Colorvision's Spyder2Pro Studio reviewed
By Donald Melanson 
posted April 12th 2005 2:00AM
posted April 12th 2005 2:00AM
Digital Media Thoughts has a review of Colorvision's Spyder2Pro Studio, a hardware/software combo for fine tuning your monitor's color calibration. The $299US package consists of a calibration sensor that sticks on your screen facehugger-style, as well as a couple of different software programs for tweaking your display settings. As you can tell from the price, this isn't something for everyone, although Colorvision does also put out an entry-level package for $100, and the reviewer himself seems completely indifferent about it. We don't know how well it works, but we'd certainly wait for a few more reviews before passing judgment on it.
As the reviewer mentions, this indeed doesn't seem anything useful for the average man-in-the-street. My brother is in the video-wall rental business. Color calibration with a similar device is common with Barco Monitor walls. So professionals like that might consider it useful ... and probably can spare the money to buy one :)
that was about the last person you would want to be reviewing a product like this. send it to a photographer, designer or me. Ya know the kind of person that would use this device often.
Sorry to be frivolous, but doesn't the device look just like the Siemens Stat Trek Communicator?
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000987036436/
In response to 2:
I agree, his claim to working on a a few digital photos didn't bolster my faith in his review. Not to bash him, but his biography at the end of the article shows he's really not the target of this device, and wouldn't get much out of it in comparision to the intended users.
In response to 3:
I'd say it'd be the other way around (older products had the same design, I believe), though the similaritlies are there.
You could buy one of these and make some cold hard cash:: tuning peoples HDTV screens. If someone payed $5000 for the TV, surely they can spring a hundred bucks to have the thing's color perfected by a 'pro[sumer]'.
I have the previous version -- an absolute must if you are really into digital imaging.
"You could buy one of these and make some cold hard cash:: tuning peoples HDTV screens."
Uh, explain to me how you're going to calibrate someone's HDTV using an ICC color profile.
Pantone is apparently coming out with a model that will work with HDTV's but this ain't it. Regardless, this is a "quick and dirty" solution - it's better than nothing, but it's not the same as professional calibration.
I think this reviewer pretty much missed the whole point of color calibration, though. The point is there's only one true red, one true blue, and one true green. If you manage to get every link in your photographic chain working based on the same set of assumptions about what those colors really are, then you will get accurate colors in your photos, you will get accurate colors on your screen, you will get accurate colors in your prints. I don't really see how this is "not useful" for anyone, and it has nothing to do with how good or bad your display is because your display is just one link in that chain - if you don't color manage, your screen may display images correctly, but if your camera's using a different color space and your printer's not set up right, that nice pink-yellow skin tone you're getting on screen could be a sickly green in prints. Color management is a process, not an end-result.
I think the reviewer does understand the potential need for calibration, he just didn't like the experience of using that product and didn't feel that it was required for the majority of photographers.
Lots of amateur photographers (and probably some pros) do fine without calibration. My printer and my monitor agree very closely. Close enough for everything but product photography. I know that the print service I occassionally use matches my colors well, but tends to be darker than my in house prints. I am a very serious amateur photographer and I haven't been able to justify the price of calibration. Partly because I know the Colorvision products are not great (as the reviewer found) and (as #6 Jeff pointed out), the monitor is only part of the equation.
The review focused mostly on the poor interface and directions of the product. That seems reasonable since, in theory, the color profile output of one calbration tool ends up being the same as the color profile of any other. Yes, it would have been nice if there had been some comparisons to prints, but that wasn't the nature ofthat review. If you want that, go to Luminous Landscape.
Great tool! Calibration must have. Only for serious color corrective use! You will have to recalibrate often almost weekly if you are a designer, photographer, etc... I have alot of real estate with two large CRT Flat monitors. I totally recommend this product.