Yaya

Good morning. I just purchased and hooked up the Canon piXma pro 100 printer. Now I’m wondering if my monitor does not have enough resolution. The highest resolution my monitor is capable of is 1600 x 900. Do you think I need a newer monitor? Thanks for any help.

BebuLamar

Your monitor has low resolution but that doesn't affect your ability to use the printer. It's desirable to have higher resolution than what you have but if you are concerned only about using the printer then a good calibrated monitor is more important than resolution.

Stardust Loc: Central Illinois

Monitor has no bearing on the printer, only on what you see on the screen. Since you have been using monitor till now, my suggestion is print a few samples and see how close they are to what you are seeing/liking.

Yaya

Thank you for the help. I tried manually calibrating my monitor, however it does seem to be okay. Tomorrow I’ll print a photo and see how it looks. If I do decide to get a new monitor (the one I have now is approximately 10years old) what resolution would be good for photos? Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Calibration and profiling to ICC standards matters more than resolution.

Stardust Loc: Central Illinois

IMHO monitors are like cameras, computers, autos, steaks, etc. I set a maximum amount I am willing to spend, then try to find the best value at or under that amount. Any monitor you buy will be better, with higher resolution, than your current 10-yr old one.

johnst1001a Loc: West Chester, Ohio

Make sure you set up your printer within the software you are using. In Photoshop for example, go to edit/assign profiles/profile, then in the pull down menu, chose the printer and the paper you are using, such as luster or glossy. Then when you push the print button, use the printer manages color. You can also select the printer in the Photoshop Camera Raw software ahead of using Photoshop. Lightroom has similar settings. Another thing to do is go to YouTube and type in Canon Pixma Pro 100. There are several good videos on setting up the printer. The process is the same for most printers. They should show up in the pull down menus for selection.

Failure to set up your printer properly will result in the printed photo being substantially different in colors and brightness.

Calibrating your monitor helps too of course.

Mike Holmes Loc: The Villages Fl

B&H has the Datacolor spyder5pro on sale for $95, which is half off. Is this device a good color calibrator?

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Makes sure the new monitor can connect with your computer. My computer has only dvi connections. The new monitor I’m looking at has HDMI connection. There are adapters, but I’ve read that it’s limited to something like 1900 x 1200 resolution.

This $230 Monitor supposedly has 100% sRGB color and can support a calibration device. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01HSABSGE/ref=ox_sc_act_image_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Would love other opinions...

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

YES. For standard 8-bit monitors, it is all you need. I calibrated a whole school portrait lab's color correction department (9 top LaCie Electron Blue monitors from 2002-2005) with its predecessor. Our prints were a very, VERY close match to the monitors.

I use a Sypder5Pro now, to calibrate my iMac. My prints match my screen quite well.

For those who don't understand the need, consider this:

There is an international standard for color calibration, set by the ICC (International Color Consortium). Any serious photographer or lab owner knows this, and follows that standard. When you buy a new monitor or other device with a screen, it may be calibrated INITIALLY at the factory. However, that calibration drifts over time. Worse, TVs and computer monitors are calibrated to very different standards. Only one of them, sRGB, is close to accurate for photography.

Periodic re-calibration — and the creation of and automatic installation of a new CUSTOM ICC profile for your specific monitor — is necessary if you want prints that match your screen (as closely as CMYK+++ inkjet, or CMY silver halide coupled dyes in wet-process photo paper, can replicate RGB display images).

Proper calibration and profiling also will ensure that your images look as good as possible to the greatest number of people who view them on the Internet. While most people don't calibrate their screens (phones, tablets, laptops, desktops), it is true that there is a bell-shaped curve where the greatest number of monitor calibrations are close to accurate calibrations.

At half off, that deal on the Spyder5Pro is a steal! Just do it.

df61743 Loc: Corpus Christi, TX

Yaya,

Before considering a monitor upgrade, you will need to acquaint yourself with the specifications of your graphics adapter, to insure it has cable connections compatible with the new monitor you're considering, and that your graphics card is capable of driving a monitor at higher resolutions supported by a new monitor. It would do no good attaching a 2160P 4K monitor to a graphics card that will only drive it at 1440P. It may be that you will want to upgrade your graphics card, as well.

And just one more thought... most newer graphics cards will support the attachment of two or more monitors. If you ever go to multiple monitors, you will wonder why you took so long. LOL

Dick

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Good points! Most laptops and MacBooks can support at least one more external monitor. Higher end ones can support three or four, possibly with a USB3 adapter.

I do some video editing. I use a TV as a second monitor, so I can view my image on an HD screen. (I often record in 4K, but release in HD 1080P to conserve network bandwidth.)

If you calibrate two monitors for side-by-side use, use the same black level, white level, gamma, and white point. For photography, that's about

Black 0.5 candelas per square meter
White 80 to 120 candelas per square meter (Evaluate color and brightness on a monitor that is any brighter, and your prints will come out too dark!)
Gamma 2.2
Color Temperature of White Point 5800°K

Most colorimeter/software calibration and profiling kits will let you set those levels.

Keep your computer desktop neutral gray! Avoid anything in your field of view that is brightly colored. I use a neutral gray computer table, dark gray Mac Desktop, and bounce a single 5000K 13-Watt CFL off the ceiling. No direct light should fall on your monitor during calibration or critical use.

Evaluate prints at a brightness level and color temperature near your monitor's settings. A 5000°K CFL made for photography use is a good source. Vary its distance from the print to match viewing brightness to the brightness of the same image as displayed on your monitor.

Dave34 Loc: Maricopa, AZ

It is a good unit, but will only calibrate your monitor, not your printer. Colormunki will calibrate both.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

AGREED! I have been using dual monitors on my business PC for many years. Just today I ordered a second monitor for my iPad Pro (the matching LG version). I should be setting it up tomorrow and wondering why myself!

Bill P

I use a LaCie 321 that I calibrate with a color Munki, and a POS HP that I use for pallettes and such. See no reason to calibrate it as no photos are ever seen on it.

I have read on this forum that the flat screens generally need claibration only when first used, and then are fine. I can see how that might be true.

Oh, and full sRGB is about as bottom basement as you can get. Better Adobe RGB or ProPhoto, but that means lots of $$.