Worth investing in colour calibration tool?
 

Hi,
Just wondering if any one here uses a colour calibration tool such as the Pantone Eye-One Display (1 and 2) or the Spyder Pro (as examples).
Noticed a difference on my iMac monitor (set to iMac calibration) and the clients monitor (slightly different colours and contrasts) and in FCP the timeline footage is a lot darker than the Quicktime self contained movies etc.
Also thinking of setting up another monitor (I was actually using a second monitor, CRT, before that kicked of it's mortal coil) and would need this matching the other.
I consider this more a priority in graphic design and photography than video work (but what do I know!!) and the higher end calibration tools mentioned above cost nearly £200 (though this can be lowered if you're willing to use the multiple monitors/ambient like functionality).
Cheers.

Hi David.

Stephen Noe made a very informative post about the Pantone Huey on this thread:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=80412

I've been thinking about getting one.

Hi David,

Definitely worth investing in. I use a Spyder2. It's simple and inexpensive.

Some useful advice;
http://www.apple.com/uk/pro/color/
http://www.videouniversity.com/tvbars2.htm

Cheers,

Liam.

Thanks David/Liam.
I did look at the Pantone Huey and that's not a bad price - you then go to the Pantone Eye one 1 then Eye one 2 and the jump in price is almost twice that of the Huey. Looking to save money I'm wondering what I could do without on the more expensive models...I could do with it calibrating two monitors (at least) - the thread you linked me to suggest there is a way of 'tricking' your current monitor into doing this. I currently use the iMac 24" HD screen...

Actually found a very good web price on the Pantone Eye-One Display LT (mid range of the three mentioned above).
At £104 it might be worth investigating.

I don't think calibrated monitors will help w/that one. There is an inconsistency in how video is displayed in various Apple apps. Some make an automatic gamma adjustment and others do not.


-A

OH YES! I always compare computer monitor to video monitor when editing. Adding the Spyder to my computer was one of the best investments I have evermade.

Ah, thanks Andrew.
I think the general line is that I should invest in one...which I shall.
Thanks folks.

Monitor calibrators are great and indispencable if you're into digital photography. I've been using an eye-one for a long time. But Andrew is correct, you're not going to get a perfect representation watching a YUV video proxy on a progressive RGB device like a computer LCD monitor. There is a small amount of error when converting between color spaces and the gamma / interlacing isn't handled very well. It's still very workable these days though as the LCD's and graphics cards do a much better job.

Agreed!! Color monitor calibration is essential for digital photography, but, it's more important to set up your test bars than the color mapping.

Is testing the colour bars something I can do with the equipment I already have i.e. camera/NLE...(I have little else at the moment)?
I see your points...it was a photographer friend of mine who mentioned he finds this tool indespensible and that I might perhaps find it useful...but I can understand why it's not so important for digital video.

When I take the composite out to a TV (marked as Y/Video PB and PR on the camera...not quite sure what they denote?) the picture is really good. When I then stick it in FCP/Monitor it starts getting a little cheeky...looks different on various programs/media players.
Essentially, I can't really chuck away money on less than necessary kit at the moment...top priority for me now is new hard drive (g raid for HDV) and some kind of lighting kit...hopefully I'll see you guys on the NLE and Photon boards later :)
Cheers.

Yep, that's the component signal out of the cam and is pretty much full quality.

David...

Not sure that "testing" is the appropriate word...semantics, perhaps. The word I'd use is setting up my monitor to be NTSC(or PAL) compliant. I always put an NTSC header on my video to allow me to set my monitor when viewing. You guys in PAL land don't necessarilly need the Pluge bars, but, you can still use the PAL colorbars. For details on how to calibrate your monitor, see wikipedia or any number of sources. If you have, or plan to invest, in Adobe(Serious Magic) HDRack, you'll get a full complement of tools(vectorscope, histogram, waveform monitor) to adjust your monitor with, plus a complete set of instructions how to do it.

Cheers Rich.

Bill - I'll give that a good read over when I find a second. Not sure I've even heard of Adobe HD Rack but again I'll investigate that (perhaps instead of the calibration tool...?).
I guess I should then add a PAL colour bar header for each new tape...I've accrued many a tip over the past couple of weeks on here that are now second nature.
Many thanks.

You can still use a calibrator after setting your monitor to color bars. The calibrator simply measures each color your monitor is putting out and creates a LUT (profile) which applications like photoshop can access.