Monitor Calibration with the X-Rite i1Display Pro

Photographers know the importance of color.  If you’re shooting tethered, then you’ve made the choice to create a workflow that enables you to see your image in larger detail.  Your display is your window into your digital world and you need to be able to trust what you see.  In the end, it comes down to quality control and the responsibility to deliver consistent quality work to your clients. If you want to view your photos in their best light, or view other photographers’ creations as intended, you’ll want to calibrate your display. If you’re an advanced hobbyist, a professional photographer, film maker, designer or anyone who relies on a screen as part of their work, you should use an automated display calibration system. Relatively affordable, dedicated hardware exists to ensure true color; one such option is the i1Display Pro from X-Rite Photo & Video. Setting up the i1Display Pro is foolproof and takes just a few minutes. Calibrating your monitor should be the first thing you do when you walk on a set or on location. If you’re shooting in-studio, we recommend calibrating once a month.  

What is an i1Display Pro?

Are you looking for the highest level of on-screen color accuracy for all your screens, including laptops, computers, monitors, HDTVs, etc.? Then the i1Display Pro is the solution for you! It’s two user modes, Basic and Advanced, provide serious Color Perfectionists with the perfect combination of unrivaled color precision, speed, options and controls to fit any workflow. You’ll no longer risk spending hours at your monitor perfecting images or video only to find that the display was not accurately representing the digital files. Properly profiling and calibrating your displays ensures reduced editing time and a more realistic no-surprises representation of final output. The i1Display Pro incorporates technologically advanced filter and optical systems, amazingly fast measurement speed, and unrivaled color accuracy on all modern display technologies including LED, Plasma, RG Phosphor, OLED & Wide Gamut. It’s also spectrally calibrated, which makes it field upgradeable to support future display technologies, extending the life of your investment. The ultra-modern ergonomic design incorporates three functions – ambient light measurement, monitor profiling, and projector profiling – into a sleek, compact and fully integrated device with no parts to misplace.

Calibrating Your Laptop or Computer Screen

Daniel Sommer, a Sydney-based headshot and commercial photographer (and Tether Tools user) recently put out a blog that does a great job of walking through the step-by-step of calibrating a screen, we’ve included his video tutorial below. To read the blog in full detail, visit danielsommerphotography.com.

Calibrating a HDTV

If you’ve added a HDTV or plasma monitor into your workflow with one of Tether Tools new monitor mounts, it’s important to note that you can’t calibrate them like a computer screen with an ICC profile. You can only set them accurately, using the i1Display Pro but the process is slightly different. The process is simple: you’ll manually display focal points on your HDTV screen that the i1Display Pro, controlled by your computer, will read. By comparing the image displayed to what the colorometer sees, the computer will ask you (manually) to change the settings on your TV screen. The setting is not automatic, and you won’t be creating an ICC profile, just making an accurate setting of your TV screen. But in the end, it doesn’t really matter, because it’s still highly efficient.