|
|
 - If you're on an Intel Mac, don't botherThe colorimeter itself seems fine, but the Mac OS X software for this unit is buggy and not a universal binary (which, if they were going to update it for Intel Macs, I would think they would have by now). Twice I had it crash at the end of a 10-minute calibration, before I was able to save the profile. The app would subsequently hang on opening, so that I had to completely uninstall it to get it to launch again. I returned it and will spend the bigger bucks on a Gretag-MacBeth or Xrite unit. Rating:  - Great product and easy to useThis made a big difference on my gateway laptop. Before, some things just didn't look right. This brought a new level of quality to my laptop monitor. I highly recommend it. It is pretty easy to use. Rating:  - Good except for....The product is easy to use and worked well for me, except I had to send it back because it cannot handle a dual monitor setup with 2 profiles. I confirmed this with the vendor. So, go for it, but only if you have one monitor. Rating: - better than expected, amazingI have a webcam site and I do extensive photography. I use Photoshop CS3 and have used Photoshop and Premiere since they were introduced. I thought I was good at monitor calibration with adobe gamma, nvidia calibration, etc etc. The Spyder2express did a better job in 5 minutes than I can do in a hour (or forever). It was a huge improvement in all my color matching, print, monitor, and webcam color balancing. I have two computers that use the same monitor. I switch back and forth with an iogear kvm. One PC has a high end graphics board, the other a cheap board for my webcam. The spyder2 calibrated both PC's to the same monitor so well that I can't tell the difference when quickly switching between computers on the display. It worked better than I had hoped. I may not need to upgrade to the spyder3 but I may do it to get control of monitor color temperature. Rating: - Works as advertisedColor calibration is a necessity for any serious amateur digital photographer. What is the point of spending valuable time in Photoshop or other software fine-tuning white balance, brightness, contrast, color saturation, and so forth, if your monitor is not calibrated correctly? While the Spyder2 Express lacks many of the features of professional grade color calibration products, it works as advertised. It is also relatively inexpensive and simple to use. I have found that it significantly improves the rendition of skin tones in particular. It also produces more precise results when adjusting highlights and shadows. The installation of the software took about five minutes, and each calibration run takes about the same amount of time. It is, however, important to precisely follow the instructions that come with the product. All other color calibration products installed on the computer need to be turned off (for example, Adobe Gamma); this can be done, for example, by using the Windows MSCONFIG utility. Moreover, calibration is best carried out in a room that is dark or only dimly lit. I have also found that laying my Dell 19" LCD monitor flat on the table ensures the closest possible contact between the calibration device and the screen. Under no circumstances should the suction cups be pressed onto an LCD monitor, as this can quite easily destroy some of the pixels. A final note: the benefits of calibrating your monitor will be negated to a considerable extent if you use a photo lab that applies its own software-based adjustments to your image files, or that does not calibrate its printing equipment correctly. If accurate color and grayscale are important to you, there is no substitute for working with a quality (possibly professional) lab or printing service. If you are printing your photos yourself, you obviously need to pay attention to the calibration of your printer.
|
