whats the best & cheapest way to calibrate your monitor for photo finish colors?

Originally Posted by chrisjlee whats the best & cheapest way to calibrate your monitor for photo finish colors?

The monitor calibration spyder thingies are getting very cheap, dipping well below $100 now. As far as best - I can't answer that one. Make sure whatever you get will work for your monitor type (LCD type for LCD's, etc.)

Hopefully, someone will help out here with their experiences. Did you try searching the forums here? We have covered this subject before several times.

Originally Posted by chrisjlee whats the best & cheapest way to calibrate your monitor for photo finish colors?

Cheapest: Software + your eyes, such as Adobe Gamma, and other freware/shareware utilities. My nvidia driver includes a decent monitor calibration utility. Use these to create a calibrated profile that you keep loaded via your video card.

Best: I would say a hardware calibration tool. It still uses a profile, but creates it via a precise measurement, rather than eyeballing the best match.
I just picked up a Spyder2Pro, but their other models are very inexpensive.

whats the best & cheapest way to calibrate your monitor for photo finish colors?

I use the Monaco Optix calibration software with a Monaco colorimeter ("hockey puck" color sensor). It's not the cheapest (I think it ran ~$200 discounted, which is more than the Spyder), but it sure ain't the most expensive, either (some pro models run well over a grand). I think I bought it instead of the Spyder because the reviews seemed to favor it. And by golly, it works -- which is the most important thing.

I haven't used another system, so am not qualified to really compare and contrast 'em.