Calibrating monitor

[browncd81]

Got some pictures printed at Wal-Mart.. came out darker than expected. Tried CVS and was a little brighter, but I had another set done at a different CVS and it was also dark. So, time to cal the monitor. Any tips on this? I was thinking about a Macbeth Color Checker but they're about $70 on Amazon. It's pretty hard to calibrate off gradients, but something like that with solid colors would seem pretty easy. Anyone know of anything similar but cheaper?

Thanks

 

[gert7to3]

The place to check first is your camera settings, especially your LCD display settings. You may have it set too bright, which may be compensating for underexposed images. Use your histogram mode to determine your exposure. Don't rely on your LCD screen for good exposure.

What kind of OS/platform are you using? You may have monitor calibration already included with your system.

If you have a Mac there is a monitor calibration program included with your OS software.

Are you using a 3rd party monitor, if so what make & model? There is probably a calibration program included with your software.

Another place to check is Digital Cameras, Digital Camera Reviews - The Imaging Resource!. They have a monitor calibration program which might get you set up:

Monitor Calibration: Is Your Monitor Calibrated?

 

[lsorensen]

I wouldn't have thought a place like walmart was a place to get pictures printed if you wanted quality. After all do you think they have people trained to actually get the colour settings right? most likely they just have it set to automatic and let some software do what it wants. Sometimes you might be able to request that they do nothing to your images and get a better result assuming your calibration is right for that type of printer, but don't count on it. If you want proper colour correction, find a place with qualified people doing the prints, and expect to pay a lot more for them too.

 

[bvanant]

Actually, Walmart and Costco do a pretty good job of printing and at least the ones here in LA have some good folks running them. As for calibration of your monitor, if $70 is too much then you can try quickgamma but if you are serious about prints $70 isn't very much money but it depends on how much you print and how important the prints are.
Bill

 

[browncd81]

Hey thanks I always use a live histogram in the LCD and get the pixels pretty centered. My camera is an S90 so I have average histo but no separate RGB breakdown until I can get the file in photoshop. I usually shoot for a nice center exposure on land pictures and bump it down a tad underwater with manual controls or slight adjustments to EV to make for up for the fact that the blues dominate the image and are actually brighter than the average pixel count being shown and I don't want to burn them out.

The PC is a gateway and to make monitor adjustments I just right click on the desktop and then get to set brightness, gamma, and contrast for all 3 channels at once or for individual RGB channels. Really tough to get it right, but I use a picture that I've printed, pull it up on my computer, and try to make them match.

Thanks for the help so far!