Spyder3Express - Few questions before I purchase...

Does anyone have this? All the monitors/laptop screens that I own all look terrible (color reproduction) and it's starting to really annoy me now. I became interested today in purchasing a calibrator, and justified the price tag by telling myself that I have 4-5 laptops in my household, along with 2 monitors, so therefore it's worth it! I could also calibrate my GF's MBP, and her dad's Studio 15 as well.

I'm not 100% sure as to how the whole software/hardware combo works, but I just wanted to make sure that results are possible, and that if I buy the express version, I can calibrate as many screens as I want.

Anyone out there

 

Yes, you can calibrate as many screens as you want; you will need to install the software on every computer. There is no limit on how many times you can do that.

I have the Spyder2Express and have been extremely satisfied with it. It really fixed the colors on my 5310m's lifeless screen and corrected the overexposed colors of my desktop monitor. Definitely worth the money.

 

It is a hardware or software tweak or both? I've had a few people ask me about LCD color calibration before..

 

I have the SpyderExpress3Elite and I too am satisfied with it.

Do note that Datacolor has (for a while now) initiated activating the software via the internet with the hardware 'sypder' you'll be buying - just so you know.

This is a hardware (a 'puck' that you place on the screen to measure colors) and a software solution that generates a color profile for your display and gives you the best chance of seeing the same colours on different monitors.

Be warned though that not all monitors are created equal - some just cannot be 'corrected' enough to make a usable difference with the newly generated icc/icm profile.

 

Anyone know where I can find it for cheap In canada lowest I found was 113.15 CAD w/ shipping

Is there any reason to pay $30 mo5re for pro?

 

Interesting; the software that came with my Spyder2Express is undoubtedly older . . . does the Internet activation prevent you from installing it on many computers?

 

Charles,

So far, no.

Even though my hardware is the SpyderElite3, I opted for the upgraded software v4.02.

See:
Spyder3Elite™ 4.0 Upgrade - Datacolor - Global Leader in Color Management Solutions


The problem is obvious from their side:

A user buys a single SpyderElite 3/4 package and uses the licence with the identical (but cheaper) SypderExpress3 hardware.

By activating the software with the actual hardware from the 'elite' combo, it will effectively not run with any other 'puck'.

 

Funny story... I told a client a few weeks back that our color chart online is not real great, he responded that he is a professional photographer so his monitor is calibrated and yadda, yadda.

I pointed out that was not going to mean much when I made the color chart look good on my, uncalibrated, monitor .