Datacolor Spyder Elite 3 Colour Calibration Device
£150.00
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Every photographer would like consistent colour tones between their computer and their printer, so what you see is what you get. This means you need a colour calibration device so, how good is the Datacolor Spyder 3 Elite?
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Colour calibration devices make light work of colour management, ICC profiles, and screen calibration as they help ensure colours are represented as standard values between different displays and printers. This means you can get consistent colour tones between all your imaging units.
The Spyder 3 Elite is a display calibration tool for pro photographers and studios, designed to calibrate a variety of displays such as CRT and LCD monitors, laptop screens, and front-facing projectors.
Intelligent Ambient Light Control measures room light levels so you can get a more accurate calibration of the screen, and the included software allows you to set the white point, gamma, and white and black luminance values, so colours can be optimised to suit your own requirements.
The quick calibration process takes 5mins for the first run, then 2.5mins to recalibrate every month. Once calibrated, you can view your display before and after calibration on a range of images, before you commit to saving and using the profile.
For professionals with multiple displays, or photographers supplying pics to external services, the Spyder 3 is a fast, accurate product, but for those with one printer and just a single display to worry about, the £150 cost may be better put towards a monitor upgrade.
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An easy to use piece of kit. The software make callibration very easy. Just make sure your monitor can handle manual adjustments since you might need to tweek the brightness a little.
(Written by: BenElliott)
15 August 2009 08:51
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What I like about the Elite version is the Studio-Match function which allows you to match the luminance of multiple displays used with one and the same computer. If you also would like to profile your printer, you should think about getting the display/printer-combo, called Spyder3Studio.
(Written by: Murat)
12 May 2009 09:40
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I actually use the Pro version - as this gives nearly all the features of the top version except the ability to calibrate a digital projector!
It is really easy to use and set up, and only needs to run every month in order to check your system is working fine. (although I have now run it for the last 3 months, I have not needed to re-calibrate my monitor at all in that time).
Highly recommended (and costs around £100) so if you do not need the projector version, then save some money and go for the Pro version.
once you've calibrated your monitor, it's well worth getting your printer profiled too if you intend on printing out your work.
I was dubious about getting the Spyder - that was until I calibrated my monitor and tried the before and after button!! Now, I'm so glad that I got it - well worth having bit of kit.
(Written by: Draig37)
14 April 2009 11:46