Datacolor User to User Support Group.

A couple of months ago I got Spyder2Express to profile my monitor; I
don't print at home.  I thought I was following directions when the
instructions said to have set the monitor at full brightness and
contrast.  The resulting prints (from a printer I have a profile for)
were very dark compared to the monitor.

Obviously there seems to be a need for brightness and contrast
adjustment but I don't know where or when to make it.  If I set
brightness and contrast to the way I like it, isn't that completely
subjective which defeats the purpose of profiling?  There seems to be
no mechanism in Spyder to control the monitor or to tell me what
brightness and contrast to set.

I've gone back to eyeballing with charts, etc. but though the results
are much better than with my Spyder, I still have the feeling that I
am missing some extremely basic information and that my prints are
still suffering.

I've asked this question in several photography color management
forums, admitting to complete ignorance and pleading for an answer in
the most basic language, preferably in words of two syllables or less,
and have only received replies with cryptic mathematical notations
regarding candles and measurements that my monitor does not provide;
or that ignore my question completely, saying that Spyder works great
for them.

So... could someone enlighten me about at what stage of profiling I
should alter monitor brightness and contrast to match my print and how
that is achieved to get an objective rather than subjective profile?

Thank you very much.

Hi,

 

Can you tell me if you are using a LCD monitor or CRT monitor. In case of
LCD monitor, reset it to fatory default and then do not touch the brightness
and contrast controls. Let the Spyder2express do its thing.

 

If you are using a CRT monitor, follow the step below.

 

1.	Choose CRT as the type of monitor
2.	Choose the brightness and contrast control boxes.
3.	Adjust brightness and contrast as mentioned in previous mail

 

Regards,

 

Eesh Dewan

-----Original Message-----
From: Stilson Snow [mailto:stilson@...] 
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2007 12:01 PM
To: 'Bhushan Fotografiks'
Subject: RE: [colorvision_group] Embarrassing newbie question

 

Eesh - Thank you for your reply; I appreciate it.  To further display my
ignorance, I don't know where in the Spyder2Pro Express calibration process
I should invoke your instructions.  In my tries at calibration, I don't
remember seeing a screen with either 4 black patches or 4 white patches.  If
there is a pre-calibration thing I could do and it requires some additional
software, please let me know.  If it matters, I am running Nvidia 6100
onboard video with a Viewsonic Optiquest 20wb monitor.

 

In fact I just got the new monitor and tried to profile it after my initial
message.  Unfortunately I got a weird error:  "Error 122 (CMSS Support
cpp189)  The data area passed to a system call is too small."   I have no
idea what that means, except that my long quest for a calibrated monitor is
still ongoing and seemingly no nearer to completion.

 

Thanks, again,

Stilson

When describing your problems with prints not matching your monitor, 
you do not mention what software you are using to manipulate your 
images and whether or not you are "soft proofing" the images using it 
against the printer profile.  I have two printers with totally 
different characteristics and have to modify the images for each one 
to get a good print.  I use Photoshop CS3 and I use the soft proof 
feature to see how the print will look on the specific printer and 
then make adjustments to brigthness, contrast, color balance, etc. to 
get the best image possible.

Since someone else is doing the printing, I am assuming they are not 
double color managing the image which, classically, produces darker, 
color shifted images.  This would occur with software like Photoshop 
where you let PS and the printer both apply color management to the 
image - one or the other, but not both.

In short, there are multiple points in the image to print process 
where things can go wrong so it would help if you could describe the 
full process you are using.

Thanks,
Rollin