Datacolor or X-rite – Consistency in true calibration .

Dear members ,

New to this forum and photography but gradually realizing the importance of calibrating your displays.

Would love to invest in future for Pro displays like Dell, Nec or Eizo for best calibration results but right now I am planning for a separate pro - calibrating device for my 15 ‘ inch MBP model which is prior to Retina display .


According to what I have researched on Web the 2 best options available in market used by professionals are


· Datacolor Spyder 4 elite ( 200 $ )
· X-rite i1 Display Pro ( 249 $ )



I am keen to know the performance, ease to use and primarily the degree of accuracy of true calibration for display only .

Any other brand recommendation other than these ?
And whether combining the Color eyes display pro software by ‘ Integrated color corporation’ produces finest results .


Kindly share your views so that I can choose wisely .

Regards

Saurabh Singh

Saurabh, The best option for calibration would be to use either the spyder or X-rite puck with the color eyes software but to be honest its over kill on a laptop while the MBP can be calibrated no laptop in my opinion has a good enough screen for critical processing and you would be better served getting a new monitor first then decide on a calibration package if it does not come with one.

I use the Spyder 4, the results are good. The software is easy to use and the adjustments are quick, Xrite i1 has good reviews too. Keep in mind the MBP display color gamut is very limited. I agree with Don that it is not really up to the job for color critical applications especially if you plan to print. Here is a test that I did myself (2013 MB model). It can only produce 50% of Adobe RGB while my desktop screen has a wider gamut that Adobe RGB.

left HP ZR30W IPS panel, right Apple MacBook (2013)

Attachment 142534

If you are really opting for hardware calibration I would consider a good Desktop IPS panel.

Thanks Don lacy for the advice :S3:
Arash thanks for replying and taking out your time to explain the crucial aspects of calibration.

My MBP is actually worse after calibration. All the stuff you read about how these devices will calibrate a laptop (or iPad or iPhone!) is written by the people who are selling them.

Save your money and put it toward a real monitor. You can run it from the laptop if that's your only computer. A laptop screen is very different from a decent monitor. And not all monitors are created equal. Do research if you plan to buy one. There are only handful of good ones.

I just purchased the latest 27" iMac. Core i7 w/32g of memory. The Graphics card is a GeForce GTX 780m. Has anyone calibrated a built in monitor like this?

All the time I have a 27 ' iMac also. Your best option is the one i mention in my first post the Xrite software also does a good job if you don't want to go with color eyes software

Now that the Retina Macbook Pro has an IPS panel, does the conventional wisdom about bad colors on Macbooks still hold true? I'm about to get an XRite and will try calibrating it anyway to see what happens, but I'm wondering if others have had better luck with the IPS MBPs than the older TN-panel MBPs.