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About screen calibration

John Doe
Hi!

I plan on purchasing a new screen calibration device (probably from XRite, either i1 or ColorMunki) and I find conflicting advice on the web: some people say you should calibrate your screens every month, some even say you should do it every week. Yet I get the feeling once a year would be more than enough for an amateur like me.

What do you people think? In your experience, how often should I recalibrate my screens?
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Comments

8 comments

Date Votes
  • SFA
    Try it monthly and see how much drift you get in that time.

    If a lot then try weekly. If not much try every other month.

    Also every time there is a possible GPU driver update (etc.).

    But I guess a lot depends on what screen(s) you have and how critical you feel you need to be. And why - which will depend on your target for output files and how critical that is for colour purposes.

    I gave up calibrating my notebook screen (which I use most of the time) as I could never get it to the preferred settings demanded by the software. And in any case the one colour that looked somewhat "off" still looked "off" after calibration.

    Much the same for my external screen - which I use rarely.

    I suspect one needs young eyes or a very controlled working environment to make highly accurate calibration the tool that it might be. If one is a Pro working with extreme demands for accurate colour reproduction then one should of course chase that objective frequently - daily possibly.

    Ease off on the criticality and I suspect that modern screens are probably consistent enough that if they are close to being "right" they will stay that way. Or close enough.

    Just my opinion of course! I'm sure many will have a different point of view!


    Grant
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  • hobie
    John,
    I am using a Datacolor Spyder for calibrating my monitors. The Spyder offers a functionality to check the calibration after a month, which I use. I have only once noticed a drift in my monitors colors, after a couple of years of use. So in my opinion, for an amateur, a calibration once a year should be enough.
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  • John Doe
    Thank guys! 😊
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  • dee jjjaaaa
    John Doe wrote:
    Hi!

    I plan on purchasing a new screen calibration device (probably from XRite, either i1 or ColorMunki) and I find conflicting advice on the web: some people say you should calibrate your screens every month, some even say you should do it every week. Yet I get the feeling once a year would be more than enough for an amateur like me.

    What do you people think? In your experience, how often should I recalibrate my screens?


    do not buy ColorMunki Display colorimeter (neither ColorMunki Photo spectrometer)... i1Display Pro colorimeter is what you want...

    as for how often - well, you actually need to see what works for you... neither device nor software nor monitor will get worse from often recalibration... just get a proper monitor where software can do a hardware handsfree calibration, like NEC PA* and Spectraview II for example... slap the puck and go get a cup of tea & something, by the time you are done everything will be finished... but no ColorMunkis.
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  • John Doe
    You got me confused here: I think I read that the Colormunki and i1 units were the same inside. Am I mistaken?

    See for instance: http://blog.xritephoto.com/2012/11/colo ... 5Bfbl.dpbs
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  • dee jjjaaaa
    John Doe wrote:
    You got me confused here: I think I read that the Colormunki and i1 units were the same inside. Am I mistaken?

    See for instance: http://blog.xritephoto.com/2012/11/colo ... 5Bfbl.dpbs


    there are ColoMunki colorimeter = ColorMunki Display and ColorMunki spectrometer = ColorMunki Photo (for example) ... now ColorMunki Display colorimeter precision wise is eq. to i1Display Pro colorimeter, __BUT__ (A) it is slower in operation - it seems that X-Rite did something on firmware level to slow it down, even if the hardware itself is the same and (B) many software packages supplied with monitors that can be hardware calibrated will not allow you to use ColorMunki Display colorimeter - one can assume that it is because of licensing terms of X-Rite code used to develop it ( and sometimes that software is simple rebranded X-Rite software)... so you want a colorimeter, but you do not want ColorMunki Display colorimeter = the best option is i1Display Pro colorimeter, and the top of the pack - BasiCColor Discus costs way too much for most people (~Euro 700+) to consider...
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  • NNN636001277833044320
    Hi John, once a month is adequate as the screen shouldn't drift that much unless it's ancient. Both Spyder and X-rite are very similar in performace, but personally I prefer the X-Rite i1 slightly more. The only problem you could run into is using a Spyder colorimiter on a Dell U2713H, U3014 or U2413 Monitor as these can only be calibrated with the X-rite colorimeters and Dell/Xrite software.


    Hope that helps

    Steve
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  • John Doe
    Thanks for your replies, guys. Still haven't made up my mind, but my birthday is coming up pretty soon, so… 😊
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