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02/23/2004 09:36:35 PM · #1 |
| How about one of the experts do a tutorial on the best way to get your moniter calibrated? |
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02/23/2004 09:39:57 PM · #2 |
| Feel free to check out this one that already exists... |
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02/23/2004 09:47:46 PM · #3 |
Depending on how accurate a result you need, you might not want to leave it to the random deviations of your eye. The more accurate way to do it is with a calibration tool such as
//www.colorvision.com/ |
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02/24/2004 02:49:37 AM · #4 |
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02/24/2004 04:17:47 AM · #5 |
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02/24/2004 09:15:27 AM · #6 |
I am about half way through reading 'Real World Color Management' by Bruce Fraser et al. This about a 460 page book, just on the subject of getting good colour reproduction and the most fundamental part of it is a well calibrated monitor. So far it has been a pretty informative read, just in the basics of how we really see colour, how devices see colour and some depth on how colour management works. It is targetted at people using inkjet printers, digital cameras, scanners as well as more serious press production output.
It just so happened I read the section on monitor calibration last night so figured I'd share a short quote from it, as it reminded me about this thread:
Let's deal with [visual calibrators] first. If you're at all serious about color management, we don't recommend visual monitor calibration. The very same adaptability that makes our eyes incredibly useful organs for living on Planet Earth makes them pretty useless as calibration devices - the goal of calibration os to return the device to a known, predictable state, and while our eyeballs are very good at making comparisions, they're lousy at determining absolutes. If your viewing environment is completely stable - essentially, a windowless cave - you may be able to get by with a visual calibrator, but in our opinion, you'd be penny-wise and pound-foolish to do so.pp 128
and later
We're tempted to say that visual calibration is an oxymoron - calibration means bringing a device back to a knonwn state, and the adaptive nature of our eyes makes it just about certain that you won't be able to hit the same aim point twice by visual methods alone pp 145
This is certainly less of an issue if you are just wanting to get your inkjet prints to look like what you took on your camera (i.e., its a closed system, no-one else needs to see your pictures the way you see them)
But if you are working with multiple montiors, input devices and a variety of output devices (inkjet, online printer, local print store etc) decent calibration is the key to not wasting lots of time and money.
Message edited by author 2004-02-24 09:33:30. |
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02/24/2004 10:01:14 AM · #7 |
| Gordon, I visited the Colorvision site. If I understand correctly, they offer a software solution for $99. To do this right, don't I also need some sort of hardware calibrator? |
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02/24/2004 11:19:01 AM · #8 |
Originally posted by lenkphotos:
Gordon, I visited the Colorvision site. If I understand correctly, they offer a software solution for $99. To do this right, don't I also need some sort of hardware calibrator? |
They sell two products - OptiCal and PhotoCal.
Both come with the same hardware calibrator. OptiCal has more features than PhotoCal and they are offering an upgrade from one to the other for $99. I didn't see any software only solutions on their web site.
There are also two kinds of calibrator they sell, one that works for CRT screens and one that works for both LCD/CRT screens.
There are other companies that sell similar products too,
//www.monacosys.com/
//www.gretagmacbeth.com/Source/Gm.asp?part=Home
It depends on what you want to profile and how much you care about the accurate match. A basic monitor profiling set-up costs about $200 or so. If you want to create decent printer profiles you can either use a cheap print + scanner approach which gives pretty variable results, or get a decent hand held colour meter solution which starts around about $1000.
Any of these prices can spiral upwards as quickly as you like as you get closer to doing professional work.
If you are just interested in getting accurate colour from 3rd party printers, then a calibrated monitor and a colour-managed workflow are all you need though. Then once you have it, you probably want to calibrate and profile your montior once a month or so, or more often if you move it around or change anything. I've seen recommendations ranging from once a week to every day for re-calibration/profiling but again that depends on how much you really care about an accurate match.
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02/24/2004 02:04:26 PM · #9 |
Thanks, Gordon, for the detailed reply. I guess I didn't look closely enough at the Colorvision site, or I would have figured out that I need a hardware calibrator as well.
As a followup, would you (or anyone) have any idea whether calibration would help the fact that my images in PhotoShop (Adobe RGB color space) are consistently lighter (less contrast) than when viewed in any other apps, such as my Web browser, BreezeBrowser, etc. I'm using the same monitor with all those applications.
Thanks again for your thoughtful and helpful information.
-len |
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02/24/2004 02:13:51 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by lenkphotos:
As a followup, would you (or anyone) have any idea whether calibration would help the fact that my images in PhotoShop (Adobe RGB color space) are consistently lighter (less contrast) than when viewed in any other apps, such as my Web browser, BreezeBrowser, etc. I'm using the same monitor with all those applications.
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Calibration wont change that, but proper configuration and colour management will.
when you save things that are going to be shown in web browsers etc, you want to convert them at the end to the sRGB space, which seems to be what most things default to when no profile is attached or the program doesn't support colour management.
Otherwise, you are working in AdobeRGB (which is generally a good thing) and saving the image. You then look at it in some program that is not aware of colour profiles and that doesn't understand how to show it as an Adobe RGB. You've effectively thrown away all the profile information and done the equivalent of an 'Assign profile' step in photoshop. You want to convert to the default profile (sRGB) so that when the profile gets ignored you end up with the same result.
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