Product Description

The Professionals Choice: Includes Spyder2 calibration, software based print profiling, new PreciseLight ambient light sensor, and calibration for projectors.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17599 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: ColorVision
• Model: S2P100
• Released on: 2006-03-14
• Platforms: Windows XP, Mac OS X
• Format: CD
• Original language: German, English, French
• Dimensions: 2.75" h x 8.37" w x 10.25" l, 4.00 pounds

Features

• The award-winning Spyder2 colorimeter attaches to any screen: LCD, CRT, or laptop
• Professional monitor calibration software guides you through the entire calibration process
• Printer profiling software helps give you precise color results for your prints, without a scanner
• Multiple monitor calibration and matching allows you to calibrate and profile multiple monitors on a single system or across an entire studio
• Hardware and software are both compatible with front projectors, so you can calibrate your images for presentations

Amazon.com
ColorVision spyder2pro is a comprehensive system for professionally calibrating all types of monitors—including front projector displays—and for creating custom printer profiles for any PrintFIX Plus-supported printer. The Spyder2PRO system includes both the hardware and the software to make sure you workflow begins with accurate, on-screen color.

The award-winning Spyder2 colorimeter attaches to your LCD, CRT, or laptop screen.

The Spyder2 colorimeter working together with the Spyder2 Professional Monitor Calibration Software.

spyder2pro can even help you calibrate front projector displays.

spyder2pro Professional Monitor Calibration System
The hardware component of spyder2pro is the award-winning Spyder2 colorimeter. This colorimeter attaches to your LCD, CRT, or laptop screen (the hardware is designed to be very gentle on delicate LCD screens), and then connects to your computer via USB cable. New state-of-the-art optical science provides a five-fold increase in color sensitivity over previous technology with a patent-protected light baffle for accurate characterization of LCD displays.

With the colorimeter affixed to the screen, the Spyder2 Professional Monitor Calibration Software guides you through the entire calibration process. With the colorimeter reading the color output from the software via the display screen, you will be instructed how to fine-tune the calibration buttons on your display. spyder2pro even allows you to calibrate multiple monitors, so you can have side-by-side displays of different brands and sizes that show the exact same colors. Once the calibration is complete, the unique "before and after" viewing feature lets you compare your display with and without calibration.

spyder2pro also address the issue of ambient light. Since the eye's perception of a monitor's colors and brightness can vary greatly in different room light, the Ambient PreciseLight Function measures ambient light and balances studio lighting and monitor settings accordingly.

High-test features for the professional include custom response targeting, colorimeter and information windows, custom targeting, and ICC 2.0 and 4.0 support. Exclusive automated black-and-white luminance adjustments for use in precision targeting provide more consistent calibration results. Sophisticated gray balance and tonal response algorithms provide demanding users with exceptionally smooth gradient steps and neutral grays.

If you use a front projector for presentations, the new front projector calibration option ensures that your images are shown to their best advantage.

PrintFIX PLUS Printer Profiling Software
If you print your digital images, you probably know that getting good color performance in your prints can be at least as daunting as matching colors on computer monitors. The PrintFIX PLUS Printer Profiling Software addresses this issue with the first software-only profiling tool to give you fast, precise results. Rather than using a scanner, the elegant software assists you step-by-step through each custom paper profile for PrintFIX PLUS-compatible printers.

The software wizard helps you check your print quality and optimize your printer's media setting. Using the wizard helps you create high-bit, tunable ICC printer profiles. You can preview your results at different rendering intents, and there are even options to optimize your prints for specific viewing conditions.

The PrintFIX PLUS software includes a complete Help system and tutorials to assist you with the basic and advanced advice on how to get great prints.

An essential product for serious photographers and design professionals
Color correction has emerged as a cornerstone of the digital workflow for all digital imaging professionals. Professional photographers and creative professionals understand that a color-managed workflow begins with accurate, on-screen color. When precise color is critical, spyder2pro can be an important foundation in creating, marketing, and showing your work.

ColorVision backs the spyder2pro with a 2 year hardware warranty and includes free technical support and free software updates.

Customer Reviews

Does the job, interface just OK, half truth on dual monitors
It does the basic job well. The calibration runs smoothly and accurately. Hardware looks and feels solid. My two completely different brand, size and age CRT monitors ended up with exactly the same colors sitting side by side.

User interface is merely adequate. Pop up help instructions are better than many I have seen. You will need to know already how the calibration buttons on your monitors work (the hardwired buttons on the monitor, not software). In order to make any edits you must run the entire time consuming calibration over. Sometimes you can use "back" within the calibration, sometimes you must start over. Also the separate "profile chooser" utility software, has not add or delete profile feature - even if it is a profile created and saved by the calibration software earlier. You can see it with windows display properties, but it may not appear in the profile chooser list.

Dual monitors is the one obvious reason to choose pro over plus version. Yes, it does dual monitors, but with an asterisk. It will create separate profiles, but will only apply the correct profiles automatically at startup to both monitors if you have two separate video cards. If you have a single video card with dual outputs, it will load the same profile (the last one you created) to both monitors at startup. This quirk is documented in a readme file on the installation disk (and blames windows for the problem), but this limitation appears nowhere in advertising material, catalogs, or on the box. Fortunately there is a work around (not documented) at least with my particular video card and running XP. After windows opens, you can run profile chooser then choose the correct profile for each monitor. You may have to use windows display properties settings to specify default profile and rerun the calibration to get the profiles you want to appear in profile chooser and to select the correct profile as default.

Once it's all set up, running profile chooser is a four of five click procedure, but you must rememeber to check it before using any application that uses color profiles. And check it after you open the application. I've had them change after opening photoshop - though not every time.

Spyder2pro.
Previously I owned ColorVision's Spyder2 program and was quite satisfied with it. It did not include, however, a program for correcting the printer's color rendition. The new Spyder2Pro includes PrintFix Plus. This along with the monitor correction Spyder2Pro works very effectively. I am very happy with the program. For the price it is a great addition to Photoshop editing. The Spyder program allows the monitor and printer to show a print that reflects what the user has taken in his digital camera. I have not found any particular negatives about the program. In the past I have used their tech service for fine tuning the program. They were very responsive and helpful..

I would have rather given this 3.5 stars...
I bought this because I try to take photography seriously and needed my images to look right on the screen while editing.

The software does an okay job of getting this done right.

My problem is with the printer calibration software in that it supports a limited amount or printers.

I have four Epson printers none of which are supported.
It's kind of disappointing for the price you pay for this.

-Mario