I use PS CS and want to calibrate my monitor using Adobe Gamma (as
requested
by my photo lab).
Any recommendations/suggestions before I start?
Do it in subdued lighting without any reflections or side lighting on your screen. Set your desktop appearance to a neutral grey (128 128 128) and close any open windows. Not fenestrations, applications.
I had a first try at it yesterday but gave up after one of the first 'wizard' screen said to "set contrast conrrol to its highest
setting".
This totally blew the screen colour out and any subsequent brightness
settings made little difference.
See it through to the end. Just how far off max contrast was your monitor to start with? Only adjust the brightness with reference to the small grey box inside the bigger black box NOT to get some colour correction on the monitor generally. Don't skip, or rush, or complete any stages with a preconceived result in mind, i.e. don't fake any stages. Set the gamma using the 3 colour setting (uncheck the single gamma only box). Squint at the settings to check for them blending one into the other, possibly from a greater distance from the monitor than you would usually. Set your gamma to the appropriate default for Windows or Mac. Use 6500k for your white point, chances are the monitor is at 9300k to start. Use the measure option to check this and take some time deciding which shade of grey is neutral with luck it'll tell you you've selected 6500k.
You'll get a chance to view the before and after and to save your settings at the end or to ditch the lot and make no change so it's worth doing it all the way through. It'll probably look a lot different to how it was but your eyes and brain will accomodate that quickly enough. A calibrated monitor that looks a bit off initially is probably better than an uncalibrated monitor you've come to think of as normal. If it works for you don't forget to recalibrate every month or so as your monitor will probably drift out of calibration, use the same ambient conditions as the first time.