Datacolor SpyderX Elite: Monitor Calibration designed for expert and professional Photographers, Videographers and motion imagemakers

Product Information

Overall, both models offer exceptional calibration technology for digital projectors. This makes the SypderX a great monitor calibration tool for one or multiple displays. Datacolor Spyderx Pro Options

Profiling means characterizing how a particular device reproduces colors and a color profile can be used to compensate and effectively calibrate a display by altering color response at the graphics card level.And considering there never seems to be enough hours in the day, I greatly value products that allow me to work as efficiently as possible. On a Mac I’d do these things with the ColorSync Utility but it’s nice to see just how many old profiles have collected on my laptop… Monitor quality The gamut is claimed to be 100% Adobe 98, although I believe the monitor specifications put it fractionally under. The profiling options should meet the needs of a wide range of users, although if you need all the really advanced hardware calibration options found in the custom software that comes with some higher quality monitors, you’d use that software with a Spyder X colorimeter (when supported).

The picture can be displayed as a proof, with colours as close to what’s expected as your monitor can mange. When you hold the Datacolor SpyderX Elite, you’ll feel that it’s similar to many of the previous products. In fact, if you didn’t hold them each and every day in your hand, then you probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the new Datacolor SpyderX Elite and the previous Datacolor Spyder5 in a blind test. The Datacolor SpyderX Elite is about the size of a small piece of citrus fruit with the exception of the massive cable that comes with it. Said cable is to help the Datacolor SpyderX Elite cater to a number of different screens.

The resulting color profile is used by your operating system and any color managed program to adjust its output, making sure that what you see is as similar as possible to other displays, given their intrinsic differences. The new colorimeter is claimed to be the best Spyder yet, with the large lens on the front improving light measurement evenness from screens. If you’ve an old calibrator and a new monitor it really could be time to update, since display technologies are still changing quite rapidly. This all brings me to a bigger and ultimate point: folks who don’t calibrate their displays (and that’s probably most) will probably never see or care enough about a difference. But the truth is that the difference is indeed there. When I look at the edited images of some of my staffers, I can tell that their displays are calibrated differently than mine.

All the Spyders… I’ve been fortunate enough to review every Spyder model produced, right from the first (far left). All these still work, but only the most recent ones will give optimal results for a wide gamut screen like the BenQ monitor here. This technical superiority and unmatched confidence gives photographers control over their work, allowing them to feel they can achieve their ultimate goal – the true expression of their creative vision. A couple of minutes later, I’m invited to save the profile created. You can also choose a calibration reminder. At this point I’d go to the ‘expert console’ since I know how I want the calibration doing, however the step by step assistant is good to start with.So, what's the obsession with saving a couple of minutes? Well, it makes little sense for me. I'm a color geek. I enjoy spending half an hour calibrating each of my monitors. But, from an ease of use perspective, faster results are less frustrating and help to reduce the barrier of entry to convince users to calibrate their displays. "It'll take just a couple of minutes" is a great selling point. Many displays will need to have their brightness adjusted to a very low level if being used in a dark environment. The only area I could see a small difference when switching between profiles was on the most extreme grayscale dark tones below L 12 on the LAB color space. Recalibration makes use of the software’s previous measurements from this monitor to reduce calibration time. You won’t go seriously wrong with the incorrect setting, it’s just your profile may not be the very best.