do you REALLY need to calibrate your monitor?

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In this video I attempt to color calibrate my monitor using the new datacolor SpyderX Elite.

[@canturgan]

I'm looking at your calibrated monitor on my uncalibrated monitor.

[@kevindiaz3459]

How meta

[@kevindiaz3459]

@GameingUboxings+ Aww, did I hurt your insecurity? Enjoy watching Fast and Furious vs the Fourth Reich.

[@gorkyd7912]

I watched it on the same Dell U2718Q monitor he calibrates. Now I need mine calibrated.

[@ScribblebytesWorldwide]

So the tree *would* make a sound.

[@pjdexter168]

haha.... that's what I never understood about calibrating a monitor, so great, it looks calibrated for you maybe, but then it's sent to someone else, or printed using a print shop who's monitor is calibrated differently. It seems totally pointless. I could see this being a thing 20 year ago when monitors looked like shit, but screens now are so bomb looking for almost everything, either Samsung or Apple, that calibrating seems redundant.

[@JZStudiosonline]

I'm genuinely impressed that you managed to brick a PC with monitor calibration. That's amazing. Even WinXP had monitor calibration profiles, all you had to do was reset it to the default.

[@SuperEddietv]

I miss XP. Free tools and all.....

[@germardoumediagroup1472]

@@SuperEddietv he has the right to mislead the masses ...some companies need to sell stuff..give the guy a break..we are just idiots using our brains

[@jameschandler4276]

You said that exact same thing about another KZbinr. Do you go around posting the same comment for a bunch of different people?

[@bramVE239]

@@jameschandler4276 hahaha so busted! :p

[@ventilate4267]

all versions of windows do pretty sure all you have to do is reinstall the graphics driver

[@benjhaisch]

I love that I was watching a monitor being calibrated but the music told me we were bringing the ring to Mordor.

[@michelwengler116]

If you print that image now it still might look different. You need to calibrate your printer aswell

[@polyrhythm_I]

And then your eyes. Just to be absolutely sure.

[@EvanSchneider]

Calibrate EVERYTHING

[@FStoppers]

Don’t forget to calibrate the calibrator

[@HesselFolkertsma]

Different profiles for different papers through different printers.

[@RexxReviews]

Fstoppers who calibrates the calibrator calibrator to know that it’s the correct calibration to be calibrating the calibrator

[@canturgan]

This is like watching ads for 4K TV's on your HD TV and being impressed at how good the image quality is.

[@davidjohansson1416]

Could be legit if bitrate is higher.Maybe commercial is higher bitrate than regular scheduled content. Or could be uncompressed 4.4.4?

[@andrejrockshox]

@@davidjohansson1416 no way. u need 300 MB/s (megaBYTES per second) for 1080p60 uncompressed video.

[@davidjohansson1416]

okey@@andrejrockshox

[@HaroldsMind]

Man I feel your pain from your first scenario! Color Management is a very daunting subject to fully understand. A few pro-tips: Your image will look the same in any application that is color managed and/or uses the ICC color profiles that gets embedded with your image (sRBG, Adobe RGB, P3, etc). Always embedded your color profiles to you images when exporting from Photoshop or other applications. If you have a high gamut monitor (ie: Adobe RGB, P3, etc) don’t use Windows default photo viewer, it is not color managed and won’t use the embedded ICC color profiles from your image (your image will look over saturated), you might not notice this if your monitor is not high gamut. As of now Chrome, Firefox, Safari all support ICC color profiles from images so they’ll look the same in those browsers. Some services (ie: LinkedIn, I believe Twitter as well) will strip out the ICC profile from your images, which is why you might see them differently when uploaded. Facebook coverts your ICC profile to their own version of sRGB, so for the most part they’ll hold up color wise to how they looked.

[@nobodynowhere5213]

Not many people understand color profiles, photography has become so easy that people simply have less and less skills.

[@piyush.ochani]

which image viewers should be used then?

[@nobodynowhere5213]

@@piyush.ochani bridge i think is free

[@WeirdFishStick]

What about about clients that barely can use computers? Should I offer photography and monitor calibration service too so they can see pictures as I intended?

[@HaroldsMind]

@@piyush.ochani I use Bridge. If you have an Adobe CC subscription or older versions of CS you can use that. If you have the Adobe Photography Plan, many other's use Lightroom. There are a few other alternative photo viewers outside Adobe as well that might work well. I haven't personally had any experience with them.

[@BeyondSlowMotion]

I swear by Spyder products. Changed my color correction life! Seriously It is one of the first things I do when I get a new screen.

[@polyrhythm_I]

Tfw you calibrate your monitor for the very first time and then realize all these endless hours of staring at your screen have been a complete lie.

[@joselara4392]

Do you recommend calibrating MacBook pros? I have a MacBook pro late 2015, and I hear mixed opinions on whether they need calibrating or not. Might be a good idea since it's a older now.

[@izoyt]

@@joselara4392 actually, macbooks are really bad in this. check some more detailed reviews, which are not that brand based. calibrating (and they are off from the factory) imacs is a mess.

[@SharpblueCreative]

Welcome to iso gamut calibrated monitor. I work in print and this is actually more important than people think.

[@gorkyd7912]

It's extremely important when the designer(s) or photographers will try to make their designs or photos look good to their eye. If you're a photographer stuck with an uncalibrated monitor, you can also just try to give the photos the best possible dynamic range and then match a known color via numbers. That's why they used to use those 18% gray cards (because good monitors were extremely rare). Take a picture of the card with a known 18% gray and then adjust the photo color so that card reads 18% gray by numbers, and the rest of the photo will be good. So you can get pretty far with just the numbers, and your calibrated monitor should not be causing you to clip any part of the spectrum. I work in print and I've seen some horror stories; i.e the designer works out of his basement with a yellow incandescent light and tries to visually match colors on his 8-year-old CRT monitor to the prints he's holding in his hand.

[@sorenmelchior]

I have been using color calibration software for computers (apple, and PC) since the late 90's with both Xrite, and Datacolor. Both company's have provided excellent quality over the years, and have improved the ease of doing a calibration quite a bit in that timeline. Your description of having different colors on different applications seems like something went very wrong with your calibration process. Because what calibration does is create an ICC profile that gets embedded in your OS (and if you know where to find it, you can delete it without having to do a reinstall). Working properly it should affect all applications on that computer you are working on. Another tip: If you want your prints to match what you see on your monitor, you also need to create printer profiles for your printer paper. And that's for each type of paper you are using on that printer. So say you have a gloss, semi gloss, and luster papers you are using on a printer, then you have to create 3 paper profiles (one for each paper). Now some paper company's offer some baseline paper profiles for printer models on their website. But if you want the most accurate print, you will want to create profiles yourself. I myself currently use Xrite Colormunki system as I can use it for both monitor calibration, and making printer profiles in one unit. So just remember that if your objective is printing, monitor calibration is only half the work.

[@John_Claybrook]

I can use this to calibrate my monitor. Then I download a printer profile for a certain paper from a printing company, say Luster. Everything should look right then if I load that printer profile into photoshop when looking at my photo?

[@RealHankShill]

Just because you calibrate your monitor does not mean that what you see is how it will print. It means that the monitor is showing you accurate colors to what it is told. Printing uses an entirely different color gamut, with a different process, on a variety of papers. Yes, if you want accurate prints you need to calibrate your monitor. That is just step one though. After that you need to soft proof your file with a profile that is set up for your specific printer, inks, AND SPECIFIC paper. Your computer will use this to show you a representation of what it could look like and will show you which colors you see on your monitor that CANNOT ever be printed on your combination of printer and paper. You can choose how to replace these colors. Point is, calibrating your monitor has little to do with how your print will look. Calibrating your monitor is to make sure that what you see, is what everyone else sees, particularly in color shift, as we all know what tiny color shifts do to the mood of your image.

[@philw8741]

What about when you send your images out to an online printing company. It really does mash my brain and takes all the fun out of creating images. 🤨

[@lilblingking1491]

@@philw8741 Some online companies have profiles on their website that you can download for soft proofing. It's super useful when they do! If you're in the US, try AdoramaPix

[@sethleigh8850]

It's actually frustrating because I'll work on my photos on my calibrated monitor, then send them to other people who of course are using uncalibrated monitors, so I still don't know that they'll see the photos the way I intended them to look. I had this experience recently where I brought a whole CD of images that looked great on a calibrated monitor, and the guy I gave the CD too was looking at them on this god-awful office computer monitor that just looked horrendous. Sigh.

[@RuiPalmeira]

@@sethleigh8850 they don't need to have their monitors calibrated. sure they're "experts" and should have it somewhat at a decent setting, but they won't change your pictures before printing. they'll get them, print them, notify you that the job is done and get on with their lives.

[@nordic5490]

Logan Cressler this video was about calibrating your monitor. There is a separate process to calibrate your printer - if you are one of the few who actually print.

[@MichaelKire]

My monitor, after a Spyder 5 pro calibration, has a slight green tint to it when i use chrome or other programs. In Lightroom it looks perfect. I've learned to live with it. Also, Spyder should have included those same test images on a piece of paper or cardboard for you to judge.

[@kamizerox]

Lol, I've been annoyed with that color shift on chrome and could not figure out whether it's green or magenta. Now that you mentioned it, I agree it's green. I used my sypder 5 pro on my girlfriend's mac and it seems her chrome still looks close to white.

[@Eric-lh6wp]

It would have been interesting to calibrate two identical screens. Each screen with a different Spyder callibrater from the same type and than compare them to see how consistent these callibrators are. I saw such comparison a few years ago. It showed a huge difference in callibration results of two same type Spyder callibrators. After seeing this comparison I stopped thinking of calibrating my screen...

[@jsabatier514]

I also use the Spyder calibrator and love it. I can't work on anything not calibrated heck, I even had my work monitor calibrated.

[@iggytse]

It’s important. We got footage back from a video company. Skin tones looked red. They had just gotten a new monitor and wasn’t calibrated.

[@kaostical]

Each individual monitor is different even if they are the same product. You need an IPS monitor since these are able to display the true color but keep in mind that over time color temp and brightness will change, so regular calibration is necessary (about every month depending on how important it is for you). When calibrating many screens to show the same color range, you are limited to colors which all the monitors are capable of showing so you will get the least vivid red, green blues.

[@Mionwang]

"i hope windows 10 has improved..." No it hasn't. The default windows photos app is still not color managed ie it ignores the color profiles embedded in the photo. I've switched to Adobe bridge as my primary photo viewer. Chrome, Facebook, Instagram etc are color managed but they convert images to srgb which is the internet standard. Also the internet standard white balance is 6500K so calibrating the display to 6500K is crucial.

[@humayunmrd]

Hi, I was thinking the same, because when I calibrate my computer with built-in Pantone sensor on my labtop, the lightroom , chrome and Capture One gets the calibrated profile but not the Windows Photos software and internet explorer. I am going to try Adobe Bridge as well, but just wondering how did it work for this guy? did his colour calibrator did some thing special with Windows software colours?

[@tayl0124]

@@humayunmrd my guess is that he ignored those problems because it was a sponsored video, and isn't the calibrators fault.

"I can't believe technology has improved in the last 10 years"

[@diogopedro1991]

That's my university with 15 years old software and they still think technogoly didn't improve.

[@tonan8888]

You know, when you change or remove words from a quote, it's not a quote anymore. That's not what he said. "I can't believe it, it actually worked! Technology..."

[@MrTiger0002]

It's not just for photo and printing. Watching youtube or any video is much more enjoyable when calibrated. The older monitors benefit greatly from calibration because it is impossible to manually set RGB to ideal setting because the blue are the first to fade. The calibration gives you many years of life for any monitor unless it is really broken. The basic monitor color calibration priced at $100 range is a great starting point for everyone... Datacolor or x-rite.

[@jsanders196]

I got mine a few years back & I definitely had a major green shift like yours. Greens, brightness & vibrancy were the biggest changes.

[@KarenBorter]

as an aside; depending on your video card, you can go into the color settings there and choose "external" or "local" ... local typically will revert the color settings back to the video card setting which are the original settings on the monitor. I use Spyder Pro and find that the color calibration on my (less expensive and not able to calibrate in Kelvin) monitors are too dark based on the ambient light in my room so I toggle between Spyder settings and the Nvidia settings.

[@danielflynn1847]

Thanks for the pointed and direct product review. For a sponsored bit it came across as a honest assessment and good information as it relates to your use with reasonable consideration for users not matching your level of production. I was considering this purchase before watching your video, color calibration is a tricky issue, and your approval goes a long way to legitimizing the investment for me even if I’m not working as a professional.

[@HEREONOUTBAILEY]

“Lee Morris - Calibrating The World Pt 2” 😂

[@CapsLock33]

You answered all my questions. I’m going to buy this now!! Thanks for your review!

[@paulmorin2234]

If you have made color separations in the past it will be very helpful for you to understand the difference between printing to RGB and printing to CYMK. Huge difference.

[@heyjustj]

The part about monitor brightness is probably the most important part of this video. The number of times I've seen images on "infinite white" backgrounds that have terrible masking and eraser marks on them because the editors brightness was WAY too high is astounding. All those artifacts will print out and people will wonder why. For doing video and especially print work calibration is super necessary IMO.

[@heyjustj]

I'm Jack's Nipples yes, or at least less bright that the default on your monitor. Often monitors are setup extra bright to look good in the store, but then it blows out (aka clips) the highlights. The contrast and saturation are also usually boosted up quite a bit.

[@TheUltimateBlooper]

I like my screen bright too, but I'm a pixel peeper and I use tools like...exposure and contrast... to check for such errors in bright areas (as well as for dust spots, etc). I, personally, won't lower my screen brightness and I have my screen calibrated for sRGB using the native screen brightness set to my liking. Beautiful, accurate colors (especially paired ith the x-rite passport calibrator for photos - the skin tones come alive!!!), but nice and bright display. And no errors, because I can use the damn tools at my disposal. I think the brightness thing is more of an issue to those who are fairly new or don't pay attention to detail.

[@heyjustj]

@@TheUltimateBlooper Cranking the levels to the extreme is a great way of seeing those issues. Sort of like doing false colors with video. Usually that's how I show people their monitor settings aren't showing them the full gamut of colors. But I think there is a reason the color calibration tools measure brightness and have you turn down the brightness as one of the steps to calibration. But to each their own, do what works for you.

[@JeffCowan]

Lee, I really wanna see the same test, but now for printing. That's the final frontier right there.

[@FStoppers]

Ya that scares me. Patrick did a video on this a year or so ago and it was incredibly complicated.

[@JeffCowan]

@@FStoppers Thanks. I'll look it up.

[@PimpnBass]

I have the studio version of this for doing my monitor and printer and the printing calibration is just amazingly crazy. Makes a world of difference for sure. I completely back the Spyder X calibrator 100%.

[@tayl0124]

@@FStoppers check out ask damien...www.damiensymonds.net/what2buy_cal.html Very knowledgeable.

[@sethleigh8850]

The only thing that surprises me about this video is to learn that he's been doing fstoppers for so long and this whole time wasn't using calibrated monitors. I use the DataColor Spyder 5 but not their software. Datacolor will sell you different models where the hardware is exactly the same, but the features they unlock in their software are different (you pay more for more software features). The DisplayCal software is freeware, and allows you to do pretty much anything the hardware is capable of. Calibrating my desktop and laptop monitors made a ginormous difference. In my case my main desktop monitor was too yellow, my laptop monitor too blue, but now both are as close to accurate as their LCD panels are capable of. I've calibrated some friends' monitors for them, and especially old laptop monitors typically look way better afterward. The one laptop I calibrated that hardly changed at all was a friend's MacBook Pro, whose retina display was very well calibrated from the factory. I guess those outrageous Apple prices do buy you something.

[@jabezhane]

I have had a few Datacolor screen calibrators over the years (4 and a 6 Elite bought on special offer) and have run through the calibration several times. Strangely it always changes it from a nice neutral colour hue to a overly warm/orange tint which looks horrible. I don't do print so I dont need it but I've always been curious.

[@sethleigh8850]

@@jabezhane I've only got the Datacolor Spyder 5, and I didn't use Datacolor's software for the calibration, so I have no idea how good or accurate it is. Using DisplayCal, I saw huge improvements in my desktop 4K monitor and my laptop monitor, plus a few others I've calibrated for other people. I haven't done photo printing from home before, but I finally took the plunge and a Canon Pixma Pro-100 is waiting for me at home. I'll recalibrate my monitors, make sure I have the right printer profiles for the paper, ink, and printer combo, and see what happens. I'm actually kind of excited, and I do expect that it'll take some testing and experience to get my printer output the way I want it to look, starting from an image on the screen that looks the way I want it. Kind of stoked to get into that.

[@ivonnea.462]

Do you recommend this tool for illustrators? Even while sharing work online? I'm struggling with the colors of my laptop looking a lot different than my phone. Computer colors are dull-like looking, while the phone is way too vivid. I even tried comparing the same image in another phone and it matched my phone but not the computer.

[@warrend98]

The only missing element is a calibration comparison. The calibration is only really helpful if a) it lets side-by-side monitors match each other or b) the monitor matches the printout.

[@tayl0124]

Not calibrated until you get and match prints. Doesn't matter when it was printed as long as it wasn't color corrected by the lab, or the file changed.

[@Layarion]

Fstoppers...i wished you woulda...Printed something. Just to see if the picture was as bright/dark as on your screen.

[@andrejrockshox]

i doubt it. he would need to calibrate printer too. and there is RGB vs CMYK gammut problem...

[@krane15]

We don't typically view photos through backlight.

[@MohondhaY]

Very informative video! Thank you!

[@surroundphotography5165]

Great video. Will it give you the same result for video editing?

[@trypersistence]

I've used the Spyder 5 Pro for a long time. Can't get great prints without a properly calibrated monitor. I have a Dell U2518D, which was very close out of the box, but, as usual, too bright with green and blue tints to maximize brightness. Perfect calibration with the pro.

[@izoyt]

for true identical prints as possible, you need calibrated printer also, and actually, you need different profile for every different paper you use, since it does make difference. same goes if you use different type of ink (let say, other brand or some spacial, waterproof ink), too, but lets leave it there. Few (actually, more then few) years ago i did play with this things, calibrated monitor, calibrated printer and then scan all prints on calibrated scanner (this was all non-pro devices, only 4-color printer etc) and results were night and day, specially when looking ion every different colour channel, where you really can see, how wrong printer work from their factory settings. edit: just found whole thing, if somebody interested, here's the link. it's in Slovenian, but i think you can figure things out www.slo-foto.net/clanki/136/kalibracija-tiskalnikov most important it this proofing (last picture), as mentioned before www.slo-foto.net/slike/clanki/Kalibracija_tiskalnikov/razlika-vse-web-500.jpg left column in printed (and scanned) picture without profile, middle column is reference picture (original photo,non printed) and right column is print with calibration profile. please remember, this is print on low cost, cmyk printer.

[@nordic5490]

Bryan Stewart my factory calibrated Dell 30" was great right out of the box, and the spider did not change the colour at all, only reduced the brightness a little. I recommended to people to buy a good calibrated monitor and save your money on the spider.

[@ricecrash5225]

Small tip for some. I work 100% from a laptop and outsource my printing. My print company offers free colour calibration matching their printers. I take my laptop in and they do it, no charge. Of course you can’t do this if your print company isn’t within reach. Maybe check with your print supplier before spending ?

[@Fleet42]

Rice Crash i'd love to know who you use!!

[@kichaa13]

the datacolor process for calibration on my ancient spyder 3 is the same so what exactly did you do to brick a pc 10 yrs ago?

[@oceanfreediver]

Great video! Thanks for taking the time. Nice delivery.

[@dzsemx]

i have 2 things to tell to you: - Many monitors have more than 100% SRGB color space that's why they are too saturated. - Spyder is a POS, the calibration method used is awful. Get an x-rite i1 display pro colorimeter, that is a much more serious tool.

[@amaly76]

Yep

[@andrewmccarty]

I've always heard the same thing, but im curious if the new SpyderX is better now that it has a lens like the X-rite has.

[@ghostapi874]

SpyderX is decently close hardware wise but both x-rite and spyders software is still garbage. It puts to much emphesis on doing the job quick. With either device you should be using something like displaycal and preferable a monitor or display card that skips windows all together.

[@Tomiply]

14:40 - Actually, that's why it's extra importent to have a calibrated display, because if you share an image you edited on a monitor that has a cool temperature, it's going to look even more cool on a "vivid" display that someone else has.

[@krane15]

All you really know is that the original meets standard specifications.

[@eriyul]

Thanks for walking us through it from beginning to end!

[@srg3798]

GREAT video. Thanks

[@jorismak]

Windows isn't color managed (yes you see the desktop change but that's not all). This means an application must support it. Most web browsers aren't color-managed (I know Firefox is if you turn it on in hidden settings). So you will always see a difference between a program that respects your color profile (like Photoshop) and one that doesn't (Windows Photo viewer for instance). In a (modern) Mac environment, the OS takes care of color management, so most if not all applications are color-managed even if they are not coded for it. A Windows user myself (but had to use Macbooks for a couple of years for work) this is a big advantage.. but I can live with it. I actually use the difference between Photoshop / Affinity Photo and Windows Photo Viewer to to a double-check. I know what I see in Photoshop is 'correct', but I don't want it to look too crazy uncalibrated. I also do some last-minute checks on my mobile phone (which is also way to saturated and has a white-balance way off) just to get a feel of how it looks on different scenarios... that is, if I care (as in, for serious images :P). In music studios this is not that different. They have very special reference speakers (studio monitors) that will produce a sound that is 'true' and helps the mixing engineers locate problems in the sound. But in the end they also test with Apple Earbuds and playing back on car stereo's.. because that is where 99% of music is 'consumed' these days :).

[@telescopicS627]

Color management works fine on Windows 10. It's not the easiest utility, but it works.

[@jorismak]

@@telescopicS627 i didn't say color management doesn't work.. I said Windows itself is not color managed, which is true. The desktop will not honour your display profile (only the gamma ramps that are loaded into your graphics card/onboard graphics). So only color managed applications will truly behave ok with your display profile loaded. For example, Windows photo viewer (the windows7 default viewer app ) will honour your profile, but 'photos' (the new windows10 app style default viewer) will not, and so they will look different (depending on how much calibration your monitor needed). Irfanview for example is not color managed out of the box, but it can be turned on in the settings.

[@telescopicS627]

@@jorismak Maybe we're talking about different things, but that hasn't been my experience at all. In win 10 photos look exactly the same in any app. I calibrate display under advanced settings in color management. You can see the colors change when the profile loads seconds after logging in.

[@kainthjaskaran]

@@telescopicS627 You must not be using a wide colour gamut monitor.

[@MoonLiteNite]

​@@kainthjaskaran You are doing something wrong with windows and your video drivers. You can override settings with AMD and NVIDIA controller panels. Also some programs will take over. Heck even youtube on CHROME and EDGE will take over your colors if you playback with HDR on....

[@RuddyDelRosario]

I don't use PC but in a Mac It's super easy and works great. Tray a mac. And as a professional photographer, I humbly think that it's very important to have the monitor calibrated.

[@kwizmon]

I agree. Calibration is super important if you're a pro. Although, it doesn't make a difference if it's a mac or pc.

[@thomasaffli9273]

Kick the mac in the trash homie

[@bosco1234]

I totally understood your feelings, that happened to me as well when I got the Spyder 4 in 2014, and I told myself I will never touch a calibration again, spent so much time to read up, used 3rd part apps, to finally give up on it. Now that I want to bring my laptop out for work and realised it's not colour in sync, I decided to see if there's any updates to it, and chance upon your video. THANK YOU :)

[@wl-art]

What did you have the monitor on initially? Is there a default setting?

[@robertgrenader858]

Desktop and Laptop displays right out of the box are set up for gaming or browsing web pages. Calibrating your monitor is only relevant for local prints or sending prints to a lab. Also, the various Windows picture apps can screw with image displays. Also, the calibration stays with the video card, not the monitor.

[@gosman949]

not necessarily. Some monitors can be calibrated directly into their LUT system.

[@mrcraggle]

If you're editing, use the right tool for the job. I have a Eizo monitor, I sure hope it's not calibrated for gaming.

[@Smoothblue90]

No. If I use my eyes to edit in Lightroom on one of my laptops, then export .jpg to my Samsung S9, the images look way too saturated. I realize that different phone screens are different. But if I am editing to upload to Instagram, I want my laptop screen to be calibrated to some sort of standard that gives my images the best shot to look the best on the most phones.

[@robertgrenader858]

@@mrcraggle Right out of the box, it probably is. That's what Lee was referring too the bright, blue tones of the OEM settings.

[@airgliderz]

No it's most relevant for good accurate photo editing.

[@gjarnling]

Wait... a professional photographer that doesn’t do color management? 😳🥺

[@jackdumanat49]

idk man... i don't think it's needed too much. Like every screen and device has it's own colour management. Just consider many phones have auto brightness, blue filter and apple's true tone all kinda throws colours to wack. Even with printing, if you use one screen all the time you can estimate and use test prints contact sheets with different settings to get to that decent print. IMO screen calibration is worth it if you collaborate works with other people or work with multiple screens.

[@gjarnling]

wakojako49 If it works for you and you are satisfied, by all means keep on doing it. I do feel inclined to reply tho in case someone else read this. Devices might have different settings, yes. Even if they have the same settings every device is unique. On top of that every device is operated in it’s unique environment. This is an argument for - not against - using color management and standards. If your intent is to publish on social media and your target audience are laymen the impact might be small, yes. But if your intent is either different or wider and/or your target audience is professional than it makes a very big difference. For instance there is no chance an art director would hire someone for final art that doesn’t showcase it in his or her own material. Using the same devices on a daily basis one gets used to them and learn to predict their output, yes. But doing color management and following standards is done with that purpose: Better estimation. Test prints needs to be done anyway but hopefully only once. Doing them again and again will get very expensive quickly. And doing it by yourself is only possible if you actually have access to the equipment - that exact printer - which simply won’t be the case in a professional setting. All business is collaboration, it includes at least two parties. In a photographical setting this is at least the photographer and the client. If you as a photographer do it in your own time for your own sake then color management isn’t necessary. But that isn’t professional photography.

[@janklimek7666]

Gustaf Jarnling gustaf if you are not printing and got retina , why not? :)

[@gjarnling]

Jan Klimek Once again if it works for you under certain circumstances then by all means. In a professional setting, which is the context here, this is not the case. If nothing else simply because you don’t treat either your customer or their target audience with the respect a business agreement deserves, ie making sure you deliver the best result possible regardless of the recipient.

[@MuffFlux]

@@gjarnling Yeah that's wrong. The industry doesn't give a damn about calibration until it comes time to output reliable prints for advertising.

[@felix_quintana]

I began to practice my photography with a digital camera in the mobile phone era. When I calibrated my laptop with colormunki, I got the mess you are talking about. The same photo looks very different in my laptop than in other uncalibrated devices that my clients use.

[@michaelscafidi92]

NEEDED this video!!

[@dcallan812]

Im glad that it was not just me it tool AGES to sort back to "normal"

[@albertvu06]

I would be curious to see if by calibrating your 2 monitors side by side, you would have the same result on both 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@mikefly562]

I have the Dell S2716DG, but was never really happy with it and was looking to get another monitor. When talking to a Best Buy salesman, he suggested doing a calibration first, before considering a replacement. I bought the SpyderX Elite and it really worked well, to the point that i like this monitor and have no plans to swap it out now. It really does a good job for my needs and is also much better on my eyes as well. I highly recommend this product.

[@emilyj2358]

Hi I noticed that your channel did a pervious review on the xrite i1 studio how would you say it compares to the spyder in this review? Out of the two which would you recommend printing is key for me and I want to be able to calibrate my printer and monitor using one tool thank you any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[@maciekkk123]

Did you print your photos after calibration? How was it comparing to the screen look?

[@janklimek7666]

Nice Cat thats a good question that no one will answer ;/

[@errolikalina1998]

I use a laptop that has a 32" monitor attached to it, I don't use the laptop monitor for editing. When it asks what type of monitor are you using, Desktop or Laptop, which one do I choose? Thanks.

[@goingplacesz]

Any follow up to this, did you change back or happy with the results to this day?

[@tek_soup]

we have all been there, and had to do a Clean install of windows, thank you for the video/info.

[@bryanleaman5942]

I had a photo I really liked, but when I got it printed professionally it didn't look the same. I calibrated my Linux PC and now it looks the same onscreen as my printed copy. So basically I'm no longer mis-adjusting color temp and brightness in post.

[@ferrydrums99]

Nice to hear that Bryan. I am also running Linux and I'm looking on how to calibrate my display. Do you mind sharing what software/hardware you used? Thanks!

[@bryanleaman5942]

I used Display Cal v3.2.2 and an older Spyder 2 that I borrowed from my photo club. As I recall I had to find some drivers to install and had to explicitly enable Spyder2 in the software.

[@ferrydrums99]

@@bryanleaman5942 Great, thanks for the information!

[@DavidSornbergerFilms]

I had the same experience when I was first shooting weddings and tried to calibrate my monitor. Loved this video! Thx 😊

[@DodderyIceDry]

I have used one of these tuners for 3 years, well worth getting.

[@HappyHarryHardon]

Dry Creek Photo has your printer profiles. Always calibrate, color workflow is important and very misunderstood.

[@pyabhashoart-design4920]

Now that you calibrated the monitor, you need to set the calibrated profile in Photoshop under the Edit Tab=>Color Settings=>Working spaces - RGB. Also, if you want to print out the images, try to ask the printer what color profile they are using, and you should set the same color profile in Photoshop for the CMYK workspace. Otherwise, you may end with a much worse printed image. I had to do this at my job (a digital printing company) to ensure that all the colors are matched from the computer monitors to the printed image.

[@Camrographer]

End use is definitely the determining factor in calibration. I thought I needed it, I picking up a spider elite a few years back. As you mentioned it darkened, shifted and de saturated the images. But one must adhere to the lowest common denominator and that is the usage scenario. My clients strictly used it for web purposes. Thus, I needed to mimic what they would potentially see even if it was on an overly bright and calibrated monitor. In fact I was so infatuated with color management that I almost went with a wide gamut monitor. I'm so glad I didn't

[@jamesmcghie9612]

Yes I too have been using spider E. And have been very happy with the results. I think it is important to calibrate your monitor, how else can you judge if you have accurately edited your photo?

[@naughtyskweet6]

So the lesson here is, if you don't have a calibrator, dim your screen a smidge, and don't be afraid of the saturation slider

[@cogsincogs]

"I'm pretty good with computers" - says he had to reinstall windows to revert color calibration... guys, ignore this video he has no clue.

[@lulumink0]

Hahahah, that’s true. It’s very easy to erase color profile

[@DeltaModelX]

10 years ago you were in preschool so stay quiet

[@cogsincogs]

@@DeltaModelX just finished uni, but ok. Pleb.

[@DeltaModelX]

@@cogsincogs i said 10 years ago plus you have finished uni but don't know what rounding is?

[@cogsincogs]

@@DeltaModelX yeah, I finished uni then. Dunno how you can defend this video, you must be as dumb as him.

[@poke_champ]

its under saturated because of the studio lights you had on. It takes into consideration the brightness of the room

[@ludovikopeluche8448]

Can this spyder or other PC monitor tools be used to calibrate a TV? theoretically, it should help a bit right? or is this a no-no? can't find any videos about using calibration tools on PC to TV or vice versa.

[@aaronmeyers451]

This is why you need a real monitor like Benq Sw2700pt that is adobe rgb and hardware calibrate a monitor. Color calibrating is mandatory if your client plans on printing your images. Other wise you images can make the overall exposure darker or brighter, and it can also effect the colors. Basically your monitor is not representative of what the colors and brightness levels actually are. This is really noticeable when printing albums or photos.

[@germardoumediagroup1472]

yes you need to calibrate it because all your clients have calibrated monitors and they will notice your work as bad also you need to calibrate the monitor on your dslr or mirror-less camera

[@saniwada]

Calibration is important for printing and video work.

[@germardoumediagroup1472]

@@saniwada i never had my work printed ... my clients want there work as quick as possible to post on social media. so i view it first on an ipad iphone and reasonable android .. if the colors look good ..its ready for export no hassle to me : as long it pays my bills and the client is happy my work here is done In the film days my granddad never calibrated his screen , yet his pics look wickedly good up to this day These companies just wanna sell you stuff

[@saniwada]

@@germardoumediagroup1472 your'e workflow is not the same as everyone else's. I'm a hobbyist and even I print my stuff for myself.

[@germardoumediagroup1472]

@@saniwada well it goes to not fix what is not broken

[@Chris-wg7id]

Thanks for this, very helpful. Can you recommend laptops that are color accurate?

[@samanthagriffinv2.08]

Dose it save it to the monitor itself or to that specific windows installation

[@N2CatCrew]

That looks super cool, exactly what I was looking for

[@AdrianIII]

Clickbait: Of course not, you fool. All those professional photographers/printers are fools.

[@icon134]

I've never had a Spyder brick my computer. I do think the process has improved substantially in the last few years.

[@CristianCalhoun]

Great video, thank you! Sorry, what lavalier mic do you use?

[@RomboutVersluijs]

WHen saving images just make sure you save as sRGB, thats one of the main things. BUt i guess you know that already.

[@tayl0124]

Hopefully

[@SAR2467]

been calibrating my monitors for years, not really difficult to do 🤣🤣

[@simonwood8637]

Do you have any go-to guides (video or article/text) you'd recommend I read to learn calibration? I actually am good with computers (in general) but have never touched monitor calibration and not looking to blow $500 on hardware - so I'll likely rent something like a Datacolor Spyder 5 Pro for $30 and try to smash it out in one weekend. But I don't know what I don't know.

[@rasmachris94]

@@simonwood8637 As far as calibration goes it's basically use hardware to detect it digitally or eye-ball it with something like: www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/ And using Nvidia's control panel.

[@Trigger-xw9gq]

After buying my Dell U3014 a few years ago, I discovered that my old “eye-one” calibration tool would not work on it, and that a newer, very expensive device was required. Fortunately, my friend has a high-end calibration tool, and we used it to calibrate the monitor. I’m now experiencing the same inconsistency you described at the beginning of your video, so could you please let me know if this SpyderX tool will work on my particular monitor? Thanks.

[@felix_quintana]

So is better to have a calibrated and an uncalibrated monitor? So I can check how will it look when printed and when shared online.

[@Bpjames]

Does anyone make a computer with a CD rom anymore? I realize it's just "progress", but sometimes I don't appreciate forced obsolecence.

[@susanpratt3290]

There are external CD-ROM drives for those who don’t have a Cd-ROM Drive. I have CD’s that have hardware drivers on them. I also want to burn a backup image of my computer as well in case I need to boot off a cd and do a reinstall. I did get a laptop with a CD-ROM drive.

[@socc3r7k1ng]

Thing is you are calibrating your monitor to display images and videos that will be seen on uncalibrated devices lol.

[@Bobbylopezcreative]

mbickerdike17 while that’s true, starting from a calibrated baseline means that the differences between all those uncalibrated viewers won’t be as drastic as if he were producing them in an uncalibrated set up.

[@tayl0124]

You calibrate first and foremost for print, and secondly for the reasons BLC mentioned.

[@doctorlovera]

What connector are you using? HDMI, DP, miniDP I ask because I had an old laptop with a terrible display and bought the dell U2417h display and the improvement was massive. But then i replace my laptop for an alienware with IPS display and the laptop display seem much more "contrasty" and saturated. The Dell ultrasharp was connected via HDMI and one day i decided to use the miniDisplayPort cable to connect the laptop and the image intermediately looked almost exactly to the laptop display. I made my research and apparently some Nvidia GPU's drivers modify some of the parameters of the image when it goes via HDMI because it assumes you are connecting your PC to a low quality-low gamut HDTV. I understand that there is a way to cancel this "tone down" of the image quality via HDMI if you access the Nvidia drivers configuration. But until now I have been using the miniDP-DP cable and i can say the image in my laptop and the Dell external monitor is comparable to those on Apple computers. This is the webpage where I found the information about image quality via HDMI pcmonitors.info/ and this is the article pcmonitors.info/articles/correcting-hdmi-colour-on-nvidia-and-amd-gpus/ Greetings from colombia. Nice video.

[@Ruffneck101]

Been using datacolor for a year. It's super easy and works great.

[@CaveyMoth]

Yeah, they do a great job. But I have heard claims that their system isn't as accurate as other colorimeters.

[@nickgoogle4525]

invite someone who knows what he's talking about, when you don't have the knowledge yourself -- one example: brightness (technically correct: luminance) of the monitor should match your ambient viewing conditions. There is no single "correct" monitor brightness as there is no "correct" clothing to go outdoors which would fit to all ambient (temperature / weather) conditions!

[@videolivecontent]

I'm work on 100% brightness, because if you work at low brightness, it will always seem that the photo is not bright enough and you want to clarify it in the editor. But as it turns out later, it was necessary to increase the brightness of the screen.

[@nickgoogle4525]

What one perceives mostly as "brightness" in a picture is the relation of the midtones to the shadows and highlights -- so the "gamma" or gradation. Of course the maximum luminance of the monitor is also important, as our perception is also dependent on the absolute level (see "Stevens effect") -- although with current monitors we're not really getting into that high luminance range anyways. Take a color-matched created print and view it under a standard D50 lighting and then adjust the luminance of the monitor to match the print visually. Take care of creating similiar background conditions (ideally similar gray) for both the picture on the screen and the print. Search for "Fogra Softproof handbook" when you want more info on that matter (the german version is more up to date btw).

[@davesbrewing]

welcomed to the 19th century, what will be next perhaps horseless carriages or telecommunications. I have been calibrating video screens professionally since 1988 using gels and SMPTE color bars.

[@zangdaarrmortpartout]

So is that better than the X-rite iDisplay1 or not ? The X-rite has an option to measure the ambient light before it does the calibration, does the X Elite has the same kind of option ?

[@OniMirage]

FYI for anyone that runs into this issue described at the start ... Color profiles that photoshop and the like use are software, OS level you would have to change the profile and without knowing how to change it back in the display driver itself to revert then a wipe would fix it but not needed. Easiest way to revert the profile via windows is hit the start/windows key on the keyboard then start typing calibrate. Open Display color calibration hit next until it's all the way done and don't change anything all the way until it's finished. It should now save as the default profile settings. You can run it again and try to calibrate by hand if you want or run whatever it is you plan to use.

[@Allanrpsx]

would have been a much more valuavle resource if you tested some prints with a professional printing service.

[@pelikan88]

You obviously have NO idea what color management is all about?

[@nordic5490]

pelikan88 hardy ha ha. I bought my Dell30" with factory 100% rgb cal, then blew money on a spider, and guess what, the colour beofre and after cal was exactly the same (no surpise) and the bightness changed a small amount. Buy a good monitor and save money on the calibrator.

[@tayl0124]

Monitors need to be calibrated to the lighting conditions in the room in which you use them. Which is why no monitor can truly come calibrated.

[@kwizmon]

Is that a question?

[@melissahall7009]

Thank you very much for this video 👏

[@lenzwizard]

Great video but you failed to show how you could undo the process if you don't like it.

[@jimfeldman4035]

It prompts you in the app dialog if you want to save the change

[@LucasJodokast]

He doesnt know how... this guy obviously doesnt know shit about colour calibration or PCs for that matter

[@lenzwizard]

@@jimfeldman4035 but if you "save the change" can you later go back and undo that change?

[@jimfeldman4035]

@@lenzwizard Sure. On windows you have .ICM files. I actually have multiple since I've found what's good for reading isn't the one I want for photo editing You assign the icm to the display. IOWs, I assign one to the laptop and another to the second monitor

[@kwizmon]

@@LucasJodokast he already admitted that about calibration.

[@3atmey]

This has always been something that i thought about...after a lot of thinking, i just decided to not calibrate...lets say i calibrate my monitor...to what it should be calibrated to? will the other person on the other side of the globe watch my image on a calibrated screen or not? too complicated high tech shit for me. The only calibration i care about, is when i have to print, that s it for me...i dont care about anything else.

[@andrewmccarty]

I had the same opinion for a long time, but I read something recently that resonated with me. The people sitting at home on their uncalibrated monitors are USED to the way that their screen makes things look. So for all the professional media they watch that was edited with a calibrated monitor, it will look normal for them on their screen because it is what they are used to. But if you don't edit with a calibrated monitor, and in reality it has too much saturation, or a green tint or something, it will look strange to the other person because its different from what they are used to seeing. Does that make sense? So even if the other people don't have calibrated screens, they are used to images looking a certain way on THEIR screen. In order to make it look normal for THEM, you need to calibrate your monitor.

[@eferrari1455]

Very helpful review, I'll keep in mind.

[@dukenu100]

If your own monitor is darker than it should be, other people may see your images too bright; if your monitor is too bright, others might see your images as too dark. Since the average user doesnt' have a calibrated monitor, its almost a waste of time to calibrate your own monitor. You should calibrate, if you are a photographer, to match how prints come out...you have to guess, send a file, print, see how it comes out, then adjust until its pleasant. Only professional photogs printing gigantic prints for show competitions have any use for such technology.

[@GedasSt]

:D :D :D :D :D I Understand problem, what You talk about Your last time. I'm calibrating monitors for photographers over 9 years. Hundreds of different models with maybe 20 different devices. You did almost everything wrong from beginning... "duplicated" monitors :D :D :D :D :D P.S. I still NEVER saw NONE good tutorial about Calibration from A to Z.

[@BertrandVan]

Well maybe do one genius lol

[@GedasSt]

@@BertrandVan I did it. Just on my native language - (lietuvių kalba ) and not on KZbin. I never learn English.

[@chrisg4433]

You can’t Brick your computer lol 🤦🏻‍♂️ It’s not like a phone or Xbox

[@JohnDrummondPhoto]

He actually did, a few months ago. I forget how. He got Dell to fix it after they initially refused to; posted a video about it.

[@jimfeldman4035]

Yeah, you can hose up a BIOS update. That'll brick a lot of laptops and low to mid end motherboards.

[@CaveyMoth]

I installed Norton Antivirus once. My PC ran like a brick after that.

[@Professor_Internet_PhD]

I purchased that a similar Datacolor device and the software would hang straight after click next after entering the serial number. As for their software support, the same person answered my questions and seemed to forget everything we had discussed before. And after I told him I had done everything according to instructions but it still didn't work, they simply stopped responding, which reinforced my good feeling on returning the item before waiting for a response. So my experience is, not only is the Datacolor software horrible, but the support as well.

[@MiCoke03]

Now that's what I call a review! Very insightful!

wow, 279,00 euro that's 150,00 euro more then what my monitor costs, haha

[@paulct91]

(Not an insult) but, are you intentionally going for the John Cena look...?

[@lianadrone6791]

I was thinking more of a Kelly Slater look plus the quicksilver hat.. except he's surfing the web not waves...ppshh haha