Wonder upon Wonders (free stuff)
polycounter lvl 19
I have mentioned in the monitor thread that I have a pretty awesome photo monitor that displays beautiful color and dynamic range. The other day I noticed a thin red vertical line running down one side. I suspect all the cat fur and dander got into the monitor and futzed it up (we have a lot in our flat).
HP has a really good business warranty on their business class stuff, so I submitted a support claim with the serial number and description. Keep in mind I bought this in Iceland, but from an HP authorized dealer, and now live in Germany. I check my email the next day, expecting a question for my clarify, or maybe where to take it, but no, I have an email stating they are mailing me a replacement part already, and when it gets to my house via next day mail, they will then schedule a repairman.
The part arrives, and I'm expecting a new connector or something, but the package is large. What does it contain, but an entire NEW MONITOR. I am not even required to send back the defect one (which is usable, just annoying with the red line).
So now I have two 24" gorgeous high gamut photo editing monitors. A joyous day indeed.
HP has a really good business warranty on their business class stuff, so I submitted a support claim with the serial number and description. Keep in mind I bought this in Iceland, but from an HP authorized dealer, and now live in Germany. I check my email the next day, expecting a question for my clarify, or maybe where to take it, but no, I have an email stating they are mailing me a replacement part already, and when it gets to my house via next day mail, they will then schedule a repairman.
The part arrives, and I'm expecting a new connector or something, but the package is large. What does it contain, but an entire NEW MONITOR. I am not even required to send back the defect one (which is usable, just annoying with the red line).
So now I have two 24" gorgeous high gamut photo editing monitors. A joyous day indeed.
Replies
but first: pix or didn't happen.
I hear that question a lot, actually.
Yes, the average persons monitor won't be high gamut or dynamic range, and won't be calibrated, however they will all be relatively close to correct, but off in different ways. If you start at dead neutral colors, it will look ok on an overly warm OR overly cool monitor. However if you don't calibrate, or work with a proper monitor, you might be starting with overly cool and contrasty images, which will be that much more off to someone's monitor that is "off" in the opposite direction.
It's most important for print work, but it still applies to work that will only be viewed on normal screens. Put it this way, every time I view an image on my 13" macbook after having edited it on my photo monitor, it still looks how I wanted it, just some of the nuance is lost.
At the least it improves your own viewing pleasure and does nothing for the end user, but it has the possibility to provide the most neutral starting point to counteract all the various "off" user monitors.
I've recently calibrated my 2 HP's (with a Pantone Huey Pro), and whilst the colour is really fantastic, the colour looks off in window's default image viewer (reds go to browny oranges) as well as the same colour fudging happening when I open PSDs in Photoshop that have been created on someone else's machine. Photoshop does throw up a colourspace warning.
Is there any fix-all thing I can put into effect here, because I'm getting a little paranoid that some of the work I've made might be in "brown" mode rather than being all calibrated and ace?
Windows default image viewer should be showing up correctly, but I use the Spyder software, and Windows Vista 64 bit, so ymmv.
some people have all the luck =[
i think poops argument about monitors works the same way as my audio monitors... a friend asked me why i play back any recorded music using these monitors, or why i spent £500 on a set of headphones, instead of just "his really good ipod headphones".
the reason is, most speakers/headphones will have some sort of added bass/trebble modifiers to give a better "desired" sound, whereas my headphones and monitors give a completely flat, neutral sound. which means if it sounds fantastic on the monitors, it'll sound even more so on someone elses tweaked stuff.
Cheers for the reply
For me, I recently had the printhead crap out on my Kodak printer. Cleaning the head didn't seem to help, and I thought I'd have to buy a new printer. I love the quality on this printer, and I was disappointed to find out that this was a common problem with Kodak, and even the new printers were like this. I checked Kodak's site to find out how much a new printhead actually costs, and what do I see? All I needed to do was put in a serial number, and they would send a new printhead for free. It came within 2-3 days and it's back to printing glossy goodness
I think the next investment for me is a Calibrator, and then when id think about getting a Eizo/NEC Monitor... id rather buy into a brand name than get knocked off goods ;P