Photography News issue 27

Photography News Issue 27 absolutephoto.com

First tests

X-Rite i1Display Pro £159

Specs

System compatibility Windows 7 32 or 64 bit, 8 and 8.1 32 or 64 bit, all with latest service pack installed 512MB RAM Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon XP or better CPU Up to 500MB of available disk space Powered USB port Monitor of 1024x768 pixels Latest video card drivers installed DVD drive or high-speed Internet connection for software install, download and software update Mac OS 10.7 or later 512 RAM (2GB recommended) Intel Core 2 Duo CPU Up to 500MB of available disk space Powered USB port Monitor of 1024x768 pixels Latest video card drivers installed DVD drive or high-speed Internet connection for software install, download and software update Contact xrite.com

Clicking on Measurement gave me on-screen prompts to position the i1Display Pro calibration device, making sure it was sitting flush against the screen, and then an instruction to adjust screen contrast and contrast with a measurement scale. After doing that the calibration process began. In Basic mode this took about three minutes. The final step lets you name the profile and also compare the monitor before and after profiling with some supplied images. The Advanced mode gives much more control and there are five workflow icons. For greater accuracy there is a much larger colour patch comprising 482 colours, as opposed to 118 in the Basic mode. Measurement in the Advanced mode takes longer at around eight minutes. The Advanced mode does give you the opportunity to get deeper into colour management and it has such options as smart ambient light measurement and flare control. If you want to really get into the nuts and bolts of your set-up, you have total control of white point, contrast ratio and gamma. My own digital set-up is in decent shape in terms of colour management, even though I probably don’t calibrate my monitor frequently enough. I made prints through my Epson 3880 with my existing screen set- up and then after profiling with the i1Display using the Advanced mode. Pre-calibration the test images needed to be lightened on-screen in Photoshop to give the correct density. Post-calibration, this wasn’t needed. Colour-wise, the likeness between screen and print was even better post- calibration, but thiswas only apparent after critical viewing. I would have accepted my pre-calibrated prints, but with direct comparison I could see the results were better. It wasn’t a chalk and cheese difference, but it was there, and obviously much depends on the starting points of individual set-ups. WC

Colour management is not a subject that sets many photographers’ pulses racing. That’s probably why many will happily spend hundreds on the latest camera hardware, but not a sou on colour management and wonder why their images don’t look ‘right’. There are plenty of affordable devices on the market that can help you produce better output without IT skills. One of the more expensive monitor calibration devices is the X-Rite i1Display Pro at £159. It’s also one of the most versatile, with plenty of control so it’s suitable for both enthusiast and professional use. Opening up the installed supplied software, i1 Profiler, I was confronted by an interface that offered the options of Basic or Advanced modes. In the Basic mode you see the options of Display, Projector, Printer and Scanner profiling, which is slightly misleading because printer and scanning profiling are not possible with the i1Display Pro. Then you spot the word ‘Demo’ across the printer and scanner click buttons. Click on Display Settings and you’re at the first stage of a three-stage profiling workflow. The graphic at the bottom of the interface indicates this. This might be the Basic mode, but the drop-down options for the white point, luminance and gamma tabs didn’t mean a great deal to me. Before proceeding I needed clarity so I went back to the home page and clicked on the training video icon. Watching the videos is time well spent. They gave me much needed background in readiness for my later foray into the Advanced mode. Back in Basic mode, and I chose the recommended settings and then clicked on next. Here there’s a colour patch chart offering another couple of options, Automatic Display Control (ADC) or Adjust brightness, contrast and RGB gains manually. Having watched a training video I went for ADC and left the software to do all the work.

Colour-wise, the likeness between screen and print was even better

How it rates

Verdict The i1Display Pro did everything as promised and did it well. There are plenty of devices around to calibrate monitors and this unit is one of more expensive ones but with the amount of controllability that’s available it is good value for money. Pros It works, versatile, workflow method Cons On a couple of occasions a re-boot was needed before the software recognised that the unit was plugged in.

Above The supplied software is straightforward to use. There are two options, basic or advanced – the screengrabs above are from the advanced mode. The workflow icons running along the bottom of the interface do make things simple even though some of the options in the drop-down menus are more involved. However, the training videos on the X-rite website explain them all.