Is Spyder2 any good in 2018?

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  • #11433

    StupidQuestions
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    Hello, is ColorVision/DataColor Spyder2 any good for modern hardware with DisplayCal?

    I want some cheap color calibration device to calibrate latest Windows tablets with quality IPS displays; being overseas, shipping from USA is very expensive, and local prices are simply outrageous. Said Spyder2 is the cheapest option, and will cost me ~$50 shipped for used one.

    Is it up for the task?

    #11439

    Vincent
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    No.

    Your cheapest choice if you are going to use DisplayCAL with current displays is Colormunki Display.
    It’s a slowed down version of i1DisplayPro without support for hardware (=”internal”) calibration for some display manufacturers.

    If you want to use a colorimeter for x86 Windows tablets with “quality IPS displays” from diferent vendors (and maybe very different gamuts) you may want to read DisplayCAL documentation about spectral corrections. Usually “sRGB-like” IPS LED displays need the standard Xrite’s “WLED” spectral correction (or a better one). Tablets with wider gamuts may require that you do a little more research.

    DisplayCAL uses ArgyllCMS executables. There are x86 and x64 ArgyllCMS Windows executables compiled for download. If you meant ARM based tablets… you’ll need to compile for that platform, AFAIK there are no binary compiled distribution for ARM Windows RT and such. INDK even if ARM Windows tablets have GPU LUTs writable by user.

    If with “tablet” you meant some Wacom tablet+display like Cintiq series, “some” of these products have hardware calibration features.
    These HW calibration works with a specific OEM version of i1DisplayPro for Wacom. IDNK if it works with retail i1DisplayPro. Price is almost the same of retail version. If you have one of these Cintiqs, so these devices are your “tablets”, you *really* want that OEM i1DisplayPro for Wacom even if it is more expensive. This OEM version is supported by ArgyllCMS too.

    Calibrite Display Pro HL on Amazon  
    Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    #11444

    StupidQuestions
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    @Vincent thank you very much for your answer! I’ll forget about Spyder2 and other old calibration devices, then.

    I was having high-end and mid-range Windows x64 tablets and convertibles in mind – Thinkpads, Surfaces, etc. I might purchase one with HDR later this year.

    If I invest $150+ in calibration device, I would expect to use it for providing  professional calibration service locally, to cover the costs – and since mobile device calibration might become a thing, ability to calibrate Android & iOS devices would be a plus.

    Is cheaper Spyder5 a no-go for the task, too?

    #11448

    Vincent
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    IMHO, yes, they are a no go.

    Munki Display vs i1DisplayPro is a matter of measurement speed and support for HW cal solutions, since Munki Display are locked by Xrite SDKs as part of ther market segmentation.
    For typical grey ramp calibration +matrix profiles using DisplayCAL Munki Display will do the job. Well behaved screens do not need much more than this kind of calibration.
    For big XYZLUT profiles used as input for LUT3D creation, more speed is worth the price.

    Widegamut/P3 tablets/laptops may need you to do some research finding best spectral correction.

    #11449

    StupidQuestions
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    @Vincent thank you once again!

    Final question – can ColorMunki Display be unlocked/modded/hacked for full functionality of i1Display Pro after purchase?

    #11450

    MW
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    Not really. Colormunki Display is reads half as fast. Reading speed still compares well with Spyder devices and shares the superior color accuracy of the i1 Display Pro.

    #11459

    Vincent
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    MW is right. I think that Munki uses a slower cristal oscilator plus different firmware unlock code.
    Slower speed is HW related and cannot be solved.
    Munki limited software can be solvced using DisplayCAL because ArgyllCMS has unlock code for using Munki Display. Other programs like Basiccolor, i1Profiler or vendor software for HW calibration rely on Xrite SDK which are locked to whatever they allow to do ( = use i1DisplayPro or OEM versions).

    If I invest $150+ in calibration device, I would expect to use it for providing professional calibration service locally, to cover the costs – and since mobile device calibration might become a thing, ability to calibrate Android & iOS devices would be a plus.

    I forgot to answer. In order to “calibrate” you’ll need acces to some kind of LUT (whitepoint & greyscale) or LUT-matrix/LUT3D (gamut emulation). AFAIK there is no portable ARM device with such features. What you can do is to profile the display of that mobile device, I mean to capture in a ICM file how does this display behave. If that mobile device has a web browser without color management you can use DisplayCAL remote measurement for this task. With that profile you could set it as displayprofile when color mamagement with custom profiles became avaliable to these devices (AFAIK there is no support yet)… or convert sRGB/P3/AdobeRGB images to that profile so when rendered in a non color managed enviroment in Android for example, they render color as they should be since these images are now en coded in device RGB colorspace (this works right now on Android but it means to reencode your content to THAT device). Since these display are not so predecible, it’s useful to create big XYZLUT profiles, which mean high number of patches… which usualy means a faster device like the more expensive i1DisplayPro.
    Xrite tried this way: profile display with a mobile app + selected color aware apps with limited success (and I saltute their failure becasue we will be more close to a walled garden if they were successful). App was ColorTRUE and it was compatible with Munki Display too.
    AFAIK iOS uses “targeted color management” which IMHO is a way to say “we do not truly color manage so encode your content in a way we like”.

    Without access to HW level LUT (best if it was a LUT matrix which cannot be so expensive to implement, because right now we have mobile displays with a BIG gamuts) … to calibrate mobile device displays is not an easy task.

    • This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by Vincent.
    • This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by Vincent.
    • This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by Vincent.
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