Is a color calibrator worth it?

I am no professional photographer or anything. Just wondering, would me purchase a professional color calibrator make the colors on my Samsung PLS screen any better or nothing that I'd notice?

The one I was looking at is expensive that's why I ask before buying it and only wasting my money:

http://www.amazon.com/Datacolor-Spy...d=1427231296&sr=8-1&keywords=color+calibrator

 

A Spyder 4 Express will work just fine and is only $99.
I'd say monitor color calibration not necessary unless you are doing color sensitive work such as photo and video editing. Otherwise the tangible benefit is the satisfaction that your display is calibrated to show color properly.
Calibration might not make the colors "better" depending on how you define that; it might actually tone down a particular channel e.g. red.

 

Thanks chief.

BTW, with that device, I can calibrate as many screens as I like right?

 

See here: http://spyder.datacolor.com/display-calibration/

Express will allow you to calibrate one display per computer, but pretty much indefinite number of computers. If you want multi monitor support on a single PC you have to bump up to the Pro or Elite version. Plus the Pro and Elite give you details on your LCD's color reproduction.

It does give you peace of mind to do it, at least for me. It's weird too because once you get a decent LCD and calibrate it you think "that is really supposed to be THAT color"? Most laptop LCD's are so horrible that certain shades of blue look green and certain shades of gray look blue, etc.

Here's a good example/article at Tom's: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/spyder4-monitor-calibration-image-quality,3581.html

 

Thank a lot man, I just bought the PRO version. I will try to recover the money by offering people to calibrate their monitros for a $40 USD fee which people here in Dubai would love since they don't sell these things here.

 

I just read that Tom's Hardware article and am even more excited now! Can't wait till it arrives

 

The Express will show you gamut coverage percentage, at the very least, for sRGB, Adobe RGB and NTSC.

 

I have a Spyder3Express but about ready to buy the Spyder4Elite though. I have no good reason to have great color calibration but once you see/use a good monitor with good color it's hard to look at anything else. So in a way, it's better to be used to the crap displays because they're cheaper and won't make you go bonkers looking at awful color reproduction.

 

I have a spyder 4 Pro and I'm very happy I got it if only to match the colors on both my desktop monitors, it was nagging me having one with a blue hue and not the other. Calibrating them fixed that to some extent.

 

It is worth it even if you are not trying to do any color or image work. The colors are off to some extent or another in any screen. If you just use a single screen on a daily basis, you get used to it and probably won't notice. But once you start using more than one screen on a daily basis, the differences in color reproduction can get really annoying. And it isn't just that, but viewing images in colors that look more natural just looks better. Once you start calibrating your displays you can never go back.

 

I am more of a x-rite fan so color munki display or i1d3 get my vote. More reliable, better compatibility for high end desktop displays and various calibration software packages. Anyways, it is definitely a worthy piece of accessory. You can toy with many different things if you have time for it.

Sent from my 306SH