Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Brightness only an issue for Elite photographers!?, 11 Sep 2009
Excellent product as far as it goes but be aware that if the reason (like me) you are buying this device is due to having prints that are too dark or light relative to your monitor, (as well as unusually colored) then it will _not_ fix all of your problems with the software provided.
The "Pro" level software does not provide you with a measure of luminance (to help with brightness adjustment to the recommended level) and only asks you to set everything back to your monitor defaults and then adjust the brightness to a level you choose manually.
After purchase, if fixing the colours is not sufficient for your needs and you want help in setting the brightness (which the device _can_ obviously measure) you will be forced to pay for a 65euro (?) upgrade to the "Elite" level software.
I find this type of (I assume) marketing decision to be enormously frustrating, as what seems a very basic function has been cut off in software to enable Datacolor to sell a software upgrade.
So Overall, a good (5 star) product but with software which is limited in a fundamental, self defeating and confusing way (minus 4 stars).
Workaround:
As this simple measurement is the only major limitation with the package I've found some free software (HCFR Colorimeter) that can use the spyder 3 sensor (and the original spyder3.dll installed off the cd, not the version from the online update) and get a luminance reading that can be used to make accurate brightness adjustments to 120cd/m^2 before calibration with the Spyder software (which is otherwise excellent and easy to use).
I suppose I could be accused of buying the wrong product, but honestly, most of the buyers of consumer products of this type just don't know enough not to trust the manufacturers recommendations that this product is suitable for "Serious photographers and creative pros", and finding later that really basic functions have been cut off (serious photographers and creative pros apparently aren't interested in brightness ... orlly?) is just incredibly annoying and frustrating.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good calibration tool that was quite easy to use..., 19 Feb 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
Installation was surprisingly easy, just insert the disk, install the program, connect the Spyder using a free USB socket, then start the program up. This took around 5 to 10 minutes.
I was suprised to find a free screen cleaner in the box! Other contents included Software CD (and serial key), 4 step quick start guide, 2 year warranty, Spyder3 calibration tool, and a stand for using the ambient light monitor built into the Spyder3.
Calibrating the screen - The program asks you several questions such as screen type (LCD, CRT, Laptop, Projector), what options are available on your screen, and then recommends resetting to factory defaults. It also checks what options you have with your screen, one problem is that the wizard doesn't allow you to select RGB, these are only available in the advanced mode - using this mode can extend the length of time it takes to calibrate the screen - and the software suggests that you may get better results by not using this feature (once switched on it seemed impossible to switch this feature off). Calibration takes roughly 10 - 15 minutes, and shows a before and after view at the end of calibration.
Before my monitor on default settings was overly bright and yellow and didn't show bright gradients very well. My own attempts at setting the contrast and brightness manually had made photos appear somewhat harsh and overly cold. The calibration from Spyder 3 appears to have worked well. It's now possible to view the individual blocks in the grayscale chart used on a lot of websites eg at the bottom of DPReview, previously the whites were too bright and the dark shades weren't dark enough.
The program installs an icon in the taskbar, from this you can launch the main program. In preferences you can select whether you have a reminder about recalibrating your screen, and can switch on auto updates, and advanced options. On the SpyderProof section you can view a number of photos as thumbs or zoom in to view the photos individually and the program will show you before and after results. It works quite well but can be confusing at times with limited instructions, and I can't help feeling that it's overpriced when compared to the competition.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Peace of mind for anyone working with images, 21 Jan 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
This is a must-have gadget for anyone working with images on the PC, from serious hobbyist to professional level. Basically, the hardware gizmo hangs on your screen from sucker cups, while the software makes sure that your monitor is showing colours correctly - essential if you want your work to show the colours you want in print or on screens other than your own PC monitor.
It performs the job well, and you might be surprised at some of the discrepancies between your old settings and the adjusted ones post-calibration. I was impressed at the way it has altered the brightness of my images on-screen - reds in particular are real, rich reds rather than muddy marroons. This gives me a much better impression of how these colours will print / should appear on other machines.
Easy-to-use and small enough to be unobtrustively docked away when not suckered to the screen!
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by Martin Evening
