Hi all,

I'm hopefully getting my new monitor this week - went for the HP w2408h.  I'm also going to get one of the calibration devices - possibly a spyder.

Has anyone got a recommendation for these things or is it possible to hire them from places like calumet?  How often do you need to use them - is it everytime you edit a picture or simply twice a year to make sure the monitor is properly calibrated?

Any tips gratefully received

Mike

i use a pantone huey which is quite cheap and fine for keping the monitor calibrated. i usually calibrate my monitor once a week and leave the huey permanently attached as it responds to changes in room lighting etc. In time i hope to get something like the color munki which gives you far more precise control from screen to printer. here is a link to it.

http://xritephoto.com/html/colormunkisplash.htm

I have used a Greg McBeth Eye One Display for about two years now and find it easy to use and gives perfect results every time, I calibrate my LCD 21" monitor every four weeks when reminded by the Eye One.  I previously owned a Spyder it was just OK and fiddly to work with then I dropped it and it did not work any more but the new model may be an inprovement.  I don't know about the Color munki except that there have been some very mixed reports about it on some forums.

            &nb sp;                    Colin 

I personally think that the Eye One Display 2 is the way to go and it really isn't that expensive, when you consider the amount of money that people spend on cameras, lenses and other accesories only to throw it all away by not working in a colour managed workflow. I've been using a Monaco Optix XR for a few years now (it was essentially the precurser to the Eye One Display 2 and is now obsolete) and have no complaints with it and it's made a huge difference to my work.

The one thing to keep in mind is that pretty much all monitors have their brightness set far to high when you first plug them in and use them and this can really screw things up for you big time.

- Thorsten.

Thanks everyone

Just bought the Eye One Display off E-bay.  Thanks for all your help and tips.  very much appreciated.

Mike