How serious should I get about my PC display and its calibration?

[Cerpin Taxt]

When I built my rig my primary focus was gaming with multi track audio recording being its sorta secondary function. Consequently, I wasn't REAL picky about things like contrast ratio or color accuracy, instead really just looking at specs like size and response time (FPS).

Now I'm seeing the ways my photos look displayed on different screens, and I'm growing concerned about the calibration of the display on which I edit them. I'm considering picking up one of those Spyders or something, but ahead of that I wonder how critical I should be of my hardware -- is there any point calibrating a monitor if it's not up to certain important specs?

I run two similar but not identical 24" Acer LCDs, but as a point of fact I'm traveling this week so I can't recall their model numbers to review their specs. In general, it's just been on my mind and I'm bored so I thought I'd make a thread about it.

 

[corkyg]

-- is there any point calibrating a monitor if it's not up to certain important specs?.

If it is important to you or your work, by all means calibrate.

 

[Syborg1211]

I bought an x-Rite i1 a few years ago with similar concerns, but it ended up basically saying my monitors were quite well off and I haven't touched it since. There was some weird stuff with color profiles in the computer that made it not clear when that color profile would be used, etc. So I stopped messing with it.

I actually tried to fire it up recently but couldn't get it working since their new software required some license or serial number I have long since lost. If I were to go about it today, I think what I would do is open an image on the monitor and then open it on my phone and compare them to try to make minor adjustments in the monitor's own settings to remove the OS/drivers out of the equation. I also think calibrating to our phones is the way to go since this is the way most people view media these days. If it's something like an iPhone, I know they have their own preference on general color balance that isn't just "100% accurate colors," and I've noticed as much when comparing exports on my phone vs what I saw on my computer.

Edit: I also just remembered that the calibration process isn't as simple as "put the calibrator on the monitor and hit go." There were a ton of settings and options to the tests that I wasn't sure what to do with. This scared me off and made me choose to avoid doing more damage than good.

 

[biostud]

I used the built in calibration in Windows. But I don't do any pro work.

 

[ronbo613]

If your images are going from your computer to printed media, calibration is very important because you want the printing to come out exactly like the color on your monitor. If your photos are going on the internet or other computer programming, then it doesn't matter as much because every person is viewing it on a different monitor with different color settings.

 

[Rifter]

I use mine for photo editing, i calibrate it every 6 months or so. I have a buddy that works in the photo editing business and he comes over with a calibrator from his work and does it for me, so its a pretty good deal for a case of beer every 6 months.

Ive thought about buying my own calibrator but he assures me the one hes using cost over 2k and works great so it would take me a long time to spend that much on beer every time he comes over and break even on costs lol.

 

[elitejp]

Exactly what ronbo said
If your going to print then its important. If you are just viewing it on a monitor or tv then i dont see the need

 

[MrSquished]

I used to color calibrate but moved on from the gf that owned the calibrator. So 3-4 years ago I bought a calibrated monitor and have been shooting real estate professionally for 3 years often . Nobody has complained about the color ever, in fact it gets praised.

Most of my clients go web only but a good amount do print.

*shrug*

 

[luv2liv]

so it only matters if you print.
how about editing videos for sharing on TV/youtube/tablet?

 

[Syborg1211]

I used to color calibrate but moved on from the gf that owned the calibrator. So 3-4 years ago I bought a calibrated monitor and have been shooting real estate professionally for 3 years often . Nobody has complained about the color ever, in fact it gets praised.

Most of my clients go web only but a good amount do print.

*shrug*

Gf who has photo equipment I don't have - That's the dream!

so it only matters if you print.
how about editing videos for sharing on TV/youtube/tablet?

If you export something on your computer and it looks fine when you view it from your mobile device/tablet/tv, then why bother?