calibrating monitors

[Kerry]

My monitor is not calibrated and I have tried doing it with Quick Gamma but I just ended up with bleary eyesight and a screen that to me looked even worse. What do others use for Calibration and will I have to buy a program or are there programs free on the net? Others see my photos differently to how I see them so I know that I need to do something. I haven't tried printing anything out yet but assume that will also be different due to the none calibration.

Thanks
Kerry

[nightshade]

PC World - Digital Focus: Calibrate Your Monitor

I have never had to calibrate a monitor,printers yes(I am struggling
with an epson at the moment)but this is a site I had in my favourites

[Walwyn]

Have fun!

I had a similar problem and I don't think I've got it completely resolved yet. No mater which gamma correction program I use I can never seem to get the patterns to match etc. My old CRT monitor displayed contrasty and had a red bias, this was most noticable when I got a LCD display and saw that a number of my photos appeared slightly washed out.

Yet even on the new monitor I can't get the patterns to blend when trying to gamma correct. I also noticed that the image displayed in a web browser tended to be a little flat. This I believe is because browsers want jpegs written in sRGB format, my editing software was supposed to do that but apparently didn't. Having updated the software the image in the editing software now matches the image in the browser.

[Tormentil]

There is this.... Free Monitor calibrating Wizard.

Not tried it myself, but you could give it a whirl.

[nightshade]

The quality and purpose that your monitor was built for greatly influences
the outcome of any adjustment.
Photo quality (purpose built)monitors are very expensive some of the
gaming monitors have high quality displays and high refresh rates /resolutions
at a lower (relatively speaking) price Samsungs Syncmaster 910T is a good one
with a portait and landscape position for the screen

[DaiTheDragon]

Monitor calibration= pain in the neck. After spending quite some time on this subject I have come to a few conclusions.
I won't even start talking about getting your camera, imaging software, monitor and printer all with correct colour profiles.
As regards putting photographs up on the internet, consider this.You calibrate every thing correctly and then upload your photo. How many of the people looking at your photo will have done the same and even if they have you can bet it wont look the same on their monitor as yours. So is it worth doing.
If you do want to calibrate the monitor I think the best way is with something called a Spider I think. It attaches to your monitor and reads the infotmation and you will get perfect calibration, but it is not cheap.
I do all my work on a Mac but I will then check the image on my PC that has default monitor calibration to check that it looks ok.
Good luck.

Dai

[MalcolmX]

unfortunately monitor calibration can only be affective if performed outside the monitor and light conditions remain constant . the system that works best always uses a densitometer to read colors that are projected by the monitor and references them against known formula for that color and produces an adjusting algorithm that will correct your monitor . this will need to be done every 3 months or so on a new monitor .some old monitors cannot be calibrated as they are outside the gamut range due to degtradtion in the color system .
to achieve camera monitor printer equality then the color space will need to be consistent srgb is the nearest gamut that is printable by ink jets the adobe produces colors that will be clipped by most small printers

[Kerry]

Originally Posted by nightshade

PC World - Digital Focus: Calibrate Your Monitor

I have never had to calibrate a monitor,printers yes(I am struggling
with an epson at the moment)but this is a site I had in my favourites

For some reason I can't get the link that you listed to work or get any of the articles on that site to show. It just keeps coming up with a blank page. Not got round to calibrating my printer yet.

Kerry

[Kerry]

Originally Posted by Walwyn

Have fun!

I had a similar problem and I don't think I've got it completely resolved yet. No mater which gamma correction program I use I can never seem to get the patterns to match etc. My old CRT monitor displayed contrasty and had a red bias, this was most noticable when I got a LCD display and saw that a number of my photos appeared slightly washed out.

Yet even on the new monitor I can't get the patterns to blend when trying to gamma correct. I also noticed that the image displayed in a web browser tended to be a little flat. This I believe is because browsers want jpegs written in sRGB format, my editing software was supposed to do that but apparently didn't. Having updated the software the image in the editing software now matches the image in the browser.

It is so nice to know that I am not the only one, saves me thinking 'Why me!' Mine is a new monitor and I can't get the patterns to blend either.

Kerry

[Kerry]

Originally Posted by Tormentil

There is this.... Free Monitor calibrating Wizard.

Not tried it myself, but you could give it a whirl.

Thanks for this link. I shall take a look at it.

Kerry