Best All-Around LCD Calibration Tools ?

[Frank Petronio]

I haven't kept up over the years... what's the best value-performance these days?

[Jeremy Moore]

probably the ColorMunki Display if you're not also profiling a printer

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=798928&Q=&ctype=2&is=REG&A=details

[Ken Lee]

Ask CHROMiX.

[Peter De Smidt]

Spyder3elite from Datacolor.

[pherold]

Like a lot of things in this industry, it depends!
I would recommend different devices depending on what kind of display you're working with. Here's an article that goes into the whole subject from a few different points of view:
http://www.colorwiki.com/wiki/Profiling_Devices_for_Monitors

This article does not cover the i1Display Pro / ColorMunki Display, which X-Rite has just brought out - and also looks quite good.

[minay]

Go for the Spyder 3 Pro.

The reason being that you need to crank up your LCD brightness to the maximum (100%) and then use the native setting for the white point reference. The cheaper lite version does not allow for this native setting and just sticks to the 6,500 Kelvin. What this does is the lite version reduces the brightness of whites and you don't want this.

You can purchase it at amazon.com for much cheaper than retail.

[Sevo]

There is not that much difference between similar X-Rite and Datacolor offerings - you'll have to decide whether a colorimeter is good enough or a spectrometer is needed, apart from that it is a matter of the feature set (with the lower end significantly castrated). Positively so for any non-display target, but YMMV with some odd monitors - I've run across an early LED lit screen that failed miserably on colorimeters.

[David Solow]

I've been using the ColoMunki Photo Color Management Solution, which is $374 at B&H ($449-$75 mail-in rebate). It's a spectrophotometer that you can use with both monitor and print calibration. It came highly recommended to me by a few different professional photographers. I've had good results with it. For $169 ColorMunki Display is for monitors only (not prints), and, from what I've been told, does as good of a job on monitors of all sorts as the more expensive Photo Color Management Solution.

[Brian Ellis]

SpectraVeiw from NEC did a better job and was easier to set up than Spyder II and Spyder III which I also used. I don't know the cost, my version was bundled with my NEC monitor. But I doubt that the cost is outrageous, I paid about $600 for both monitor and SpectraView. However, I did already have a colorimter that was compatible with SpectraView, if you have to buy both software and colorimeter the cost will be higher.

[D. Bryant]

SpectraVeiw from NEC did a better job and was easier to set up than Spyder II and Spyder III which I also used. I don't know the cost, my version was bundled with my NEC monitor. But I doubt that the cost is outrageous, I paid about $600 for both monitor and SpectraView. However, I did already have a colorimter that was compatible with SpectraView, if you have to buy both software and colorimeter the cost will be higher.

What Brian said.

I have 2 NEC SpectraView monitors and the Spectraview software supports my XRITE DP94 colorimeter which I already owned. Calibrating and profiling my displays has never been easier.

[Preston]

SpectraView is not compatible with non-NEC monitors, and some NEC screens.

From the SpectraView FAQ:

SpectraView is targeted specifically at providing the best possible color performance and calibration with the supported NEC displays using hardware calibration. Other displays can be profiled but not calibrated in SpectraView.

NEC FAQ (http://www.necdisplay.com/support-and-services/spectra-view-II/FAQ)

Compatible NEC Monitors (http://www.necdisplay.com/support-and-services/spectra-view-II/Compatibility#models)

If you own a compatible monitor, SpectraView is the way to go. It works perfectly with my NEC P221W and the NEC-Branded sensor.

--P

[Sevo]

What's more, Spectraview uses the regular Xrite sensors - the difference is in the monitors and the software that directly adjusts them rather than the driver or graphics card.

[gnuyork]

I have the NEC PA271W with the spectraview II software. I think it's great and easy to use and calibrate. It allows for multiple calibrations at the drop of a menu for other uses, like broadcast, which comes in handy for when I am video editing.

[Frank Petronio]

I ended up getting the Spyder 3 with the 4.x software (great naming system) and it seems to run well. First calibration in mixed bright lighting gave me a profile with a horrid green cast but later I recalibrated in dim light and it looks really neutral.

[D. Bryant]

I ended up getting the Spyder 3 with the 4.x software (great naming system) and it seems to run well. First calibration in mixed bright lighting gave me a profile with a horrid green cast but later I recalibrated in dim light and it looks really neutral.

FWIW, the Spider 3 is on sale at Calumet.

[paulr]

What Brian said.

I have 2 NEC SpectraView monitors and the Spectraview software supports my XRITE DP94 colorimeter which I already owned. Calibrating and profiling my displays has never been easier.

Add my name to the list. I've had my new (used) NEC monitor with Spectraview for three days now and I'm completely spoiled. I love that I can create custom calibration targets for different purposes and switch between them with just a click.