I have an old Dell monitor on my desk top and an Apple MacBook Pro laptop. I'm having problems matching my prints and monitor. I saw this ad for Spyder5 Pro and was wondering if anyone had any experience with it. B&H Photo had some good write ups. Is it easy to install and use? I'm not a heavy technical person.
Pretty easy to use. Just install the disk it comes with, place the devise in the center of your screen and it sets itself. Be patient and read the directions and you will be set.
I use an early Spyder 3 calibration system and it works well.
Some Dell monitors are excellent... other "consumer grade" are not so great. So it sort of depends upon exactly what you have. Laptops are generally not good for photo editing because we change locations and ambient light conditions (which would require re-calibration with each change), plus even slight changes in the viewing angle can make for big differences in perceived brightness.
Most monitors are way too bright for proper photo editing (causing you to make your prints way too dark). The first step with the Spyder is to set appropriate brightness. This is usually done manually, by testing the brightness level and adjusting it to a target level as closely as possible.
After the brightness is set, with the colorimeter puck in place against your screen the Spyder suite will display a series of colors and take measurements from them. It will then create a profile that adjusts your monitor to as-correct-possible color rendition (few monitors are 100%... many only display a somewhat limited gamut of colors).
You need to re-run the calibration periodically, because your monitor will lose brightness and change color gradually over time. I calibrate mine once a month. It's now about 4 or 5 years old. I had to turn it down to 18% for proper brightness originally. Now it's correct at about 33%, after all these years use.
The Spyder software I use has two or more methods of calibration. There's a fairly automated "wizard" that does most everything for you. Or you can use a more "expert" mode where you interact with it more closely. Finally, after calibration you can display some sample images and see before and after examples (often the "after" looks a little "warm" to me, until I'm more accustomed to it). Some of the more advanced software can generate reports and allows you to compare with earlier calibrations, see what has changed. The version I use allows me to compare what my monitor is able to display within the various color spaces: sRGB, Adobe RGB, Pro Photo, CMYK, etc.
Datacolor offers several different "packages". AFAIK, the main difference is that the most basic works with CRT (if anyone still has one) and LCD screens. The Pro works with more devices now... such as laptops and tablets (though those are still of limited usefulness for the reasons stated above). The particular suite I use is more advanced yet and also can be used to calibrate TV screens, digital projectors, plus can be used to make custom printer profiles such as might be needed for non-standard ink/paper combinations. For this last, it prints a test page which is "read" by the colorimeter puck, to establish a unique profile for that particular ink and paper combo. Some of the more advanced Spyder suites can be left plugged into the computer to sense room light and adjust screen brightness and color rendition on the fly, as ambient conditions change. I'm sure you can get more detailed info about the different products at their website.
Alan,
Thank you so much for your informative reply.
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