>There is a hardware-software combination called Spyder3Pro ($169 list, >$130 street) which purports to be able to do this.
Color Eyes is better and cheaper, but not as cool looking. You probably do not need either one. The term "calibration" is a misnomer. Calibration is virtually impossible to achieve, a better goal is "standardization." >I'm a not very knowledgeable, low end snap shooter picture taker. >Still, I'd like to have my camera, scanner, monitor (iMac), and both >printers agree on what colors in photographs are supposed to look like. The more you learn about color the more amazed you will be that anything works at all. Color primaries: Monitors produce colored light by glowing (transimtting light), the transmissive primaries are Red, Green, and Blue (RGB). Prints produce colored light by reflecting some of the light that falls on the paper, the reflective primaries are Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow (CMY). Multiple different mixes of RGB and CMY will produce colors that appear to be the same color. Finding a mix of CMY that corresponds to a particular mix of RGB is black magic and people who figured out how to do this made $billions. And I won't even get into the color K. Metamers: Different mixes of primary colors produce colors that appear to be the same color under a particular set of viewing conditions. I have a card with two side by side color chips. Viewed under D50 light they both look the same color. Viewed under different lighting conditions the two chips do not look the same. Color temperature: D50 (5000 K degrees) is a standard for viewing color -- outdoors at noon on a sunny day is D50. Of course that will vary throughout the day, shifting toward red at sunrise and sunset and shifting toward blue if your window faces north. You may find light temperature information lightbulb boxes -- it probably will not be close to D50. Also consider that the color of your shirt will alter the color of the light as it bounces off your shirt and onto your monitor or print. Did I mention what happens when you adjust your monotor's brightness and contrast? Gamut: The range of colors a particular technology can produce. Computer monitors can produce colors that inks on paper cannot and vice versa. The differences can be major. Different types of monitors and different ways of printing have different gamuts. That's why "photo" ink-jet printers may use 7 different inks (light and dark primaries). LCD monitors may have really funky color gamuts. There is a lot more that is funky about color and all this can drive you crazy. Step 1 is to get control of all your environmental factors and keep them constant. Step 2 is to run on screen calibration, like the excellent one in Apple's Monitors preference panel. Step 3 is to always start every shoot with a shot of a color target (buy one from Kodak or Mcbeth) so you can line them up on screen or on prints. But if you are just a "snap shooter" I doubt you will do any of this. Why not just count your lucky stars and be happy that everyone's face is not green. ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
