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Question about Spyder 3
I own the Spyder 3 Elite and have not had good luck calibrating my monitor for video editing. In the Vegas forum people seem to regard Spyder 3 as a good way to calibrate a monitor. However, in other forums that I’ve been in people suggest avoiding the Spyder 3.
I actually do not edit in Vegas (I edit in FCP on an iMac) but in the FCP forum people have suggested instead buying a broadcast monitor and use a Matrox MX02 Mini which is quite expensive.
Since I can’t afford that set up at this point, can someone help me to learn how to calibrate my iMac using Spyder 3 Elite so that I can do some basic color correction?
I’ve spoken with tech support at Datacolor (the maker’s of Spyder) and they were not very helpful. So I’d like to find out how I can use this device properly for what I’m doing.
Thanks,
Mike S
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4 Replies
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Upgrade to the Pro version of the software and you will be able to “profile” after you calibrate your monitor. REC 709 & sRGB are profiles you can create with the upgraded software. This may help get you close, but is not exactly the same as a “broadcast” monitor and the scan converter you need to run it; but much cheaper and if you are primarily displaying on the web it works fine.
Malcolm
http://www.malcolmproductions.com -
Thanks for your help. I actually purchased the Pro version and then upgraded to the Elite so I am able to create profiles. I went ahead and selected the target “ITU-R Rec. BT 709” and selected the Gray Balance to be “On”. It then asked me to place the Spyder on the monitor so I let it do it’s thing. Then once it completed I just saved the profile.
I’ll need to do some research to find out more about REC 709 and sRGB as those terms are fairly new to me.
Was there anything that I just did that I should have done differently? (i.e. Selected “Iterive” instead of “On” for Gray Balance)
Thanks,
Mike
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Sorry about the Pro/Elite mixup!
Rec 709 is the HDTV standard; sRGB is the computer standard, the colors are similar but there are other differences between the two standards.
Run calibration, then profile for whatever standard you need for your intended distribution. From all the questions I have asked about this issue, if you are intending to display NTSC on a CRT you need a scan converter and a broadcast monitor to grade. If you are creating programing for the web create an sRGB profile, you are set, for HDTV you should be OK with REC709 profile,according to Jon Rofanno. Check out some past posts to learn more.
Good luck!
M
Malcolm
http://www.malcolmproductions.com -
Thanks so much for the info!
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