Get a FREE fully-working copy of Steganos Security Suite 7 (worth £49.99) when you sign up to the Practical PC Newsletter. Review: ColorVision Spyder
Don Bradbury looks at a device that can be used to calibrate your colour monitor.
| Product | Spyder with PhotoCAL |
|---|---|
| Company | ColorVision Inc |
| Web | www.colorvision.com |
| Price | £99 |
| We like | Quick calibration; Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 included |
| We don't like | Fussy installation; downloaded manual and hardware test software |
| Rating | 8/10 |
| Requirements |
Getting your images to display on a monitor with correct colour fidelity is the task of specialist hardware and software. You could do this with ColorVision's Spyder. It's necessary because your monitor cannot be expected to display correct colours until you've specified various settings and then had the display automatically corrected by the software. Then you need to store the calibration on your system for use by appropriate applications - such as Adobe PhotoShop, or whatever graphics manipulation application you favour.
The Spyder device is attached to your CRT monitor (or LCD with due care, because it has to be pushed onto the screen). The PhotoCAL software is then run which asks you various questions in order to complete the set up.
Setting up the hardware and software is ostensibly easy; you just follow the Installation Guide that comes in the Spyder package. But after that you have to turn to the ColorVision web site to download the manual. This is a fifteen page tome called the User Guide, but why is it not on the installation CD?
Guidance
From the User Guide you learn that before proceeding you should disable your anti-virus software, and then check that your video card will be compatible with PhotoCAL; "most produced in the last two years should be compatible", the guide says.
To be sure, you can download and run OptiCheck to test your particular video card. ATI, (though not All-In-Wonder), Matrox, GeForce, and Nvidia cards should be compatible; others need testing, the guide advises. We think it would have been helpful to include OptiCheck on the PhotoCAL CD, too.
Then you set hardware acceleration to full on the computer, check that the minimum display resolution of 640 x 480 is set, together with 16 million colours (24-bit), disable any Adaptec or Roxio burning software, connect the Spyder to your PC only via a primary USB port (for its power delivery capability; "a powered hub might be satisfactory") and the point is made that the Lucent chipset rather than a motherboard USB port is preferred. Finally, note that combination USB/Firewire cards may or may not be satisfactory.
Unplug and update
Unplug any graphics tablet you have installed, unplug any other USB devices, such as web cam, digital camera or mouse (which could be quite restrictive for you these days), and make sure Adobe Gamma Loader or other third party calibrating software is not in your startup folder. Then it's advised that you download and install the latest video drivers for your video card from the appropriate manufacture's web site. Finally, make sure you know how to modify your monitor's colour settings (colour temperature, brightness, contrast), and then switch off all lights and close any blinds in the computer room.
After attending to all this, you can proceed to colour calibrate your monitor by running PhotoCAL. Select the Gamma to which you want to calibrate (2.2 is standard for the PC; 1.8 for the Mac}. Then select the Colour Temperature; here 5000 is traditional for printing, but 6500 is better for PCs handling digital imaging. Set your contrast control to maximum, and finally adjust the brightness as directed.
When you've finished the calibration run, a file on your drive stores the information. Ideally it would be updated at regular intervals to maintain correct colour fidelity as the monitor ages.
Print correction
Note that the procedure so far only calibrates your monitor; it does not interface with your particular printer, ink, and paper combination to provide a profile for that. To achieve that you need an addition to the reviewed package in the form of more powerful software called PrintFix at £199 plus VAT, or a more powerful complete package in the first place, such as PrintFix plus Spyder Pro, £299 plus VAT.
But even that particular combination will, in the end, only cater for certain (web-listed) printers. Software claiming to cater for any printer is Monaco EZcolor at £169 plus VAT. For directions on how to interface the Spyder with colour corrected printing - surely most people's aim - you'll need to download the free Color Guidance Document from www.colorconfidence.com.
Supported Systems
Windows: 98, 98SE, ME, 2000, XP
Mac: OS 9.x, OS X 10.1
In Conclusion
It's not all plain sailing then setting up for colour correct viewing of your images. And printing them correctly is something else. The Spyder with its PhotoCAL software is intended only for colour correcting your monitor. However, that's a job it can do provided your PC hardware is compatible. Bear in mind the extras you'll need if you want to go the last - but for most of us, vital - mile; that of printing.
The inclusion of Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 will be welcomed by digital photographers and others wanting to catalogue an ever-expanding image collection.
