Hello,
My monitor recently went out and due to financial limitations (aka Wife) I decided to go with the ASUS PA238Q. I know it's not the best, hopefully not the worst, but it's what I can afford. I am a serious hobbyist and this is my first IPS monitor. It is also my first baby steps into color management. I rarely print from home and primarily use Costco. I am using the monitor with a Win 7 64. I can't look up which video card I have but it's a ATI Radeon (I think it's the 5570) that comes with the HP Pavillion Elite HPE 270 or so.
There is a member selling a Spyder2pro and I am curious what would be better the 2pro or a 3 express. Both appear to be selling for just shy of $100. I have seen some posts that listed problems using a x2 on Win7 but it appears that I can use either an xp driver or it has been fixed.
I am leaning towards the x3 (easier to use) but maybe the software on the x2 is significantly better (given the price difference) I just want to make sure that it can calibrate the monitor I purchased. I am open to other suggestions but need to keep it in around the same price. Ease of use is also a big priority as I have limited aka zero knowledge on tinkering with advanced steps. I just want to make sure that what ever I purchase can handle correcting the monitor and not some weird limitation like not usable with LED backlighting.
I did research posts but didn't see applicable circumstances. Your help would be gratly appreciated and thanks in advance.
Christian
Some specs on the monitor.
Trace Free Technology
SPLENDID Video Intelligence Technology
Color Space : sRGB (100% Coverage)
SPLENDID Video Preset Modes : 5 Modes (sRGB Mode/Scenery Mode/Theater Mode/Standard Mode/User Mode)
Color Temperature Selection : 4 Modes
Color Accuracy : Delta E ≦ 5
Gamma adjustment : Yes (Support Gamma 2.2/1.8 )
Color Adjustment : 6-axis adjustment(R,G,B,C,M,Y)
Picture-in-Picture
Picture-by-Picture
HDCP support
The spyder 2 will not cope with LED.
I have had limited some success with the spyder 3 elite, there are mixed reports.
The spyder 4 is supposed to be much better.
There are good reports of the Xrite i1 Display 2 with LED.
i have had excellent results with spyder 3 elite using latest software version 4.02 on my very clean copy of hp lp2475w that exhibits no green/pink nonsense. prior i was trying to use i1Display2 and got horrid results.
now that said the newer spyder 4 elite looks promising as does the brand new i1DisplayPro...(this of course going by Ethan's results at Drycreek Photo which leave their own questions in my mind too) other than the fact one must calibrate in dark as heck room to prevent light leakage during calibration (i calibrate at 5800 not 6500 so i understand some dark working area). while it may calibrate great that to me is somewhat of a shortcoming. just wonder why on earth they designed their puck to be like it is which is out of the norm and not so easy to get to lie flat against screen.
I can see tilting a screen back slightly to get a good seal around felt ring but to calibrate in the dark i think is over the top so to speak.
Trespassed wrote:
Thanks Howard and Morgan, you saved me some money and frustration! I found out I can rent the xrite products so I think I will go that route.
i think that is a good bet
the i1 display pro has amazingly low copy to copy variation, far lower than any of the others under $2500 (it remains to be seen with the Spyder 4 but I tend to doubt it will have quite so low) and unlike the spyder 3 it will work well on any sort of current monitor tech without being stuck with having to use spyder software (and even with spyder 3 software i'm still a touch dubious about quite how well spyder 3 does measuring primary locations on LED and wide gamut monitors).
