Best Calibration Tool For Mac Book Pro

[SF Geek]

I was wondering if anyone here knows of the best calibration tool for a Mac Book Pro. I know different tools work better for different monitors.

 

[SF Geek]

No one here does anything like that? I understand that they are usually for CRT or higher grade LCD monitors, but no one here calibrates their laptop monitor or desktop?

 

[Liam Hall]

You can't properly calibrate a laptop screen, however I use a Spyder 2 Pro on all my screens including my 17 inch Mac Book. It gets the laptop in the ballpark but it's not critically accurate.

 

[Brandon Kraemer]

I use the CalMan with Eye One Pro software. It works very well on my 30" Apple LCD. With a PC laptop you can use other software and the same CalMan device and calibrate broadcast monitors.

Much above this type of unit, you go from spending $500 to $5000.

 

[Craig Swanson]

You can't properly calibrate a laptop screen, however I use a Spyder 2 Pro on all my screens including my 17 inch Mac Book. It gets the laptop in the ballpark but it's not critically accurate.

ditto

 

[Frank Weeks]

I use the CalMan with Eye One Pro software. It works very well on my 30" Apple LCD. With a PC laptop you can use other software and the same CalMan device and calibrate broadcast monitors.

Much above this type of unit, you go from spending $500 to $5000.

Would your system be effective for larger plasma displays. I just received a Panny 11 series monitor (TH50PF11UK). I'm looking for a reasonably priced way to keep it calibrated. Any suggestions?

Thanks
Frank

 

[Simon Blackledge]

Frank...
4 ya telly
http://spyder.datacolor.com/product-ht-s3tv.php

 

[M Most]

Would your system be effective for larger plasma displays. I just received a Panny 11 series monitor (TH50PF11UK). I'm looking for a reasonably priced way to keep it calibrated. Any suggestions?

If you're in a professional environment, your monitor is everything. If you want it to be as accurate as possible, you need to do a little work to accomplish that. "Simple" and "cheap" are not the best ways to go about it. The Spyder3TV package is simple and cheap, but it won't offer you assistance in terms of setting up red, green, and blue in both blacks and whites - only overall tint and saturation. In other words, it's fine if you assume that your factory settings are perfect and that the gamma curve is correct. But the chances of that being the case are very slim. If you're setting up your home TV, it's good. But if you want to do an accurate calibration, you have to do what professionals do, which is to go through it thoroughly and adjust what needs to be adjusted. CalMan software is a good way to do this. You can use it with DVD or BluRay pattern disks, or with patterns generated from your computer. It will guide you through the deeper settings needed to achieve proper calibration without actually getting into the maintenance menus. The Series 11 has direct menu access to most of the controls you'll need. But as I said, if you want to be professional about this, bite the bullet and spend a couple of hours (and a couple of bucks) to do it right. That goes for the probe you use as well.

 

[J. Eric Camp]

My computer screens are cal'ed via the Eyeone from Greytag.

 

[John Tissavary]

Frank - to calibrate a Plasma screen you need to use a non-contact probe for calibration, i.e. one that is set away from the screen at least several inches (generally used for calibrating projectors).

Plasma gas is, by nature, unstable, and will not display a steady color, but rather 'swirls' of color which when standing far enough away appear stable. If you read with a contact probe like eye-one Display 2 or Spyder you'll get continually varying readings from the same 'pixels', making an accurate profile impossible.

The cheapest good non-contact probe I know if is the eye-one Hubble, which costs @ $5000.00


regards,

John T.

 

[Frank Weeks]

The cheapest good non-contact probe I know if is the eye-one Hubble, which costs @ $5000.00

Ouch!

Thanks for contributing everyone. Good thread.