Monitor Calibration Advice

[Disrupt Studios]

Currently I am working on a couple of 10 year old CRT monitors If find that no matter how much I tweek with the settings on my monitor and my video card I just don't get correct color.(Adobe Gamma ect.) I edit on the CRTs and the I go back and view on 4 or 5 other laptops or LCDs CRts. There is a huge difference of monitor to monitor. The main problem is color its contrast, blacks, and neutrals.

I understand that this will always be the case and that I should calibrate for printing to my printer. However I don't print on a regular basis. I photograph for fun and my only intent currently is to share via the web. I don't think my work merits much more. The question I have is can you suggest how best to calibrate for the web so that my photographs are not horrible to half the people that see them.

I am also considering a monitor upgrade I would like a larger viewing area as well. Any thoughts on the LCD CRT debate would be helpful as well.

[tegan]

Currently I am working on a couple of 10 year old CRT monitors If find that no matter how much I tweek with the settings on my monitor and my video card I just don't get correct color.(Adobe Gamma ect.) I edit on the CRTs and the I go back and view on 4 or 5 other laptops or LCDs CRts. There is a huge difference of monitor to monitor. The main problem is color its contrast, blacks, and neutrals.

I understand that this will always be the case and that I should calibrate for printing to my printer. However I don't print on a regular basis. I photograph for fun and my only intent currently is to share via the web. I don't think my work merits much more. The question I have is can you suggest how best to calibrate for the web so that my photographs are not horrible to half the people that see them.

I am also considering a monitor upgrade I would like a larger viewing area as well. Any thoughts on the LCD CRT debate would be helpful as well.

To cover part of the above, colour specialists generally agree that CRTs reproduce colour better and more accurately than LCDs. The advantage of LCDs is brightness and contrast.

For web use, you should be using the sRGB colour space and NOT the Adobe RGB, by the way. Some with calibrated monitors but using Adobe RGB are still having problems with the apparent quality of their work when viewed on the web.

Tegan

[tirediron]

The only accurate way to calibrate a monitor is with an actual calibration tool - The Spyder III is an excellent tool, easy to use, and well worth the $100 or so investment. Agree with Tegan's comments about colour-space.

[baddness]

I calibrated my laptop monitor with spyder III. Is it suppose to make everything dark?