Spyder 3 Elite

Product Features

• Designed for Photographers

Product Description

From capturing images to digital editing your work, you can rely on consistent, accurate color throughout your studio and digital workflow with Spyder3EliteTM. Designed for the way photographers work, Spyder3Elite is the next generation in calibration accuracy, precision and speed, allowing you to create profiles to your specifications and bring a new level of color control to your work.

Product Details

• ASIN: B0017LSVU2
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,898 in Sports & Outdoors (See Top 100 in Sports & Outdoors)
  • #32 in Sports & Outdoors > Paintball & Airsoft > Paintball > Complete Paintball Sets

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Spyder3 Elite from Datacolor Very, Very Close, April 10, 2009

By 

Blaine E. Moyer "JarheadBlaine" (Rio Rico, Arizona, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spyder 3 Elite (Misc.)

The Spyder3 Elite works as advertised and their Customer Service Department has been awesome. Included documentation however is horrible. I'm a 63 year old dinosaur with a 1970's Master's Degree in Fine Arts Photography. I understand photography but I have to tell you I am struggling trying to move into the digital age.

For someone trying to move into the digital age a more step by step directory on how and why should be included on the setup DVD/CD. Not much written information is included and you must have an internet connection to get information. When I finally found and edited the user's manual I liked Datacolor's method of giving you a quick and dirty answer followed by the Long Answer. Dinosaurs such as myself can read the long version and geeks like my son, who works for Wizards of the Coast, can just skim through, if they even look at all.

I'll give a few example of areas of frustration. One of the first questions the installation Wizard asked was if I wanted to use the suction cup that comes installed on the Spyder3. It seemed to me that using a suction cup would hold the device steady giving a more accurate reading. Therefore, I checked the box indicating I would use the suction cup. When the Wizard instructed me to adhere the device to the monitor with the suction cup I found that the suction cup was beyond worthless. (I even attempted to adhere it to the windshield of my truck next to my GPS and it's suction cup).

OK, I'll just go back and re-designate how I would position the device. No you can't just start over. Customer Service did respond to my email quickly and explained if I went to the GO MENU and then clicked forward 5 frames I could start again. Sorry not very intuitive. In this process Customer Service also explained I was better off not using the suction cup (this is not indicated in their training videos) and that some suction cups had been sent out that were defective. Customer Service also directed me to Datacolor's web site where I was able to watch several very informative videos and download a user's manual for my device.

Finally I got through the preliminaries and have both my Dell 2208 WFP and my 15" MacBook Pro calibrated. It seems as though the calibrations are spot on and I am very happy with the results. I will attempt to get back to this site later and give a follow-up report on how the product works over time. I previously had a Huey Pro and it flat didn't do much and then after 6 months it quit. I attempted several times to contact Pantone but they did not respond to my emails or to the messages I left when I called. I value my time to much to waste time on companies with crappy customer service. I just won't do business with them and I will tell everyone I know how unhappy I am with them.

One last little irritant: When I downloaded the Spyder3 Elite User Manual it was in PDF format and the entire document was presented in 14 point type. Do you know how many pages that puppy was? Well, it was huge. I changed the major headings from 23 to 16 point, the smaller headings from 18 to 14 point, and the body from 14 to 12 point and I still ended up with 69 pages to print. (I did mention I was a dinosaur. I still like to read a printed page).

I'd possibly rate this item with 5 Stars if I was more geeky and less dinosaurish. (That is a new word).