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Best monitor calibration tool?

Joost
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Both my monitors have horrible color accuracy right now. Does anyone have any recommendations for calibration tools?

I'm looking at these 2 atm

[ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/X-Rite-ColorMunki-Calibrator-Monitors-Projectors/dp/B0055MBQOM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1431373205&sr=8-1&keywords=Colourmunki"]X-Rite ColorMunki Display Calibrator for Monitors, Projectors and Tablets - CMUNDIS: Amazon.co.uk: Software[/ame]

[ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spyder4-Advanced-Display-Colour-Calibration/dp/B006TF37H8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1431373355&sr=8-1&keywords=spyder4"]Spyder4 PRO Advanced Display Colour Calibration (PC/Mac): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories[/ame]
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  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    Also what monitors do you have right now, you can't do much calibration with a mediocre monitor.
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  • Joost
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    Joost polycount sponsor
    http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/samsung_f2380.htm and http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/qnix_qx2710.htm

    Not the best monitors but I think they'd benefit a lot from calibration?
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  • Brygelsmack
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    Brygelsmack polycounter lvl 13
    Spyder is great. I've used it for my Dell monitors and haven't had any issues. Good results.
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  • SnowInChina
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    SnowInChina interpolator
    Brygelsmack wrote: »
    Spyder is great. I've used it for my Dell monitors and haven't had any issues. Good results.

    i can second that
    didnt have any problems
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  • commador
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    commador polycounter lvl 14
    SnowInChina wrote: »
    i can second that
    didnt have any problems

    I'll third it. I've got a Spyder 3 Pro. Great little tool.
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  • mystichobo
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    mystichobo polycounter lvl 12
    commador wrote: »
    I'll third it. I've got a Spyder 3 Pro. Great little tool.

    4th! With the spyder3.

    I'm not a huge fan of the default software though, and use http://dispcalgui.hoech.net/ instead (It's slower, but I got far more consistent results between monitors)
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  • Harbinger
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    Harbinger polycounter lvl 8
    I have the ColorMunki, works pretty well for the price. I did have to run it a couple of times to get consistency between my two monitors, but it greatly improved accuracy.
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  • AlecMoody
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    AlecMoody ngon master
    The colormunki display is great for the price. I have had much more expensive lacie colorimeters and gretagmacbeth spectrophotometers but if you are just doing a monitor the colormunki display is a good choice.

    Keep in mind that colorimeters need to be replaced every few years as the filtration breaks down.
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  • marks
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    marks greentooth
    Using Spyder4 Elites at work, can't complain they seem to do the job well.
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  • Odow
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    Odow polycounter lvl 8
    Is it hard to use a spyder ?
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  • marks
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    marks greentooth
    No, really easy. You'll get better results from doing a bit of research into what whitepoint values and stuff you want to use though (or shooting Earthquake a PM).
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  • Joost
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    Joost polycount sponsor
    Thanks for the advice guys, I think I'm going with the Spyder4 pro. Don't think there's any reason to get the Elite version for a single user? Looks like the xrite might have better hardware (hearsay) but I hear the software and support are better for the spyder.
    Keep in mind that colorimeters need to be replaced every few years as the filtration breaks down.

    Wasn't aware of this, Thanks for sharing. I've definitely seen some old units floating around. I guess using an older one is still better than nothing though? Even if it's just for uniformity across monitors.

    On an unrelated note, does anyone have any graphs, infographics or articles with reasons to calibrate your monitors? It's pretty obvious to an artist but not so much to other people I reckon. This image by Alec is a great simple explanation but I'm wondering if there's anything more in depth. If not I'll just have to make my own.
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  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    Joost wrote: »
    This image by Alec
    and keep in mind that one of the "users" referred to in this graphic may be your art director, who'll always end up complaining that stuff is too dark or too light, when it's not you but your monitor which is at fault ;)
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  • Odow
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    Odow polycounter lvl 8
    Try to calibrate monitor at work with an I1 xrite something. Works well on screen, really easy. can'T do shit on my cintiq, everything is bleach after it try to calibrate. Anyone know why and what to do ?
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  • frmdbl
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    frmdbl polycounter
    This should be a sticky:)
    I've always been concerned with the lack of proper calibration on my monitors, but I've always though a hardware calibrator would be way more expensive.
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  • tadpole3159
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    tadpole3159 polycounter lvl 12
    On a related note and does anyone have any software or hardware that could be used to calibrate a screen that's not connected to a pc? Like a TV for example.

    When it comes to adjusting post processing on a console game I can't trust my colour settings on my TV. I have a spyder 4 but its all look up table based so won't help me here
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  • wizo
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    wizo polycounter lvl 17
    Sorry this isn't much on calibration tools, but I've always had monitor calibration problems until I bought a mac recently.
    You can just use an ipad or Iphone to make sure the colors of your images are good. If the image is similar between your apple monitor and pc monitor then you can assume it is well calibrated.
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  • Joost
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    Joost polycount sponsor
    tadpole3159 wrote: »
    On a related note and does anyone have any software or hardware that could be used to calibrate a screen that's not connected to a pc? Like a TV for example.

    When it comes to adjusting post processing on a console game I can't trust my colour settings on my TV. I have a spyder 4 but its all look up table based so won't help me here

    Couldn't you just temporarily connect it to a pc to do the calibration?
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  • tadpole3159
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    tadpole3159 polycounter lvl 12
    Joost wrote: »
    Couldn't you just temporarily connect it to a pc to do the calibration?
    the spyder doesn't affect your monitor settings, it adjusts your PC's colour profile thingy to make the picture look right. It means your monitor is still all screwy so if you connect something that isn't that PC to that monitor its all still wrong.

    very annoying
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  • marks
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    marks greentooth
    wizo wrote: »
    Sorry this isn't much on calibration tools, but I've always had monitor calibration problems until I bought a mac recently.
    You can just use an ipad or Iphone to make sure the colors of your images are good. If the image is similar between your apple monitor and pc monitor then you can assume it is well calibrated.

    This sounds so utterly wrong to me :/
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  • Joost
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    Joost polycount sponsor
    tadpole3159 wrote: »
    the spyder doesn't affect your monitor settings, it adjusts your PC's colour profile thingy to make the picture look right. It means your monitor is still all screwy so if you connect something that isn't that PC to that monitor its all still wrong.

    very annoying

    Oh right,sorry didn't think that one through! :poly122:
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  • Jeff Parrott
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    Jeff Parrott polycounter lvl 19
    +1 for X-Rite. Really easy to use. You'll most likely notice your monitors get a lot darker. Just a heads up.
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  • EarthQuake
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    EarthQuake mod
    marks wrote: »
    This sounds so utterly wrong to me :/

    It is wrong. Mac displays tend to be relatively well calibrated compared to other devices/monitor brands; however, color calibration is not something you can verify by eye-balling or looking at. If you need critical color accuracy, you need to use a colorimeter. Holding up an iphone next to your monitor is not a replacement for hardware color calibration.

    Accurate color calibration depends on the ambient light, so, even if your Mac monitor came calibrated from the factory, it won't be perfectly calibrated in your office.

    I've got a Spyder 4 Elite, which seems to work well enough, but I have't used other devices to compare it to.
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  • Odow
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    Odow polycounter lvl 8
    Jeff Parrott wrote: »
    +1 for X-Rite. Really easy to use. You'll most likely notice your monitors get a lot darker. Just a heads up.

    Do you know why it screw up my cintiq ? We ask some guys of the Volta division ( illustration artist) and they said they just try a billion time and it finnaly work properly on their cintiq, kinda don't have time to calibrate 15times. :<
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  • wizo
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    wizo polycounter lvl 17
    EarthQuake wrote: »
    It is wrong. Mac displays tend to be relatively well calibrated compared to other devices/monitor brands; however, color calibration is not something you can verify by eye-balling or looking at. If you need critical color accuracy, you need to use a colorimeter. Holding up an iphone next to your monitor is not a replacement for hardware color calibration.

    Accurate color calibration depends on the ambient light, so, even if your Mac monitor came calibrated from the factory, it won't be perfectly calibrated in your office.

    I've got a Spyder 4 Elite, which seems to work well enough, but I have't used other devices to compare it to.

    good point about ambient lighting, yeah as you've mentioned, the general idea I wanted to share was more about mac monitors being better than your average monitors out of the box. +1 on the colorimeter for best results.
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  • Jeff Parrott
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    Jeff Parrott polycounter lvl 19
    Odow wrote: »
    Do you know why it screw up my cintiq ? We ask some guys of the Volta division ( illustration artist) and they said they just try a billion time and it finnaly work properly on their cintiq, kinda don't have time to calibrate 15times. :<

    No I'm not sure. If it's messing up then I probably wouldn't use it on a Wacom monitor. Personally I haven't run it on a cintiq. Just desktop monitors.
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  • Fuiosg
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    Fuiosg polycounter lvl 5
    Was in the market for a colorimeter and found out that apparently with the new spyder5, the hardware is the same between all versions-- the restriction is in the software. But there is open source software for calibrating, http://dispcalgui.hoech.net/.

    I was going to fleabay a spyder 3 or 4 pro, but given the comment about filtration breakdown, maybe it's best to just go with the spyder5 express.
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  • almighty_gir
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    almighty_gir ngon master
    Odow wrote: »
    Do you know why it screw up my cintiq ? We ask some guys of the Volta division ( illustration artist) and they said they just try a billion time and it finnaly work properly on their cintiq, kinda don't have time to calibrate 15times. :<

    Except the cintiq is arguably the most important monitor to calibrate, you know... being the one you'll be painting on and everything.
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