I'm looking for a monitor calibration system to help me improve my printed images. I've researched the Pantone huey, Spyder 3 Elite and Xrite Eye-One. Any recommendations or feedback from the group would be appreciated.

Yes. An X-Rite Eye One Pro. Perhaps I'm reading too much into your question?

I assume you want colors on your monitor to more closely match something else - reality itself, a printer, a camera, a scanner, a TV, or a projector.

I hope you don't mind a minor correction in terminology, but it's necessary to speak intelligently about this subject. Most people, including "experts," misuse the term "calibration." To calibrate a monitor, you need to set it to some predetermined condition. That means letting it warm up a certain amount of time: 5 minutes for an LCD ; 30 minutes for a CRT. It also means choosing a brightness level (and writing it down or remembering it), a gamma (2.2), a whitepoint, a blackpoint, a color temperature (usually 5500˚K or higher), etc. Whatever variables are in the menu. That's calibration, and you can do it with no equipment or software.

What you probably meant by "calibrate" was "profile."

If I'm not reading too much into your question, I assume you want to profile other input and output devices to obtain better matching color. If you want to profile other devices, then a Pantone Huey or Spyder 3 CANNOT help you, since they can only profile emissive devices (like LCD's or CRT's). They cannot profile a printer or camera. Moreover, they don't profile anything very well, which is why they cost so little. They're 3-band colorimeters. They're useful if you just want a better looking monitor, but they provide no room for growth - they have a VERY narrow scope of application.

An Eye One Pro can profile many common input and output devices, within limits. It is a spectrophotometer, and it measures color in 15 bands across the visible spectrum. Therefore, it should be able to do a better job than a colorimeter. You'll find it is compatible with more software, but it also costs more. However, one MGD / NAPP member got a really good deal from Adray's last Fall - $800 for a really NICE kit. It is also more complex to understand and use than a Huey, but profiling a monitor is the easiest of all devices to profile. TV's and projectors are easy. Printers and scanners are more difficult. Cameras are really difficult. X-Rite support is pretty good. Eye One Pro software can be a little bit confusing, but phone support can walk you through the process.

Thanks, Chuck. I really appreciate you taking the time to educate me on this subject. My problem is that my printed photos don't look like what I see on my monitor. I have a iMac G5 and an Epson R340 printer. I shoot with a Nikon D80 camera. I use Epson paper and use the available profiles.

See if Mike Palmer or Kevin Dolan (Industrial Sales Mgr.) will give you a deal similar to the NAPP $800 deal.

I rather doubt you can beat that price - even in New York.

See Calvin - there is a role for brick and mortar photo stores. Support Adrays. Incidentally, on Saturday, April 19, Adray's will support a Canon event, with new PRO printers and some camera sales and a 40D demo.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Chuck M,

wow, good info and just saved me some cash.

thanks,

jeff