Calibrating a laptop monitor

Anybody have tips on how to calibrate a laptop monitor? I have a Colorvision Spyder with the baffle for an LCD but there are so few controls available to adjust the screen (compared to my CRTs) that basically I just define the gamma and color temp and let the Spyder take the color measurements and create a profile without any additional interaction. I think all I could do is change the brightness of the screen anyway.

I'm not going to do any color-critical work on this, I'm using it mainly to store files from digital cameras while traveling, reviewing the images for composition and sharpness. All the real work is done when we get home, but I'd like to be able to see them better when using the laptop on the road. The monitor defaulted to some sRGB spec so when I ran the Spyder on it and got a basic default ICM profile things improved greatly, but I'm wondering if there are ways to improve further on this.

This is a Dell 5150 with a basic 14" TFT screen and a Radeon 32 MB graphics card. Any tips would be appreciated, or if this is what you get with an LCD I'd like to know that too.

Bill

Bill Hilton wrote:

Anybody have tips on how to calibrate a laptop monitor? I have a Colorvision Spyder with the baffle for an LCD but there are so few controls available to adjust the screen (compared to my CRTs) that basically I just define the gamma and color temp and let the Spyder take the color measurements and create a profile without any additional interaction. I think all I could do is change the brightness of the screen anyway.

I'm not going to do any color-critical work on this, I'm using it mainly to store files from digital cameras while traveling, reviewing the images for composition and sharpness. All the real work is done when we get home, but I'd like to be able to see them better when using the laptop on the road. The monitor defaulted to some sRGB spec so when I ran the Spyder on it and got a basic default ICM profile things improved greatly, but I'm wondering if there are ways to improve further on this.

Not without investing in expensive calibration hardware. The Spyder is pretty good, and as you said you will not do any color-critical work on your laptop, I would leave it with that.

--
Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.nl/

"Johan W. Elzenga" wrote in message

Bill Hilton wrote:

Anybody have tips on how to calibrate a laptop monitor? I have a

Colorvision

Spyder with the baffle for an LCD but there are so few controls

available to

adjust the screen (compared to my CRTs) that basically I just define the

gamma

and color temp and let the Spyder take the color measurements and create

a

profile without any additional interaction. I think all I could do is

change

the brightness of the screen anyway.

I'm not going to do any color-critical work on this, I'm using it mainly to store files from digital cameras while traveling, reviewing the

images

for composition and sharpness. All the real work is done when we get home, but I'd like to be able to see them better when using the laptop

on

the road. The monitor defaulted to some sRGB spec so when I ran the Spyder on it and got a basic default ICM profile things improved

greatly,

but I'm wondering if there are ways to improve further on this.

Not without investing in expensive calibration hardware. The Spyder is pretty good, and as you said you will not do any color-critical work on your laptop, I would leave it with that.

--
Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.nl/

While looking at the same Hell Boy QT trailer in the Apple site using Powerbook 12" G4 and Sony VAIO TR3A.

I notice that the general tone of the page has brownish, grey color and the gradation of the grey on the PB is awful. Black is kinda dark grey. This doesn't change too much whether I set the gamma to the mac default at 1.8 or
2.2.

On the VAIO TR3's XBRITE LCD screen, the same page renders bluish, grey tone and gradation is deep and rich and smooth. Black is truely black. Although the overall brightness is very good in wide angle too but I can see color shifts depending on where your head tilt to.

It's odd that the same webpage renders totally different images on different laptops.

I have seen the desktop LCD that looks very good in a glance but I have not paid too much attention to it in the stores. Is it good enough for serious color related works? Do you have to look at the screen straight on?

On 24 Apr 2004 22:33:14 GMT, (Bill Hilton)
wrote:

Anybody have tips on how to calibrate a laptop monitor? I have a Colorvision Spyder with the baffle for an LCD but there are so few controls available to adjust the screen (compared to my CRTs) that basically I just define the gamma and color temp and let the Spyder take the color measurements and create a profile without any additional interaction. I think all I could do is change the brightness of the screen anyway.

Have you installed the fancy video drivers from ATI in place of the default Windows drivers? Sometimes that gets you a lot more controls.

Loren