AuthorTopic: Screen Calibration Tools??  (Read 2877 times)

Offline Luke

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 90
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Screen Calibration Tools??

on: December 10, 2014, 08:02:26 pm
Anyone own or previously use a Datacolor spider screen calibration tool?
I can never seem to get my screen calibrated properly with those online tools.
Was wondering if anyone could tell me if the Spider 4 pro is worth the money?

Any other advice on screen calibration would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

Offline ptoing

  • 0101
  • ****
  • Posts: 3063
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • variegated quadrangle arranger
    • the_ptoing
    • http://pixeljoint.com/p/2191.htm
    • View Profile
    • Perpetually inactive website

Re: Screen Calibration Tools??

Reply #1 on: December 16, 2014, 05:51:08 pm
The question here is whether you NEED to calibrate your screen. If you do not do print work you do not need a super accurately calibrated screen, every screen will be a bit different anyway. So you are always only optimising for your screen and not necessarily for the end user who plays a game or uses an app with the art you made.

If you develop for handhelds and phones you should always check your art on those as well, and if possible calibrate to those.

But yeah, I think for screen work calibration is moot as long as there is nothing super off.
There are no ugly colours, only ugly combinations of colours.

Offline Ellian

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 245
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile
    • This is Ellian

Re: Screen Calibration Tools??

Reply #2 on: December 16, 2014, 06:21:46 pm
I'm gonna only half-agree with ptoing here;

Perfect screen calibration is indeed overkill most of the time (as was said, unless you're printing). However, from personal experience, you want to make sure your screen is "okay"; every screen will show things differently, but if yours is badly calibrated...
Let's say that with a good screen, your work will "on average" look better on other's.

Like, if your screen is too dark, you're likely to make brighter stuff, and end up with more people seeing it too bright.


Does that make sense? XD



Either way, make sure you buy a somewhat decent screen, and look up for websites for screen calibrating, usually that should be more than enough.
Buying a physical, hardware calibration probe thing is a waste of money.

Also, I've never used it myself, but I know some websites provide preset or calibrating softwares/drivers for the most popular screens, you might want to look into this!
Most screen come with far-from-perfect settings, and can easily be tweaked to give a much better image.

Offline ptoing

  • 0101
  • ****
  • Posts: 3063
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • variegated quadrangle arranger
    • the_ptoing
    • http://pixeljoint.com/p/2191.htm
    • View Profile
    • Perpetually inactive website

Re: Screen Calibration Tools??

Reply #3 on: December 16, 2014, 07:25:11 pm
Yeah, of course. I am not saying don't calibrate your screen at all. But in general you do not need hardware calibration tools unless you are doing print. There are some websites and programs you can get which let you calibrate your monitor as close to good as you can do without hardware. And that should be enough for most people.
There are no ugly colours, only ugly combinations of colours.

Offline Cyangmou

  • 0011
  • **
  • Posts: 929
  • Karma: +3/-0
    • cyangmou
    • http://pixeljoint.com/p/32234.htm
    • cyangmou
    • View Profile
    • Pixwerk Homepage

Re: Screen Calibration Tools??

Reply #4 on: December 16, 2014, 07:50:57 pm
What Ptoing said.

aside from that:

this one doesn't cost anything but worked nicely for me.
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

Aside from that I don't know what the cost factor of those tools are, but if you buy an IPS-Panel monitor like this one for example:
http://www.amazon.de/LG-23MB35PH-B-AEU-LED-Monitor-Reaktionszeit-anthrazit/dp/B00NGHE3KM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418759328&sr=8-1&keywords=lg+monitor+ips

Then you should barely have any problems with colors and contrasts.
"Because the beauty of the human body is that it hasn't a single muscle which doesn't serve its purpose; that there's not a line wasted; that every detail of it fits one idea, the idea of a man and the life of a man."

Dev-Art
Twitter

Offline Ellian

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 245
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile
    • This is Ellian

Re: Screen Calibration Tools??

Reply #5 on: December 16, 2014, 08:04:33 pm
Quote from: Cyangmou link=topic=17515.msg156835#msg156835
this one doesn't cost anything but worked nicely for me.
[url=http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/[/url]

That is exactly the website I used on every screen I own.  :)