wlaidlaw Posted June 15, 2013 Share #1 Posted June 15, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) I recently upgraded my Spyder 3 Express to a Spyder 4 Pro, using their rather attractive introductory offer at the launch of the Spyder 4 range. I am getting slightly odd results with this and wonder if anyone has any thoughts. I first calibrated my 2 LED screens on my MacBook Pro (13" 2009) and my wife's 22" NEC monitor on our PowerMac server, which also is her office machine. The calibrated screens came out slightly lower colour temperature (warmer) than the previous Spyder 3 calibration, when you clicked backwards and forwards between the previous and new settings but in general I thought the colours were better and more realistic/true to life. This morning I have calibrated the CCFL/LCD screens on our two older iMacs, which again had previous been calibrated with the Spyder 3 Express. In contrast to the 2 LED screens, these have become noticeably higher colour temperature (cooler) than the previous calibration. This seems an odd result to me. Looking at the same image on an iMac and my Macbook Pro, it definitely looks a bit cooler on the iMac. The whole point of this screen calibration is I thought, so that your various screens would be consistent with each other. Any thoughts guys? Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted June 15, 2013 Posted June 15, 2013 Hi wlaidlaw, Take a look here Odd results screen profiling with Spyder 4 Pro. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
tobey bilek Posted June 15, 2013 Share #2 Posted June 15, 2013 small iMac seem not to calibrate well. The 27 " I have seems to be ok. The 27" Eizo color edge has exactly the same color except darker tones seem to be better defined. The EIzo has less then 10 hours on it. The 27" has little time. ' Make sure the calibration program is set to 6500 for photowork when you initiate the program. You may be able to move a non compliant calibration up or down the temp scale to make them match. lap top computers do not calibrate well so say people say who have worked with both. I have no experience. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted June 15, 2013 Author Share #3 Posted June 15, 2013 Tobey, Thanks for the thoughts. In general I would agree many laptops do not calibrate well but Apple laptops are "supposed" to be different and are designed with pro photographers in mind. Whether this is just marketing BS, I don't know. One of the touted advantages of the Spyder 4 over the 3 was the ability to calibrate different types of screen (LED, CCFL and Laptop) more closely. Before we got the 22" NEC for our PowerMac, we had two Lacie Electron Blue Monitors, a Mk.III and a Mk.IV. Unfortunately Lacie changed their tube supplier from Sony on the III, with a Trinitron slot mask tube and a Mitsubishi Blue Diamond shadow mask tube on the IV. In spite of years of tweaking using both Spyder 3 and Monaco Optix colorimeters, I could never get them looking quite the same. I will try manually tweaking the colour temperature at the end of the process on the iMacs. Whereas I think the colour temperature on the MBP is about right, I am sure the iMacs are too cool. They must be close to the end of their lives anyway. One is a 2005 model and one a late 2006. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobey bilek Posted June 17, 2013 Share #4 Posted June 17, 2013 One major reason I bought the 27" was the 24 could not be brought down to 80 candles. I tried the usual fixes like Shade and even bought a gel to go over the screen. The 27 can go all the way to off. Tip Hold down the option key and you get smaller steps in brightness. Well the 24 died, so I replaced it with a mac pro and Eizo Color Edge screen. I consider this a dream set up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wda Posted June 17, 2013 Share #5 Posted June 17, 2013 [quote name=wlaidlaw;2429923... The calibrated screens came out slightly lower colour temperature (warmer) than the previous Spyder 3 calibration' date=' when you clicked backwards and forwards between the previous and new settings but in general I thought the colours were better and more realistic/true to life. ... Wilson[/quote] Wilson, I don't use your set-up but can you not set your desired colour temperatures? If so, it should calibrate to meet that target. At least it does so with my Eizo calibration. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted June 18, 2013 Author Share #6 Posted June 18, 2013 Wilson, I don't use your set-up but can you not set your desired colour temperatures? If so, it should calibrate to meet that target. At least it does so with my Eizo calibration. You can set the screen's colour temperature for the iMac but not I think the MBP. However the Spyder 4 calibration overrides this. If you do a total calibration again i.e. not an update or recalibration, you can set the colour temperature at the end of the process. However the implementation is not brilliant, as you cannot see the results until you save at the end and click backwards and forwards. If you don't like the results, you have to go through the whole process again, so it is guesswork each time for the selected colour temperature. Not how I would have designed the Datacolor Spyder 4 Pro software! I would have put a "back button" at that stage. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wda Posted June 18, 2013 Share #7 Posted June 18, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) Wilson, maybe it is time to consider a new photometer. Check out Colour Confidence - Colour management, ICC profiling, X-Rite, Pantone, ColorVision, DataColor a West Midlands company I have used for several years. Their website is clear and helpful, with excellent support if needed. I am still using an old MonacoOPTIX which I bought from them years ago which still works when recalibrating my Eizo monitor. That device is probably no longer available, yet still supported. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted June 18, 2013 Author Share #8 Posted June 18, 2013 Wilson, maybe it is time to consider a new photometer. Check out Colour Confidence - Colour management, ICC profiling, X-Rite, Pantone, ColorVision, DataColor a West Midlands company I have used for several years. Their website is clear and helpful, with excellent support if needed. I am still using an old MonacoOPTIX which I bought from them years ago which still works when recalibrating my Eizo monitor. That device is probably no longer available, yet still supported. David, I do have an old Monaco Optix down at my French house but I think its software does not run on Mountain Lion. In that the Spyder 4 Pro is brand new, it should be the bees knees. It has a number of advances on my Spyder 3 Express, including compensation for background lighting. If I continue to have trouble with it, I may return it under warranty, as having a faulty colorimeter. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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