Monitor Calibration and Photo Printing

[crazyengineer1]

I am finding (my uncalibrated) monitor and the photos I print at my local CVS differ greatly. How should I calibrate the two to be the same? Do I need to buy new fancy equipment?

 

[pcunite]

You'll need a monitor calibrator like this and a good monitor with IPS display technology. Wide gamut is not absolutely required so sRGB monitors are useful since you're probably printing to an online house anyway. My monitor is a NEC 2490WUXi2 which is sRGB only.