Customer Reviews

ColorVision Spyder 2 Pro Win/Mac

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My Gripes with the Spyder2PRO (applies mostly to Windows platform):

1. You won't know if the unit itself is miscalibrated.
2. Although the basic documentation is good, it lacks details. Such as, "How does the ColorVision Profile Chooser program affect Window's Color Management Settings and how do the two interact?"
3. Sometimes, the Profile Chooser fails to load your profile when coming out of Windows' hibernation/standby state.
4. The other "value-add" software that comes with it is not that great. Just buy the regular Spyder2 package.

I work primarily with photoshop and web graphics and do not do any print color matching. I wanted to merely calibrate all my CRT, LCD and laptop monitors just enough so that there would be some tonal consistency. I wasn't going for professional pre-press accuracy.

The first Spyder unit I received wasn't properly calibrated at the factory so all my monitors turned out to be too red! Even after several attempts to recalibrate and profile... So after a few email exchanges with Tech support, I returned it for a new unit. (Thanks Amazon)

The second unit seemed to work fine. Except, now, I have this nagging feeling that if it wasn't, I wouldn't really know since I don't have a reference monitor.

In any case, it did a fairly good job of matching my two different LCDs as well as my CRT. (NEC 1760NX, Sony SDM-M51 and ViewSonic G90f) However, on my laptop, the Profile Chooser fails to reload the profile when coming-out of its hibernation state. When I asked tech support about this, they shot me a canned email that didn't really resolve the issue. Now, I have to reselect the profile each time I resume.

(Tech support was prompt in their response. But, it seemed like that they really didn't read my email thoroughly.)

Overall, I'm satisfied with the product and I would recommend the unit. (You really can't beat the price.) I think it could be better if it had the following:

1. Better documentation on how the ColorVision's color management software affects and interacts with the platforms (windows) exisiting color management software.
2. Some reference prints of some sort where I can compare my calibrated monitor with; so that I can know that I've come close to reference material. (I don't know if this is possible or not.)
3. Get rid of the software bugs!

After reading the above reviews I was hesitant to purchase this item. However, I own "the photosshop CS2 book" by Scott Kelby. Here is what he had to say about Monitor calibrating. He called Adobe Gamma the cheep Freebie Method.(Adobe Gamma is what I used in the past). For calibrating your Monitor the right way he recommended Spyder2PRO. I invested in Spyder2PRO and I have to agree with Scott Kelby's statement as follows:

"Chances are you'll gasp when you see how "off" your monitor was before calibration. You don't have to do anything else at this point-it will automatically tell Photoshop about your new monitor profile."

I did GASP when I saw the before and after.
Also, I called customer service and verified that I was understanding the directions before I installed. The customer service was very helpful. I had no problem calibrating my monitor. It is a very simple procedure.

I have a laptop and a 2nd graphics monitor at home, and bought this to calibrate both. I adjust the sliders on my IBM T40, and the Spyder software doesn't "see" that I've done it, although it's conspicuous on the LCD screen. The second monitor? It won't even recognize it. Over $200 wasted. I'm a graphics professional, and if I'm missing something, the instructions are woefully inadequate!

I knew that I wanted to get some sort of monitor calibration hardware for my setup, but I wasn't sure which to buy. After a very embarassing incident involving client approval proofs of a design that had color variations I couldn't even see on my monitors, I knew I had to act quickly. I am a photographer and graphic designer using dual LCD monitors on a PC platform (I know all you Mac users out there are frothing at the mouth, but I do a fair amount of 3D animation with high end PC only software). It is important for me to have accurate color for both photography and design work, but I thought Adobe Gamma was solving my problems. Apparently not. I researched both the Spyder and Pantone's Huey system, and I chose the Spyder.

Setup and calibration is pretty straightforward. Be prepared to spend an hour or so getting started. Recalibration takes about 45 min. each time you do it. I was very picky about the calibration, and so it took maybe longer than it needed to. The software, in conjunction with the colorimeter hardware measures a variety of things as it sits on your screen. It has you tweak the colors (RGB) of your screen individually using the monitor's front panel controls, as well as brightness and contrast. This can be tedious, but it's worth it. Once you have brought the values into balance, it then re-measures everything and creates a profile that loads every time you start up your computer. A nice feature of the software is that it shows you a before and after calibration example. I was amazed at how far off my monitors were!

I've compared original ur-retouched photos with the final worked files and been astounded at how little I really needed to do to the originals. It also explained a lot of frustrating trips back and forth to the lab. As a bonus, I now see all of the things I missed while using the computer. User interfaces and on screen graphics are much more nuanced than I ever knew.

I will concur with an earlier poster, however, that the profile will not reload after coming out of hibernation. Colorvision recommends that you turn off power management, and never let your computer go into stand by or hibernation because it can't send the profile back to the video card at wake up. This is an annoying feature and I hope they address it in some sort of patch.

Even if you aren't a professional, if you care about your family photos, or simply about having a much more visually appealing computing experience, you should consider the Spyder.

I just bought the Spyder 2 Pro and the monitor calibration worked very well. After the first try, I found that the screen was a little bit brighter, then I printed a photo work by HP Designjet 130, and glad to have good result , nearly same as in the screen. Then , I lowered the Gamma in the interface of graphic card software to make the screen not so bright for my eyes comfortable, try again ,then printed the same photo, the result was better than the first try, more tones in the colors, is accurate as in the screen. Then next try, I set LCD without using ICC Profile and to factory default color settings, then adjusted the graphic card contrast and brightness, gamma(to 1) for my eyes more comfortable, again to calibrate, this time the photo printed out also had the same good result as last try. I set bringtness to 2.5 and white to 5800K to get better result.

That is , changing the graphic card Gamma, contrast , brightness making the eyes comfortable , also good for printing and not influence the result. This software says that not to adjust the Lcd icons after calibate, but sure before calibration , it is possible to adjust the graphic card's functions. I had made different names for these tries, so that I could compare. I printed these through PhotoImpact.

For the PrintFix Plus, I don't think I will try because my printer can manage to correct ICC Profiles for every different kinds of textures and tones of colored papers , also looking through previous reviews, it sounds no good although upgraded to a new version, the orginal one had bugs , could not work.

Once you work your way through the setup the results are fantastic!

Do you really need this? I suppose if you have a piece of junk for a monitor, or a very old monitor, the answer is, "yes". But, I have a new ViewSonic monitor, and found that this device offered almost un-noticible changes to the factory default settings.

A fantastic product, well known and proven. And at this price - Absolutely amazing!!! A must have for any serious photographer or anyone who wants to see the true color of what they are looking at on their screen.