Monitor Calibration Tool

[TopRamen37]

Do many people have a monitor calibration tool like the Spyder2 Express? Is it worth the money? Would you recommend them to a gamer/home office person with only 2 monitors in the whole house?

 

[AmdInside]

If you work with digital photos a lot, I would strongly recommend it. Especially if you have a cheap monitor. It makes quite a difference in terrible monitors where the color is way off (like my laptop).

 

[fierydemise]

I use quickgamma, its free, its pretty easy to use and monitor calibration can make a big difference

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: fierydemise
I use quickgamma, its free, its pretty easy to use and monitor calibration can make a big difference

How does this compare to a hardware solution?

 

[nullpointerus]

Originally posted by: TopRamen37
Do many people have a monitor calibration tool like the Spyder2 Express?

Here? I really doubt it, unless they're into amateur/professional graphics/video editing.

Is it worth the money?

For most home users it's probably better to spend more money on a better monitor and then just do manual calibration, which is "free" and relatively "easy."

Would you recommend them to a gamer/home office person with only 2 monitors in the whole house?

No, definitely not.

My Viewsonic VX2025wm is not exactly the most expensive display in its class, but the improvement from my amateur, manual calibration was remarkable. My darkest discernable gray level dropped from 8 to 2, making shadows much more realistic.

Spend 30 minutes looking up calibration websites (with test patterns), and adjust the brightness, contrast, etc. controls yourself. You'll get maybe 70% of the improvement for "free." I would pay close attention to the dark grayscale (1-15) and gamma tests.

The exact procedure for calibration depends greatly on your display type, but I would recommend: (a) turning brightness contrast down to 50% or slightly below, (b) changing the color setting to 6500K (ok) or SRGB (better), and (c) using your video card's desktop and video color settings to make display adjustments with several types of test patterns on the screen at once.

 

[TopRamen37]

Thanks for the advice nullpoint. I'll try your suggestions.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: TopRamen37
Do many people have a monitor calibration tool like the Spyder2 Express? Is it worth the money? Would you recommend them to a gamer/home office person with only 2 monitors in the whole house?

I'm using a Spyder2Express and I think its worth the money, skin tones are very natural on faces etc.... also in gaming the colour balance can help you pick out targets in certain situations.


You would be amazed how some monitors are way off out of the box.

Personally I think its worth it regardless of the monitor in question,its not like you will need to buy one again for a very long time,I have tried manual calibration software but just could not get it right.