Spyder2Express vs. Pantone Huey MEU101

[moldovamark]

Hey Folks,


I'm looking for an affordable device to calibrate the monitor on my iMac. Does anybody have any experience with either the Spyder2Express or the Pantone Huey MEU101? What are the relative merits of each? Any compatibility issues with the various Mac OSs?


Thanks,


Mark

[Madison]

Is it one of the older models or an iMac wit polarising contrast enhancing glass front panel?


If it is the latter, these devices measure the color space of your LCD and cannot take into account the fact that there is polarising glass in between the lcd and the measuring device and results will be bad if not unusable.


It is THE main reason the photo and graphics industry became very angry with apple as of late: first they out that glass in the iMac line, essentially rulingout hardware calibration for the mchines and thus ruling out pros who were now forced to buy pro machines. The same thing goes for laptops with glass screens (the new ones): the glass has certain color and contract enhancing qualities that bend the light from the lcd and the measuring devices will get screwed up.





If it's an older model iMac without glass in front of it: Pantone is a lot cheaper. Both work fine. Both need regular recalibration (as monitor colors degrade and degrade over time) and both are just step one in establishing a good and working color managed workflow. You will also need printer profiles of your printer(s) and/or external reproduction facilities such as labs, you will also need to make sure program specific settings are correct, and so on.





I use Pantone Huey Pro (because I used to be a designer) and it worked wonders on my laptop. But please remember: calibrating your monitor colors with an external colorimeter is a good start, but not the answer to, full color managed workflow. You need to do more than that.

[moldovamark]

So is there no way to calibrate iMacs with the polarising glass? (Because that's definitely what I have.)


But the iMac is technically my wife's computer. I have a MacBook with a regular LCD screen that I can use for a my photo work. And if I needed to, I might be able to buy an "old" Mac LCD display from my employer.

[Madison]

I know there is one manufacturer who recently made something that claims to calibrate the iMac as well, but reviews were mixed. Thing is: your display profile will adjust what your LCD does, thinking there is no glass in between. The glass itself gives greates contract and (much) more saturation. Your display image will produce images that are flatter than they should be. AND the way the light bends into the colorimeter (so to speak) because of the glass causes it to meter poor values.


I read a ton of problems of people with iMacs who had pink or green casts after calibrating, when their laptops etc. were calibrated properly. It is one of the reasons I wil not upgrade my current system.





Graphic designers and photographers have been upset since Apple introduced it. They claim it was Apple's way of forcing an industry to not buy iMacs and buy Mac Pro systems instead. Apple says customers (regular consumers) s who they target with the iMac line and they love the contrast enhanced more saturated look.





I can't remember which manufacturer made the product but I *will* get back to you.

[Madison]

I found this forum (which gets very technical but does confirm that people are unable to generate decent profiles for their monitors).


http://www.luminous-landscape.com/fo...hp/t32278.html



And they mention this website that claims iMac displays can be calibrated too:


http://www.integrated-color.com/cedpro/coloreyesdisplay.html





I have no experience with it so maybe somebody else can elaborate. They do advertise with 'iMacs Too!' on the splash page even. Who knows? It may work (technically speaking I wonder why because the glass is polarizing AND reflective so the meter *will* mess up. Best to download a trial and barrow one of the compatible meters and try before you buy.