Happy New Year, All! I still haven't purchased a calibration tool for my display. So, I've been looking more carefully at different options, and reading information about different models. (We discussed various calibration tools on the list back in August: http://pdml.net/pipermail/pdml_pdml.net/2011-August/285721.html )
First, I have a question: If somebody has some experience of calibrating computers with projectors, I'd be curious to hear about your experience (are all projectors calibratable? what are the typical problems?). Also, if someone owns a "X-Rite ColorMunki Display" or "i1 Display Pro", I wonder if the other [of the two] software (it can be downloaded from X-Rite site [under Support -> Downloads]) would work across the units. Below is some information about differences between different systems that I accumulated. I hope it might be useful to some people on the list, - as I remember several people responded that they are also interested in a calibrator. Also, - I summarize my thoughts on what to choose. Note that I only looked at the inexpensive versions (e.g. mostly within $100-300 range), and didn't look at an order of magnitude higher prices devices such as BasICColor DISCUS. Summary of findings: ------------------------ Here is what I've figured out. 0) Vocabulary: ------------- i1 == eye-one. "X-Rite i1 Pro" is not the same as "X-Rite i1 Display Pro" The former is about twice as expensive, and it is a spectrophotometer, as opposed to the latter one, which is a colorimeter (see below). "i1 Display Pro" == "i1 Display 3" 1) Colorimeters vs. spectrophotometers. --------------------------------------- First, all the devices are divided in 2 types: colorimeters and spectrophotometers. A spectrophotometer analyses a large potion of the spectrum (has an internal prism or other spectral solution), while a colorimeter measures the overall intensity for a particular color (it has filters, and hence is sensitive to a particular narrow portion of the spectrum). If I understood correctly, those calibrators that are using colorimeters, have several of them, each for a separate color (e.g. Spyder 3 uses 7 detectors). This allows to match those particular colors to some standard profile, as opposed to matching a full(?) visible spectrum with the spectrophotometers. E.g. i1 Display 2, and i1 Display Pro are colorimeters and i1Pro aka i1XTreme (I suspect it is obsolete) is a spectrophotometer. What I didn't understand in this respect is the phrase said in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIf3P12lky8 - that in one case you have to profile, and in the other - not.. While I some what guess what they mean, but I am not sure what practical differences that results in. By the way, the i1Pro device shown there is not the same as "i1 Display Pro" that is sold for $249 on Amazon. 2. Recent prices that went down: ------------------------------- Second, X-rite seems to have discontinued i1 Display 2, which is now available at B&H and Adorama for $109.95. Prices for Spyder3 also seem to be down (and additional MIR is available) at B&H, Amazon, Adorama: Spyder3 Pro - $119.95 (-$20 MIR) Spyder3 Elite - $179.95 ( -$30 MIR) Spyder3 is gone (and "deactivated") from Newegg. I wonder if this combined with the sale prices means that this product is also at the end of the cycle. Other prices: X-Rite ColorMunki Display @B&H: $169 X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution @B&H: $449 3. Ambient light measurements ----------------------------- Third, Spyder3, i1 Display and ColorMunki, - all seem to be able to measure ambient light, but it seems to me that Spyder3 does the least of the three (I forgot in what respect). "i1 Display has ambient light measurements for color and luminance, the ColorMunki only does Luminance." (according to this Amazon review: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2IFD7WNK5IKQ/ ) 4. 3rd party software manufacturers. ------------------------------------ Forth, a few other manufacturers (NEC, Eizo, ...) use i1 Display 2 with their own software. The one that is widely discussed is SpectraView II from NEC, which is bundled with a rebadged i1 Display 2. I am not sure if it is modified, or exactly the same, - but for some reason it is sold, e.g. at B&H, for higher price than the original i1 Display 2 -- just the device itself ($198.95): http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/827959-REG/NEC_MDSVSENSOR3_SpectraSensor_Pro_Color_Calibration.html 5. LUTs, Spectraview, etc. --------------------------- Fifth, some software (e.g. SpectraView II) can work directly with the monitor's LUT (LookUp Table). And some monitor's LUT can be 10 or 12 bit, as opposed to Windows/video card based 8-bit LUT. (I don't quite understand why video card LUT is limited by 8-bit, and how it works exactly, but that's what I read.) But I am not quite sure how it (LUT) works in this context, and whether many monitors can benefit from this difference. E.g. NEC's monitors (all or not, - I don't know) that have that capability (in concert with SpectraView II). Also, presumably, SpectraView II can only work with NEC monitors, but with different colorimeters (Spyder3, i1 Display 2). The link to the full list no longer works: http://www.necdisplay.com/supportcenter/monitors/spectraview2/compatibility/#SpectraView_System_Requirements Some people have reported that with some colorimeters it might not be able the entire gamut (beyond RGB), and that some newer videocards might not be supported by this software. 6. Spyder3 vs i1 (aka Eye-One) ----------------------------- Dry Creek Photo review says that i1 provides good profiles, but not as good as those of some competitors. It is not clear - which competitors: 10x-priced Discus or Spyder3 [I suspect, the former]. Spyder3 is praised as being very good for wide-gamut displays, but criticized for unit-to-unit inconsistencies in performance. The same review makes an interesting claim that "ColorMunki Display" "shares identical hardware and has the same measurement accuracy as the i1 Display". It is slower than Discus, and ships with "a feature-limited software package". i1 Display 2 is also criticized for high levels of variation (unit-to-unit, and run-to-run for the same color, for one unit). But it "can be calibrated using a reference spectroradiometer". "The new i1Display Pro and ColorMunki Display are far and away superior options." ColorMunki Photo (more expensive, spectrophotometer) is summarized as a "poor performer" in the same review. According to the link [2] below, - Spyder3 is not good for CRTs (a change from Spyder2). 7. Software comparisons and related ----------------------------------- Finally, - software. Some people complained about software for Spyder 3, mostly in regards to compatibilities with different versions of Windows and/or different monitors. But now I think those complaints might not be representative. I didn't see much of complains about i1's software, and I haven't seen much less written about Color Munki's software. I didn't look into 3rd party calibration software, such as CalMAN and Integrated Color (it's much more expensive). Also, I am not talking about the lowest version in each lineup, typically called "basic", "LT", etc.) There is some open source software, e.g. http://www.argyllcms.com/ that might be of interest to Linuxoids (Larry, - that's for you), but I didn't investigate which devices it supports. Reportedly, X-rite announced that ColorMunki will not be supported by 3rd party software. But Argyll appears to be able to support it (and their webpage claims that some other 3rd party packages might be able as well). My own thoughts --------------- So, I have been thinking if i1 Display 2 is worth buying, or it would be better to pay ~twice as much and buy i1 Pro. While the display calibration (for prints preparation) is the main reason for me to purchase a color calibration system, I would be happy to calibrate my laptop with the projectors that I am occasionally using for the presentations. In the process of writing this summary (it helped me to organize my own thoughts, and also to discover that some prices are lower then I thought they were), I am now leaning toward X-Rite ColorMunki ($141 @ Amazon). Presumably, it works with projectors as well. Also, it's nice that an open-source package supports it. I would still consider i1 Display Pro. Appendix: --------- Some webpages (reviews) that might be useful. I wish I found the first two much earlier. - They summarize a lot of what I wrote here. 1. Review of calibration hardware: http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/Calibration/MonitorCalibrationHardware.html 2. List of various devices with brief description of them, and what is supported by the open-source Argyll: http://www.argyllcms.com/doc/instruments.html 3. Spyder3 Elite http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/reviews/profiling/spyder3elite.html 4. Dual-monitor calibration: http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/dual_monitor_calibration.html 5. A helpful explanation of the calibration process for Color Munki: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/newsLetter/Munki-ingAround.jsp <rant> I am so much sick of online resellers playing the games when the price shown is one, and you need to click on something or add the item to the cart to see the price. All three, Amazon, B&H, and Adorama are guilty of this. In this case In my current quest, B&H is the biggest offender here with Spyder3 listings ("Price: $209.99 " in bold red, and then "Click to see current price" in a smaller font under it) </rant> Your thoughts, comments and corrections are welcome. I will probably order one soon. Igor -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
