Hi,
After two years of frustration I'm going to ask for help. Standard issue, my prints are darker than my display. Yes, I have been calibrating with Spyder2 this whole time, every two months. I've finally had enough and really lowered my brightness and contrast settings on my monitor way beyond what seems reasonable. But, my monitor now seems to display pretty close to the last set of prints I put out, but my luminance setting as indicated by Spyder2 is at 38.0 cd/m2. This is way below everything that I've read which recommends something closer to 80-100 cd/m2.
My monitor is pretty subdued now. Perhaps that's just my perception after two years of too much brightness. Anyway, most of me is tempted to say that if I'm matching my prints I should just shut up and be happy regardless of the luminance reading. The other part of me wants to know if my 38.0 is way too low and I need to keep tinkering.
I'd appreciate your thoughts and advice if you've been in my boat. Here's my set up:

Dell 2007wfp
Monitor Brightness and Contrast settings: 30/33
Spyder 2 readings after calibration:
Luminance 38.0 cd/m2
White Point 5165K
Target Settings
Gama 2.2
White point 5000K
WInXP SP2
Photoshop CS2
Printers: Canon ipf5000 and 6100

Thanks,

Ted

I doubt that your screen can even make blacks that are 38 cd/m2. About 110-120 for your screen and medium ambient light should be fine, but I would not trust the numbers you are getting. They don't seem reliable. Try an EyeOne if you can to see how that compares.

Peter,
Thanks.

I did realize that in my haste (caused by frustration) last night I forgot to view the screen image through the soft proof filter while I was comparing it to the printed image. So when I get back to do that, and adjust from there I should get the brightness back up significantly. I have been operating with the monitor in the 120-130 cd/m2 range and that's where I was having the problems.

I've found the brightness and contrast adjustment screens in the calibration software with the Spyder 2, when used on the Dell 2007wfp, to be insufficient to really set brightness and contrast well. That's why I'm resorting to print to screen comparisons for those settings.

Oh well, back to tinkering.

One source I frequently revisit concerning monitor calibration is Chris Murphy's color calibration tutorial over at Lynda.com. He suggest and rather harshly reiterates that the "back-light" control is the only setting that should be adjusted for luminance calibration. It'll either be your contrast control or brightness control be never both. You'll have to determine which one. The other control is to be left at factory default.

I know this does not specifically address your problem, but if you're "tinkering" as you say, try following those instructions and see if it help. The entire tutorial was a rude awakening to many assumptions I had made concerning monitor calibration. Good luck.

How are you viewing your prints ? They may look great in daylight (indirect if not direct) but really poor at night in incandescent or warm fluoro lighting.

The soft proofing should not show much difference if the prints are made for near-daylight viewing.

- Alan