On Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:36:09 -0400, wrote:
On Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:13:13 -0700, Mike Russell
wrote:
On Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:00:39 -0400, wrote:
It’s been about five years since I used Photoshop (been sick). Now I’m feeling better and want to get back in the game. I used to have to calibrate my LaCie monitor – then calibrate my printer. Now I have a new Vista (HP laptop) and would like to know what the best way to calibrate colors is? I could still use my LaCie CRT monitor but would rather not because of space limitations. Guess I’m assuming that technology in color matching has progressed in the last five years to the point where it is much simpler to do. Any suggestions are welcome. I’m starting from scratch.
Remarkably little has happened in the last 5 years. In fact, this has not been a profitable market. The companies making calibration equipment have been going south, and merging with Gretag Macbeth. I’d recommend getting as good an LCD display as your budget can afford, plus a calibration device such as the Spyder Pro or the i1 display. Calibrating your printer is still cost prohibitive.
What do you mean by ‘cost prohibitive?’
It’s possible to spend over $1000 and still not get a good match to your printer. If you have a printer that you want to calibrate, consider using a service to do so.
The printed photo should look
just like what you see on the monitor.
It is practical and possible to get a good match between monitor and printer. The print should be free of any color cast, and you should be able to predict the overall brightness of the print, as well as shadow and highlight detail from the monitor.
More than that, IMHO, is chasing a wil o’ the wisp. However, if you want to explore the cool color technology of today, check out the X-Rite colormunkee. It’s reasonably priced at under $400, and will calibrate just about anything. Still no guarantees that this is the color rosetta stone you’ve been waiting for though.
BTW, do you have any
recommendations on LCD monitors? Cost won’t be an issue.
Eizo would be high on my list, if money were not an issue, both for color accuracy and quality.
—
Mike Russell –
http://www.curvemeister.com