Monitor Hardware Calibration

[mattyg1027]

Hey all, I have been getting into photography for the past 3 years, and bought a new MacBook Pro with CS5 a year or so ago. I'm gradually getting the hang of the CS5 workflow and editing features, but getting extremely frustrated when I go to print photos because they're coming out way darker than on my screen. I guess the Mac display is adding some brightness, because they even look slightly dark when viewing on a PC (though not as dark as in print). I tried compensating for this by editing with the monitor brightness turned down a bit but I'm still not getting good results.

My question: Is it worth buying a hardware calibration solution for a laptop, or should I be investing in a standalone LCD monitor for doing photo editing? I guess another way to state that would be, will I ever be able to get a MacBook Pro screen to look like my prints, or is that a futile endeavor?

Thanks!

[neuroanatomist]

I use an X-Rite i1 Display 2 to calibrate my17" MacBook Pro and 13" MacBook Air displays - I do find it helpful.

[mattyg1027]

Thanks for your input... I got real excited when I saw B&H is selling it for $109, but I also see on Amazon one of the reviews says it isn't supported on OS X Lion. Are you running Lion? I haven't upgraded yet but imagine that at some point in the not-too-distant future I'll be forced to. Is it really over 10 years old (Amazon says first sold in Oct 2001)? It's funny because I work (indirectly) with an X-Rite system at work all the time, completely unrelated to photography, never knew they were in the photo space, but I guess it makes sense...

I see that DataColor just released the new line of Spyder4's... maybe I'll grab one of those. I guess I'll go with the Pro in case I ever get a 2nd monitor.

Here's a random question: can I use one of these things to get my plasma TV properly calibrated? I've got a 1-2 yr old TV that I'm still watching with the out-of-the-box settings... never noticed enough of an issue to research calibrating it.

[neuroanatomist]

I got real excited when I saw B&H is selling it for $109, but I also see on Amazon one of the reviews says it isn't supported on OS X Lion. Are you running Lion?

Snow Leopard on my 17" MBP (part laziness, part because I still use some Rosetta-dependent software; note that the current EOS Utility doesn't run under Lion, although a much older version does). Lion on my 13" MBA. I use the i1 Display 2 to calibrate both - X-rite released a special version of their newer software (i1 Profiler, which replaces i1 Match) for Lion users with i1 Display 2: http://www.xrite.com/download/i1D2Lion.

[Dave Throgmartin]

n/t