Color Calibration

Color management is one of those things that you think, "I should definitely do that... some day". After countless "some days" you find yourself continuing to struggle with a monitor that fails to provide an accurate, objective color scheme for your photos or web graphics. You figure out some poor workarounds and say to yourself, "I should really get a calibration device... some day". 

Well, I'm embarrassed to say that it took me a long time to invest in a color management device and I can safely say it will be the best investment I've made in my Macbook Pro. I have always operated under the assumption that a Mac has superior built-in color management compared to a PC so it should be "close enough" to do everything but the most critical work. As it turns out, that was a really bad assumption. My Apple Cinema Display is definitely a whole lot more accurate out of the box than my laptop display, as this little device showed me all too well. 

I work mostly in Lightroom and Photoshop on my computer when I do printing and I've always complained about using my laptop to proof my images. I now have nearly complete faith that what I am seeing on the monitor is an objective, accurate representation of the actual colors and tones of the image I am working on. Gone are the days where I've had to do countless test prints to dial in the color of an image. 


I read quite a few online reviews, some detailed some (typical of the web) woefully inadequate on specifics. I finally founds an extremely useful comparison of the major brands and devices on the Northlight Images website. Specifically, they discussed the devices, software, ease of use, and accuracy of the profiles created. There are numerous reviews of other devices under the More Info section at the bottom of the page.

The installation of the software is a bit archaic on my Macbook Pro (10.6.4). There is a standalone program on the installation CD along with two other applications that don't quite provide an easy way of determining their function or whether they're required to run the calibration. I simply double-clicked to install each of them and found I only needed one of the three (time wasted and almost solely due to poor installation instructions). Apparently, X-Rite decided a generic installation guide with pictures and multi-platform installation steps would suffice. Well, for the initial installation, it didn't. The Flash-based and PDF-based install instructions were a great addition, however, if you are the type who likes sitting through them. Fortunately, I am, so I was able to determine the majority of what I needed from those two sources. 

The software that runs the device is very straightforward and walks you through the simple process of calibrating your display. I had to play around with the white point settings just a bit to get rid of a green cast resulting from using the Native White Point of my laptop and Cinema displays. I reverted to 6500K with a 2.2 gamma and the results were much better! I'd recommend this to anyone complaining of a green cast. There's nothing in the software to indicate that this will fix it, but I've read a few online forums discussing the default settings of the Eye-One Display 2 and they each recommended using 6500K and 2.2 gamma for a Mac.

Overall, this device, albeit a bit pricey as a one-time purchase, will produce reliable, high-quality color for a long time to come. I am planning on upgrading my computer next year and this will be the first change I make to the machine after getting it set up. It's simply that good. I highly recommend it to anyone doing their own printing who wants reliable results.