[Leica] OT perhaps - monitor selection

[benedenia at gmail.com (Marty Deveney)]

> It may depend on how much training your eyes have had in color work.

I have had a lot of practice, but am just hopeless at it.  I
periodically look at a set of Ishihara tests
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishihara_color_test but I am not colour
blind.

> With 40 years of press proofing in 5,000K light tents and on 5,000K light 
> boxes;
> I feel fairly confident in my eyes; though age may remove that confidence 
> of youth.

I absolutely do not doubt that, but I am hopeless.

> I've had three professional monitors complete with their system pucks and 
> software.
> I found them only slightly better than a visual calibration.
> It was very difficult to get them adjusted for room conditions.
> They were very sensitive to extraneous light.

The systems I use are totally shielded from extraneous light.  The
best ones have a sensor that faces each way so it adjusts the screen
according to the colour of the room light (problematic when you have a
component of daylight, but if you can control the light in your room,
it works well).

> These were tube monitors so things may have improved in the flat screen 
> calibration systems.

I think these systems have got better in a general sense, rather than
in association with a change in dominant monitor technology.

And to anyone who lacks experience or who finds using the built-in
calibration systems (i.e. in the Apple OS) problematic, I'd strongly
encourage them to get a good calibration device.  With your experience
George, well, I would only say 'carry on'.

Marty