Calibrating laptop screen

[Monkey Orchid]

Hi.

Apologies if this topic has already been posted and answered previously on this forum:

I have a Dell Inspiron 1300 laptop, which I use to view and edit my digital photographs. I'm just starting to make use of Adobe Photoshop 7.0 to work on my images (I'm pretty much a novice).

I understand that I should calibrate my laptop screen for viewing and working on my photos, but I'm not sure how best to go about it. Can anyone on here give me some tips, and/or point me towards any websites or books which will guide me through the process? All constructive advice will be welcomed.

Also, can anyone recommend any general books on working with digital images? I used to be a freelance photographer years ago and printed all my own photographs... I really enjoyed getting creative in the darkroom, but I don't really know where to start with getting to grips with Photoshop.

Last but not least, do people think I need to upgrade to Photoshop CS3, or shall I stick with 7.0, at least for the time being?

[DrNickBurton]

I use a Colorvision Spyder to calibrate my monitor. It works great - fully automagical, and no fuss. It takes about 5 minutes to do the calibration. These cost about £80.

I can't really say anything about photoshop as I don't use it. I would be suprised if the upgrade to CS3 would be worth it though - my understanding is that the updates are incremental. By the way, have you considered Lightroom? It's been described as "what photoshop would be if it were designed only for photographers", and you can get the full package for much less than CSx.

[Boddie]

Originally Posted by Monkey Orchid

Hi.

Apologies if this topic has already been posted and answered previously on this forum:

I have a Dell Inspiron 1300 laptop, which I use to view and edit my digital photographs. I'm just starting to make use of Adobe Photoshop 7.0 to work on my images (I'm pretty much a novice).

I understand that I should calibrate my laptop screen for viewing and working on my photos, but I'm not sure how best to go about it. Can anyone on here give me some tips, and/or point me towards any websites or books which will guide me through the process? All constructive advice will be welcomed.

Also, can anyone recommend any general books on working with digital images? I used to be a freelance photographer years ago and printed all my own photographs... I really enjoyed getting creative in the darkroom, but I don't really know where to start with getting to grips with Photoshop.

Last but not least, do people think I need to upgrade to Photoshop CS3, or shall I stick with 7.0, at least for the time being?

I have the same problem. I run two monitors and they are both different with some colour variation. I have tried a few calibration systems that came with the PC but dont rate them.

Its very frustrating

[Boddie]

By the way - with regards learning Photoshop I got a brilliant tutorial CD from the internet (Ebay) from a company called Total Training Ltd, where the guy talks you right through it - 40 hours worth. Its great to watch then replicate. Thats why I have the two monitors, one to watch the guy (Deke) on, and the other for my copying him.

Its a fun and easy way to learn the complexities of the program

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Boddie

I have the same problem. I run two monitors and they are both different with some colour variation. I have tried a few calibration systems that came with the PC but dont rate them.

Its very frustrating

The gretag macbeth system is reputed to be the best spyder type - they are expensive but for a man of your fabulous wealth that shouldnt be an issue.

in answer to the OP laptop screens are notoriously difficult to calbrate - if you are doing a lot of photo editing for print i would suggest getting a monitor to plug into the laptop and calibrating that with a spyder

dont forget that you also need to calibrate your printer.

[Monkey Orchid]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Most helpful!

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by eeyore

The gretag macbeth system is reputed to be the best spyder type - they are expensive but for a man of your fabulous wealth that shouldnt be an issue.

I've got a Greta Macbeth Eye 1 Display 2 calibration device. It works very well for screen calibration, but I no longer use it (see below).

dont forget that you also need to calibrate your printer.

I now use an Xrite 'Colormunki' for calibation of the screen and printer profiling. It was expensive, but has transformed my camera-to-print process, which previously was so frustrating.

Jim

[John D]

Since my PC packed up I have been using a laptop but find it to be useless for 'digital editing' as it is not possible to obtain consistent colour on the screen even after profiling. The least bit variation in the angle of the screen or the least bit movement of head etc causes a shift in colour. In addition most laptop screens are very reflective which is another problem.
This being the case I have an external monitor (Dell 2209 WA 22") and a X-Rite (Greta MacBeth) Eye One Display 2 for colour profiling. This I find to be excellent. I check the colour profile every 4 weeks in order to ensure there has been no variations.

John D

[Willo]

I am in the same position as Monkey Orchid but don't have access or the space for a separate monitor. I do occasionally plug into a LCD tv. Is it possible to calibrate these? This is just out of curiosity really as I don't do very much post processing.

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by Willo

I do occasionally plug into a LCD tv. Is it possible to calibrate these? This is just out of curiosity really as I don't do very much post processing.

I don't see why not. Calibration doesn't affect the display, just the look-up-table in the graphics card.

Jim