What is your Experience with Ione by Xrite or Color Vision for monitor Calibration?

[jd callow]

My old colorvision no longer works and I need to replace it. I've used older xrites and thought they were damn nice (nicer than the colorvision), but those cost 3k and up. The ione being comparible in price to the colorvision I thought I'd gather some opinions.



TIA.

 

[clay]

I just bought an Eye-one to replace my colorvision profiling tool. I could never get my two identical Mac Cinema displays to match with the ColorVision puck, but the Eye-one seems to work better and they are pretty much identical. The ColorVision puck came as part of their print profiling package, a product which also managed to create printing paper profiles that were much worse than the factory supplied versions. Suffice to say I am not impressed with the ColorVision products. The X-rite stuff seems to be a lot better.

Of course this is just my opinion based on usage by someone who is knowledgeable, but in a hurry and doesn't have time to futz around too much. I am sure that if you devoted some serious time, you could make damn near anything work. But for me, the Eye-one is pretty brainless to use and that is exactly what I want.

 

[Lee L]

I purchased an EyeOne (i1) last fall when I read that it works with argyllcms under linux. However before the purchase I didn't find information that Nvidia's drivers for linux were not to the OS standards, and so the calibration process failed because of Nvidia's closed-source linux drivers.

I bought a laptop a couple of months ago that has Windows 7 on it, and onboard Intel graphics with open specs. I don't do image editing with it, and almost never boot it to Win7 and so didn't rush to calibrate it.

However seeing your post today prompted me to get out the instrument and download the Xrite software for Win7 and install argyllcms on the laptop under linux.

The calibration under Win7 with Xrite LT software was fast and returned excellent results. I didn't count the number of patches, but it only took a couple of minutes. There's a toggle at the end of the process that allows you to see a stock image before/after calibration.

With linux and argyllcms the calibration is a command line affair that's straightforward in a linux command line sort of way. Under Windows and Mac OS-X, the LT version of the EyeOne is limited by software, not hardware, and you have to upgrade software to get the expanded use of the device. However with linux and argyllcms, the full potential of the EyeOne LT is pretty much the same as the higher priced versions, since the open source software isn't crippled. The argyllcms calibration scheme took much longer, and displayed hundreds of color patches, working up from near blacks through ascending values of r, g, and b, and then through many near white patches. Then it cycled down through neutrals from white to black and spend a lot of time with the near blacks again. Looking at the output file from argyllcms, it appears that there were 256 sets of 4 patches on one run and 32 sets of 3 patches on a second run, for a total of 1120 calibration patches assessed.

Windows doesn't support two color profiles on the same graphics card, so I couldn't calibrate an external monitor on the laptop under Windows, and couldn't even get the calibration patch to display anywhere but on the laptop screen. Linux may allow an external monitor calibration, but I haven't checked thoroughly yet. I have an idea about how to do that, and will report back if I have any success.

So first, I owe you some thanks for getting me back on the ball and getting much improved laptop color, and second, I'd say that the EyeOne is a very good buy, and an even better buy if you use an OS under which the calibration software doesn't cripple the hardware. Argyllcms is available for Windows, but I haven't tried it there. Perhaps I should, but I don't often boot into Windows anymore.

The editing software that I use under linux also picks up on the system's monitor color profile (if you've set that up), or allows you the choice of the system monitor .icc or a separately chosen monitor .icc.

Lee

I should add that this is the only device of this type I've used, and that my experience with it is obviously short term. But I have been manually calibrating screens under linux and M$ for a number of years, and can get 100% correct on this Xrite color vision test: http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77&Lang=en

 

[jd callow]

Thanx Lee and Clay. I was leaning toward the eye1/eyeone/I1, but the Pro not the LT. If the LT can be unhamstrung to work like the pro then it is a really easy decision.

Lee,
I don't suppose I can get you to try Argyllcms for win 7 and and report back?

 

[Lee L]

Lee,
I don't suppose I can get you to try Argyllcms for win 7 and and report back?

I can give it a try, but not tonight. Perhaps tomorrow. I got my wife the MP3 player she wanted for Christmas, but now find myself in charge of transcribing 2 language training cassette tapes and a bunch of talking book CDs she picked up at the library and porting them over to her player the day before she leaves for two weeks.

I'll take a look at argyllcms requirements under Windows. If I have to load a bunch of other stuff to make it work (like cygwin, etc.), then I'll probably pass on the grounds that it's Windows and we all know what happens when you load more and more stuff on Windows. I know Win7 is supposed to be better, but better is very relative. And to someone who's been only on linux for 5 years or more, "better than XP" is not actually better on any other scale. And if I learn too much about Win7, people might ask me to start fixing their unmaintained boxes again.


Lee

 

[Ben Altman]

I bought a fairly old i-1 Pro which worked for a while and then the flash lamp quit. Sent it in for the standard repair/refurb/calibration fee of something over $300. US facility could not fix it, they sent it to Switzerland. Swiss couldn't fix it so they sent me a refurbished replacement, all for the standard fee. Took a while, but has worked fine since.

You do need to send these things in for recal every now and again, depending on how much you use them.

I use mine with the standard downloadable i-1 software and with the demo parts of their fancy profiling software as recommended in the QTR documentation. Also, with the demo version of BabelColor CT&A, I use it as a reflection densitometer. All this in Mac OS.

Ben

 

[gmikol]

I'll take a look at argyllcms requirements under Windows. If I have to load a bunch of other stuff to make it work (like cygwin, etc.), then I'll probably pass on the grounds that it's Windows and we all know what happens when you load more and more stuff on Windows.

I've used Argyll on XP and Win7 with both an i1Display and an i1Pro for printer profiling, as well as for scanner profiling. The binaries are all compiled natively (no cygwin or anything else needed to install.)

The only thing you'll need to install is a different driver for the i1 (packaged with Argyll). At least for the i1Pro (don't remember about the i1Display), I can use a different USB port for each, one for the XRite drivers when I want to use i1Match, and one with the Arguyll libUSB driver when I want to use Argyll. The other way is just to switch drivers in Windows "Device Manager", which hasn't required a reboot or anything on either of my systems.

--Greg

 

[gmikol]

Thanx Lee and Clay. I was leaning toward the eye1/eyeone/I1, but the Pro not the LT. If the LT can be unhamstrung to work like the pro then it is a really easy decision.

FYI for JD and others reading this post, the "LT" is the i1Display LT, a feature-limited (in software, by X-Rite) version of the i1Display 2. They are colorimeters designed for monitor profiling only.

The i1Pro is available in any number of different packages from XRite, depending on the features enabled in software. The i1Pro is a spectrophotometer (differs from a colorimeter in how it measures color), capable of use with monitors, printers, ambient light measurements, etc.

They're kinda expensive new, but can be found on the auction site for less. If you're shopping for an i1Pro and plan on using it for printer profiling, try to get a "Rev. D", as it offers a faster scanning speed, and make sure you understand the difference between the "UV Cut" and "non-UV Cut" models. If you plan on using it with Argyll, it doesn't matter which X-Rite package it comes with, but if you plan on using the X-Rite software, figure out which package you need, since it's fairly expensive (but possible), to add licenses after the fact.

Another option you may want to look into is the ColorMunki Photo. It can do monitors and printers as well, but the ColorMunki software is a little weird from what I understand. Through Argyll, you interface with it the same way as any other intstrument.

--Greg

 

[jd callow]

Greg,
My mistake I was looking at the i1Display 2 ($200.00) not the i1 pro ($999.00 and up I believe). The LT goes for 149.00 which is perfect for my over extended budget. My interest is monitor calibration. I currently do not own a printer.

 

[Lee L]

Thanks for the very helpful posts Greg.

For others following along: In addition to monitor profiling, the LT version of the EyeOne can also do ambient light color temp and light level measurements with the included diffuser plate that snaps over the sensor side of the unit. It can do this with both the Xrite LT software and with Argyll. The ambient measurements are designed to help you set up your working area to acceptable standards.

Lee

 

[gmikol]

Yeah...forgot about that, but keep in mind, being a colorimeter, it might not do particularly well with "spiky" light sources (fluorescents).

 

[Lee L]

Yeah...forgot about that, but keep in mind, being a colorimeter, it might not do particularly well with "spiky" light sources (fluorescents).

Interesting. Just for kicks I'll have to see what it thinks of different colored LEDs and some color temp marked spiral fluorescents I have.

Lee

 

[gmikol]

It might get close on color temperature on the CFL's, but since it's not measuring the full spectrum, I don't think it measures CRI.

--Greg