Howdy Mark!
The iSight web site has some reviews of the Spyder/PhotoCal
combination at:
http://www.isight.com.au/isightproductreviews.html
"Using either PhotoCal or OptiCal it will take about 5 minutes
to calibrate and profile the monitor from start to finish."
...
"Furthermore, none of the others I've tried come close to
getting the monitor display as clean, bright and neutral as
the Spyder PhotoCal or OptiCal combinations ..."
Screenshots of PhotCal are at the Computer Darkroom site.
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/photocal/photocal_1.htm
Some reviews suggest getting OptiCal instead of PhotoCal,
but it appears that if you have just one monitor, you can
do with PhotoCal, as Computer Darkroom points out.
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/photocal/photocal_2.htm
"The additional features of OptiCal will mainly benefit those
working in a professional environment were colour accuracy
across multiple monitors is critical."
There is a good discussion of "low end" versus "high end"
calibrators at the Photo.Net web site, including a comment
by one of the posters about LaCie/Blue Eye.
http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=003zVY
"Other companies, including LaCie with their "Blue-Eye",
have integrated calibrators. Unfortunately the measurement
hardware is on the cheap end and is not worth the price."
At the Dry Creek Photo web site, Ethan Hansen likes the
higher end GretagMacbeth Eye-One system quite a bit.
http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/monitor_calibration.htm
"After seeing an Eye-One calibrated display, you will never
be happy with a lesser calibration instrument again."
There is a great page on monitor/printer calibration by
Norman Koren at his web page.
http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html
From the reviews it looks like the Spyder/PhotoCal is the
more versatile, and if you have multiple monitors, you
should look at OptiCal instead.
For a more accurate, but more expensive system, it looks
like GretagMacbeth Eye-One is the higher end system people
buy. The difference in precision is a bit costly at $600.
People seem to really like the Spyder/PhotoCal combination;
fast, accurate and half as much (under $300) as the others.
On the (real) high end, professionals use monitors that can
calibrate themselves.
Search strategy
"monitor calibrator" Spyder PhotoCal
://www.google.com/search?q=%22monitor+calibrator%22+Spyder+PhotoCal
"monitor calibrator" LaCie "Blue Eye"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22monitor+calibrator%22+LaCie+%22Blue+Eye%22
If you need any clarification, feel free to ask.
Looking Forward, denco-ga |
