my lcd to match as close as I could.

I remember reading about a color calibration file, but when I tried to find it on the internet, I couldn't. Do you remember where you got it? If so, would you post it? Thank you.

[D Thompson]

I remember reading about a color calibration file, but when I tried to find it on the internet, I couldn't. Do you remember where you got it? If so, would you post it? Thank you.

try this http://www.digitaldog.net/tips/index.shtml
You should see a link for printer test file right under tips & tricks.

[JLV]

try this http://www.digitaldog.net/tips/index.shtml
You should see a link for printer test file right under tips & tricks.

Thank you.

[wh0128]

Thanks D Thompson, I might have to try this out and see how well my printer prints colors and see if they look like what I have on my screen. I print from some dell photo printer, that gave me even better results that my colleges Epson printer, which I wasn't satisfied with when it came to sharpness and colors. I think it may have been the profile I was using to print but this file will help me see how well my printer prints.

[D Thompson]

Thank you.


Thanks D Thompson, I might have to try this out and see how well my printer prints colors and see if they look like what I have on my screen. I print from some dell photo printer, that gave me even better results that my colleges Epson printer, which I wasn't satisfied with when it came to sharpness and colors. I think it may have been the profile I was using to print but this file will help me see how well my printer prints.

You're welcome. It's not a perfect way of calibrating, but with a little adjusting you should be able to get it close to what's being printed.

[wh0128]

well its better than getting crappy results that don't look like your monitor colors and dropping 400$ on a color calibrator

[toriaj]

try this http://www.digitaldog.net/tips/index.shtml
You should see a link for printer test file right under tips & tricks.

Thanks for the tip! If I print this and calibrate, then my monitor will match my printer (as closely as possible.) Right? What if I want to calibrate to another printing service, such as Walmart or Mpix? Should I ask for a calibration file/card from them? Any other suggestions?

[D Thompson]

Thanks for the tip! If I print this and calibrate, then my monitor will match my printer (as closely as possible.) Right? What if I want to calibrate to another printing service, such as Walmart or Mpix? Should I ask for a calibration file/card from them? Any other suggestions?

You should be able to get it pretty close. Don't edit the file in any way. I use the Fuji printer @ the local Wal-Mart most of the time. After I downloaded the file, I burned it to a cd, took the cd and printed a 8x10. Make sure you turn the color correction off of the Fuji. I used it to get my lcd as close as possible. It's a little tricky because the difference in the lighting, but after a little bit of time I got it close enough so when I print I may get a small difference, but nothing critical.

You can get a color profile from some of the print shops. I use Adorama for anything above 8x12 and I can do a softview in CS2 with the paper I'll print on. You can print the same file and see your results if you like, but I have found it's still pretty close. If you do your own color correction/exposure make sure you tell the shop not to do any corrections.

Hope this helps.

[mystic]

I have been lent the lcd version of the spider. Thing is you have to disable the factory set adobe calibration software first. On my Dell, I cannot find out how to disable rather than delete the Adobe bit.
Any ideas?

[LoveOfSelene]

I have been lent the lcd version of the spider. Thing is you have to disable the factory set adobe calibration software first. On my Dell, I cannot find out how to disable rather than delete the Adobe bit.
Any ideas?

Delete the "Adobe Gamma" link in your startup folder if it is there, if not then you should be fine and ready to calibrate.