Anybody got a spyder pro Monitor calibration tool?

[David Rogers]

From what I remember (will be corrected if I’m wrong)…

It compares what are on-screen colours to an RGB / CMYK preset colour & references that to what your printer spits out…tweaks each output via software.

If you don’t do printing…bugger-all use…just a nice toy.

Dave

[George Kern]

Spyder is a nice tool but it only does monitor calibration. Consider this though; if you have a scanner/copier, digital camera, proofing printer, large format/offset printer what good does only calibrating the monitor do you? your other input devices are still off therefore your output will be off as well, regardless of what you are seeing on the screen.

[Dave Harrison]

George that is very true but it helps to start off with a calibrated monitor !

Fred how much artwork do you actually produce in house ! If you are creating a lot of artwork from scratch then it is a very useful tool. Even more important if you buy in your prints, as what might be a nice lemon yellow on-screen could come back from print as a lime green ! ! ( ask me how I know 😀 )

[Jerry Bonham]

Unfortunately there is no standard such as ISO9000 for color. We only have the ICC who have laid down the specifications however the implementation is purely on a voluntary basis. Color is one of my favourite subjects.
The correct answer is “how important is color to you?.
However color is very easy to understand.
Just think of ICC profiles as a way to make the color of your original artwork scanned onto your computer match on the screen and match when you print it on your new “U Beaut” wide format printer.

Well that is the theory. Unfortunately in practice it rarely works unless you have the patience of Job.

To use your Spyder Pro Monitor correctly a number of things must happen.
1. A color monitor which is worth calibrating. (if it can display at least a min of 1680 x 1050 pixels in 32 bit color this is a starting point)
2. The time and patience to do it
3. All input devices (such as a scanner) support ICC Version 4 profiles.
4. All output devices such a printers (and your monitor is strictly an output device) support ICC version 4 Profiles
5. Willing to cope with the vagaries of RGB versus CMYK. (my 2 cents worth is that everything to do with color and wide format printers HAS to be RGB not CMYK. CMYK should only used for offset printing – and nothing else and I can certainly give enough evidence to prove this assertion, however the problem is that RGB in implementation is more complex than CMYK)
6. And design software which supports all of the above and complies correctly with ICC Version 4 ICC profiling & CMS support.
7. And output software – your RIP – which also complies with ICC Version 4 Profiles

Well the only design software in the world (besides our beta SignBlazerX7 ) that I have seen that complies with 6 above is Adobe PhotoShop CS2. Not even Illustrator CS2 does. If anyone wants to challenge this I will show how to prove it yourself. Certainly none of the sign software I have been able to test personally. Certainly not Corel 12.

So until we see complete software compliance as a norm then you are I am afraid wasting your time. However if all the 7 conditions above are met then YOU are NOT wasting your time.

Some of the more famous RIPs certainly do comply totally with the ICC version 4 profiling. However not the rubbish given away with a lot of the popular wide format printers.

So the missing link is the design software.

I would recommend doing it if you have a Spyder Profiler.
If you are serious about color – yes I would do it and go and buy one..
The rest will catch up this year or next.

[Fred McLean]

Definately need to get my digital head on (?)
Thanks for everybody’s inputs it’s something else to stick in the pot!