What do I need to calibrate my monitor?

I’d suggest a colorimeter to start with, and depending on the printer you select, go from there. I’m not sure of your intent, but unless you do a lot of printing on a wide variety of materials, it may not pay to do your own profiling. Also, some printers have a built in spectrophotometer and are capable of printing patches, reading them and generating profiles, and uploading them to your computer. Another route is to use manufacturers media and profiles, as they might be adequate for your needs. There are third party providers who can generate a custom profile for you should you need it.

Also keep in mind that a spectrophotometer will also need factory recalibration every couple years, and you’ll probably find that your profiling software will need updates.

I will just use it to calibrate my monitor. Is a colorimeter enough for the job? For example, Datacolor SpyderX Pro (SXP100) will do a good job and work with DisplayCal?

Thanks.

I have read different things on the internet. Some people think Spyder hardware sucks and they swear by X-Rite. I don’t quite know why. I have no trouble using my Spyder 5, and at least I am able to color match my two different displays without effort. DisplayCal should be your goto software.

1 Like

That should work, just double check compatibility with your OS and calibration software before ordering your hardware.

I’m using displayCal on my Linux system because my ColorSpyder5 is not compatible with NEC Spectraview on Linux. Displaycal seems to work as well as the NEC software.

Metoo. Some issues often mentioned are that gelatin gets old during the years of use and result are not so accurate anymore and sample variation. Maybe more of an issue if you need really precise profiles? For everyday use Spyder Pro can be just fine and reasonably priced.

Thanks for the feedback. I’m using Linux too.

Thank you all for the feedback. I think that I will buy the Datacolor SpyderX Pro (SXP100).

Just dropped 418€ for an Xrite i1Studio spectrometer. Idk if I should be happy or crying xP Let’s hope I didn’t waste it and that my monitor is decent enough to be worth calibrating.
@ggbutcher Is this a spectrometer which can do this below?

1 Like

That actually seems quite reasonable for a calibration device which handles monitor, scanner and printer! I’ll look forward to seeing how you get on with the Xrite i1Studio spectrometer, @KristijanZic.

Currently I use an old Spyder2Express with Displaycal. It works for my monitor, but no way to calibrate my printer.

I’m considering this to be a long term investment.
It’s on sale on amazon.de for 378eur but with Croatian VAT of 25% it ends up costing me 418eur with shipping. Oh well… xD

I have huge troubles with my monitors not being calibrated and I wanted a great tool for the calibration job. But I’m really afraid that I’ll still have to buy a more decent monitors. At home I currently have old Apple CinemaHD monitors and the colors are waay off.

1 Like

Unless your monitors are extremely bad in their gamut coverage, you’ll likely be OK. I’ve been doing a fair bit of editing on my laptop, which seems to have less than sRGB coverage, but since it is calibrated, I don’t see a difference between it and my Dell UltraSharp monitors on my editing machine.

Remember that by calibrating, you’re taking the colors your monitor can display and are making sure those colors are accurate.

1 Like

Yes. This is a good, general purpose light measuring instrument.

I’m trying hard to come up with a way to measure sensor spectral response without having to measure light power, but that may not pan out. If not, this instrument or equivalent would probably be my first recommendation, as I don’t like buying expensive “one-trick pony” devices. This device would work to participate in camera calibration as well as do display calibration by itself.

2 Likes

Thanks, if you were in EU, I’d borrow it to you but if I can remotely assist you with the device in any way with testing anything, just ping me.

1 Like

Loos like I can get either a Colormunki Display or Colormunki Photo for about the same price 2nd hand ($200). Which would you choose? Are either of these known to degrade faster than the other? My only use case at the current time is to calibrate monitor, so I don’t really need the extra benefits of a spectrophotometer, but if spectrophotometer yields better monitor calibration too then I’d go that way.

EDIT: Think I can answer my own question, at least as to buying new. It seems the Colormunki Display is better: Display Calibration Sensor Capabilities

I have the Photo and its a bit more difficult to use for only calibrating the display, because it has several modes and you need to change them while calibrating.

1 Like