DStone Loc: Outside Winston-Salem, NC

I've calibrated my monitor by trial and error with pretty good results. In Lightroom, I need to bump up the print adjustment to +30, and I suspect the colors might be a little less vibrant than they could be. But, the print is really close to the monitor image. Close enough that I can adjust from a test print and be very happy with print #2. Softproofing doesn't help or hurt, especially with reds -- if it's out of gamut, HSL adjustments don't pull it fully back into range. Seems to me, the LightRoom +30 print adjustment is a bad thing that I need to get away from.

So, the question is: Do I need to buy a calibration system? The reviews for Spyder and ColorMunki seem to say that getting close is all you can expect. Well, I'm already close, even though I'd like to be closer.

But, I don't trust online reviews, either. Maybe the software really does suck, or maybe the reviewer was well into his third Scotch, or maybe it's a competitor in disguise. I'd trust you guys more.

For those who care, Windows 10, Epson Artisan 1430. Dell SE2416H. Room is adjusted to 5000K light. Red River Paper with ICC installed ( but Epson Paper ICC also needs a +30-35).

Thanks for any thoughts.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

I have munki smile. Works very well for me and is not expensive. There are many that are more expensive and more suited to a pro, but for my hobby work the smile is quite satisfactory.

rfmaude41 Loc: Lancaster, Texas (DFW area)

And I use the Spyder system with no problems. I also leave it "plugged in", as once per minute it samples the ambient light and adjusts the monitor brightness to match it to the room light.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsXY9jhUlZ0&t=10s

You can spend hours working on an image in whatever software you use, send it to the printer and discover that your colors on screen do not match what comes out of the printer.
I had real issues with print output before I started using a Spyder 5 to calibrate my monitors.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Hmmm. I didn’t know that was an option - will have to try it.

For the OP: yes, you need to calibrate your monitor (and periodically recalibrate) for consistent results and to save wasted prints. Both the Spyder and Colormunki system are well regarded and used by a number of excellent photographers and pros on this forum. Watch for the occasional sale when/if you decide to purchase...

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

This only works if you upgrade an existing Spyder software to the SpyderPro Elite. Cost me $70.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Thanks - good to know.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Most monitor and card drivers have built in calibration [Free] yet people Piz $ away on do-gadgets to complicate their world. Ok, if printing is off even if you add the paper code... then hey, sliders take care of that. Get the print you want.. monitor is radiated vs Print reflected. Neither are reality.. so make them please your eye... OH! the light in the viewing room.. what Temp?? Do you have the moitor shielded with Black foam board.. and humm, are your glasses tinted... what a tangled web we weave!! [sssh, does the image look the same with left and right eyes!! ]

Remember, if you do editing before sunrise and after sun set there is an auto system to dull the screen.. it can be shut off. It is in Settings... system... monitor... night light

DStone has taken the steps to do things right and found the problems usually held in hush and not discussed... the cancer of printing!

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Not sure what you can expect from a $150 display, but though it is described by Dell as having an "8 bit" color depth, and capable of showing most of the sRGB color gamut I question their claim at such a low price point. More than likely it is a 6 bit screen that utilizes FRC to show 8 bit depth. Photo oriented displays can show larger gamut and often have better accuracy either being 10 bit or using FRC to simulate 10 bit on an 8 bit screen. For reference, a 6 bit screen can show 64 steps of tone per color for a total of 262,144 colors and tones. An 8 bit screen is can show 256 steps per color and 16,777,216 total colors and tones, and finally a 10 bit display can show 1,024 tones per color, or 1,072,741,824 colors and tones. If there is a possibility that there is color or tonal banding in your image, you are more likely to see it on a 6 bit screen than a 10 bit screen. The higher the bit depth, the more accurately a display can show subtle changes in tone and color. It also makes them more suitable for displaying more color. An very rough analogy would be coloring with a box of 16 crayons or 152 crayons. Right now I'm afraid you have the box of 16 crayons. But though I wouldn't pick this display for photo editing, it is still a good value and a general purpose display, and can be used when color is not critical.



If you want to keep your options open and not have to replace your profiling tool because it won't profile a monitor you may purchase in the future, I'd suggest, at the minimum, getting an Xrite i1 Display Pro. It is the least expensive tool that will create a profile for a display that has a programmable LUT - such as the Dell 2413 and others. I use a pair of these and was not able to get a good profile with my Spyder, so I had to get the Xrite tool.

I am not sure what you mean by "bump up the print adjustment to +30" in Lr. Which adjustment are you describing?

The point of profiling is NOT to make it match the display, but to make the display match a color standard used in the industry for uniformity. If you print your own work, I guess it's ok to get the print to look like the screen. But what happens when you send your file to a lab? I can guarantee you won't be happy with the results, as you suspect.

Printing with the printer mfgr's paper and ink will give you pretty decent results. It will be very close to a properly profiled display. Sending images to a lab that have been optimized on a profiled display should look at least as good if not better than printing on your own printer.

The biggest problem most people have is with display brightness. They are often too bright, which causes the photographer to tone down the images to make them appear correctly on the screen, but when they are printed they are too dark. Setting the brightness correctly will help minimize this. I use a white clip point of 80 candelas per meter squared (80 cd/m^2) as a starting point. The better profiling tools will allow you to adjust this and other values with more granularity. The lower cost tools give you increments of 5 units.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

I use color munki and it adjusts to the changing lighting condition in my room and I update the monitor profile every 4 weeks

Mortsid

I use xrite I1 profiler. I have my monitor calibrated using an illumination of 65. It seems unusual for such a low illumination, but my prints match the monitor perfectly under the light I use.

DStone Loc: Outside Winston-Salem, NC

To Gene51: The print adjustment is "brightness" in the Lightroom front module. To my eye, a +30 brightens the print about a third of a stop. Most descriptions call it a tool of last resort. That's why I suspect it's a bad thing. Thanks for your detailed reply. A lot of food for thought there.

JCam Loc: MD Eastern Shore

I'm using Win & Pro with a laptop that is about 4-5 years old and a Spyder5 Express a couple of years ago when B&H had it on sale to Calibrate my 27" Samsung monitor. I thought my laptop was pretty good for PP, but was amazed at the very noticeable difference after I calibrated the monitor, and had not calibrated the laptop just to see how much difference there was between the two screens. I almost always used to make 4x6" test prints just to check the printer output, but now, unless the photo has a lot of color shades, ie. fall leaves, I don't bother.

Another Plus is the reduction in wasted paper; eventually it may even save the cost of the Spyder.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Once you entered the digital arena of photography, your computer is now a piece of photographic equipment. Much like your camera and lenses, it needs to be understood and adjustments made for optimum performance. It's as essential to the 'scene to print' process as your lens and camera are. Much like the adjustments needed to your camera, adjustments are needed to the computer/monitor/printer combination, as well. I've found the Datacolor Spyder to be the ideal tool to accomplish that coordination.
--Bob

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Software calibration is a joke. For the cost of a ruined print and all that ink, a Spyper5 is cheap.