Best monitor calibration tool?

Which monitor calibration system do you guys use? How do you find it? Wish you got a different system? Please share you experience

I'm planning on buying the Spyder3 express.
Apparently, for someone on a budget it is good value for money.
This one was recommended by a photo editing professional who's life aim seems to be to get everyone calibrated!

I'm just looking at that too... but the 'pro' version (extra £30 or so) as some of our computers have multiple displays..

I ordered the pro version in the end - should get it tomorrow! Will let you know what I think of it

I have aan aged Spyder circa about 2004. Use it every couple of months on the desktop monitor and the laptop.

Works well as far as I can tell.

I must say that I do not know how photographers manage processing their images without calibrating their monitors on a regular basis. To my mind it is an absolute essential tool that should be invested in before even extra lenses or filters etc.

Steve

I bought the Spyder2express last year, and it is/was good, but last time I calibrated I "borrowed" Lee's Spyder3Pro he'd brought home from work. You won't be disappointed!

Have to be honest though, my monitor was pretty spot on when I bought it.Which is a good thing, as not everyone calibrates their monitor.

Yeah I agree - it's a must, especially if you do any print work. I seem to have lost our old one but thought it was time to get a new one anyway. A recent OSX update messed up my colour profiles so gotta get one soon!

There's a piece of free software called Calibrize that you can try for a quick down & dirty temporary fix. I use it and produce prints that match what I see on the screen. Check www.download.com for the software.

Thanks Bob, tho Mac's have a built in calibration tool (which is actually really good) but if you're doing print work it's best to use a hardware calibrator imo.

For Mac people it's system settings > Display > Color > Calibrate. Just be very careful as it could mess up your settings!

Surely the question should be which monitor/printer calibration system. yes there are those as already mentioned that ONLY calibrate a monitor, but for those that home print as well its just as important to match the printer to the monitor to the photographic paper.

I have ColorMunki photo calibration which covers everything, which I used to use with my previous printer. I have to admit I havn't used it yet to set up my latest printer or used it recently on the monitor.

How do I find it? was the next question by AZZ. Well AZZ it is usually on a shelf in the bedroom . No seriously it is an amazing bit of kit, you can fine tune everything automatically or manually and set your own profile for almost every eventuality , such as make and type of paper monitor you name it and it does it. It even allows for the lighting conditions in the room your using it in.

The last question is easy and hard to answer. The easy part is obviously dowloading the program for it and following the screen instructions, I found the hardest part was scanning over both copies of colour charts/printout to produce the correct solution.

These charts are required twice during the setting up, a layout of different colours from your printer in 5 seperate rows, you have to scan at the correct speed before you can scan the next row. The drying process before doing the scan takes time for the ink to dry on the paper to be scanned.

One question Azz didn't ask is "is it worth the money £300 or there abouts"? My answer to this would be it depends on how accurate and professional you want the final print to be. I would say its an out and out professional tool and nice to own as I said before it does everything. If I just wanted to calibrate a monitor only, then I would say no go for a monitor calibrator only this is not for you.


Bazza