Customer Reviews

Pantone Eye-One Display 2

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This colorimeter is well-respected by photographers for good reason. In easy mode, it is pretty fast and you don't have to do anything but click 'next' it does all the work. In advanced mode, you can can drive your self silly with all the options.
They are always making the software better, so its a good idea to check for updates of the software.

Pros:
Easy to use.

Cons:
not the best instructions

Great product, and great price at amazon! I live in Malaysia, where the local price is 250% of Amazon's list price. For USD9$ (shipment) I had it delivered in Singapore in just a few days, and picked it up at my friend's place. First thing that came out when I plugged it in, was that my old monitor had lived its useful life. Althought the colors were still correct(able), the overall luminosity was so low that I could only work in a dark room to view the full scale. I bought a new LCD monitor, calibrated and profiled it in a few minutes (it wasn't quite right straight out of the box - too bright), and now all my pictures come out beautifully! I can display 256 shades of grey distinctively, which was previously impossible. It's not just photos, even the dull windows interface suddenly comes to life. Highly recommended to anyone with a DSLR and a desire to spend more than 5 minutes improving their pictures on photoshop.

I am a retired engineer that used to design color measuring equipment and worked for MacBeth briefly in the 1960's. I can say that this is a great little colorimeter and I recommend it highly.
The only negative is that the instructions are a little vague in places.

Make sure you buy this at a retailer that allows returns if it doesn't work. I bought one last week after a presentation. It looked and worked great at the presentation. I bought it because I had an immediate weekend-long project where I needed correct color. When I set up my new Eye-one/Display 2, all I could get was a "fail" on the emissions test, over and over - and never did get to testing my Mac LCD monitor. No response from the Eye-one "support" to my e-mails.

I brought the gadget back to the store that then told me I had moved it during the test or the screen had gone black - and that was the only reason it failed. Neither of those were true. ...However, I did get a refund. So, beware. I'd like to give it a 4 or 5 on the basis of what I saw the demo do, but for how the one I bought worked, I'd give it a zero. Had the "support" even bothered to respond, I would have tried to work with them rather than doing a return since I really did want it to work. Average the scores for a 2.

This little bippy has helped me get colors right for graphic and web design. It creates ICC profiles which can be loaded in on design programs.

One bummer: As of July 1, 2007 there doesn't seem to be a Windows Vista 64 bit driver.

Instructions consist of ... load the software and follow the instructions. That's it! No explanations, no troubleshooting ... no nuttin!! After I finally got the software loaded (had to find updated drivers on their website for Vista), there were three options, none of which were intuitive. I opted for "Diagnostic" and that was wrong. I should have selected Match3. Then I was instructed to "press the button". There was no button anywhere. Turns out I was supposed to click an arrow at the top of the page.

Customer Service was responsive when I eventually got through to them, but their phone options were as confusing as their product instructions.

So far, my prints are way warmer than my monitor so I'll be contacting CS again tomorrow.

Be prepared to get very frustrated.

This product does everything it is advertised to do and is very easy to use - Even in the "precision" mode, if you read the directions. It works for monitors only (amazing the change in color once your monitor is calibrated) but does nothing for calibrating printers. This would be a great product extension.

Easy to use and the difference shows on my screen. Got this on the advice of a local, very good graphic artist who uses their products (much more expensive ones). I set it up to recalibrate every two weeks because screens change over short periods of time. I am happy with my purchase.

The Eye-One is quietly becoming the industry standard for designers and photographers in the under $500 range. Very accurate calibration on my LCDs. Match software is a breeze yet allows for advanced control. Overall, better than some much more.

There is nothing more frustrating than enhancing your photograph to find out that it looks totally different when it comes out the printer... I went the Adobe Gamma route. The "try to make your monitor look like the print" method and neither worked. The problem is, most monitors and/or software based color correcting tools deal with Red Green Blue and... only one shade of each! Last time I looked, there are a whole lot more colors in the spectrum than RGB.

After much debate, I decided on the Eye 1 Display 2. I'm glad I did.

I was prepared for a difficult install after reading some reviews. I work in the computer industry and have seen some really un-intuitive installation programs, but I must admit, this one takes the cake. Hint... When you load the CD, make sure you choose the Color Match button or it will not load the drivers or install the program. To bad they don't tell you this anywhere. There is a really nice "online" Tutorial, though it doesn't help you install the program. It does tell you to disable Adobe Gamma, if installed, just not how. Thanks Google! I found it in MSCONFIG > Staurtup in XP Pro.

All that said. The results are AMAZING! At the end of the calibration, you can see a before and after calibration sample. Couldn't believe the "pop". It also comes with a snap on device that lets you calibrate your monitor with ambient light. It'll also support dual monitor setups. Most importantly... My pictures look exactly like what I wanted. Hooray!

Once you get the software installed, the process is fairly intuitive but make sure to read the help prompts along the way.