Who calibrates their screen

Thanks Stefan
I can read the words but do not know what they mean. I think I’ll leave it to the expert

So which is the final recommendation?

calibrate or not?

I have got a laptop, is worth spending money on a Spyder or Huey software or better to try different labs until find the one that suits our colour?

Last week I started reading this website
and tried to calibrate the gamma, but got stuck in the middle of point 5

On the following website you can find a nice explanation how the different panels work and how they differ.

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/panel_technologies.htm

This tool looks very interesting.

It only works to get the blackpoint, whitepoint and gray values in order. It doesn't correct for errors in colour.

My display for example has it's biggest problem in the blue area.
This is where real profiling with a colorimeter or spectrometer comes into play.
Triggered by Matt's post about using argyllcms I downloaded it and the corresponding GUI (dispcalgui) and a profiling job is running at this moment. It takes a very long time compared to the software that came with my Eye-one display 2 but it uses a lot more different colout patches to check the display so it will probably iron out more of the errors the display has.

I used the maximum number of patches and the highest quality profile and at this moment it is testing using 3012 patches after profiling with a huge amount of patches as well

Ah right! it looks a little bit complicated for me!

I modified the contrast,brightness and gamma (50 -8 1,5 and sRGB) to be able to see all tones of that page, but after a while your eyes start to suffer!
Is that normal?

Thank you for the link Remco.

Max, I've used quickgamma as well. it worked for me though.
You should get your colours 80% correct, with huey and spider that would be 98%
If they weren't that expensive I would get one but don't have the money...

With point five, you should hardly if not any colour difference, between the lines and the blank colour running beside the lines.
Those lines are very fine and if you look past them they appear to be one colour and not lines, if you understand what I mean ^^;
the colour of those combined lines should be the same as the blank colour beside it.

I don't know what you meant hat your eyes hurt... probable you always had your screen to bright. Most TFT screen are to bright, maybe even all the screens.
My is set on a brightness of 38 and contrast 100, but every screen is different and I'm using a CRT.
If I look at this one link
I can see all shades and if that is the case with yours then you have it alright.
With quickgamma you have two contrast lines, the left one should just stop at the top and the left one should end in the middle.

Btw does this also count as calibration?

Of course calibrate, but also be aware that if the screen is not good for work with colour it may not make any significant improvements (honestly it may not be possible to calibrate a poor monitor/panel).
Worth to consider if it is not a good time to buy a good monitor for photos.

Calibrating LCDs is a bit other that CRTs, here is a tool a like (of course it is still just calibrating "on eye").
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

Yes, and my printer, using Spyder Pro and Spyder3Print from Datacolor - essential, IMHO, if you want to be able to edit color photos on-screen, and get a print that looks like the screen image.

@stefan
TFT screens are a lot brighter then CRT's.

My TFT is at 15,6% brightness and 80% contrast.
When used at 100% brightness your eyes burn out
I adjust the brightness to 120 cd/m2 (120 nit)

The screen I have has a maximum brightness of 470 cd/m2. In comparison, my laptop which is specially designed for outside use has a 1000 cd/m2 brightness screen (to be able to use it in sunlight)

For a laptop, definitely calibrate. From my experience, laptop screens seem to be less accurate than a desktop screen. My own laptop was miles out "straight from the box". I use a Huey Pro which works well as it allows me to calibrate both the laptop screen and the second desktop screen I have plugged into the lappy at the same time. Don't know of any other calibrators in this price bracket that allow dual screen calibration.

If you're running a dual screen setup, it makes a lot of difference to have both screens the same.

Duncan

I calibrate both my laptop and my 20.1" HP SIPS monitor using an EyeOne Display 2 link. Really easy to use with reminders at your choice of intervals.

I have my printers calibrated for the inks and papers I use by Fotospeed link and print via Photoshop CS2 from TIFF files.

I used to do everything by eye, but never had proper consistency. Since using the above, I get great, consistent results every time. One of the better investments I've made , I wouldn't dream of going back.