Spyder3Elite
Spyder3Elite is a display calibration solution that includes the elegant Datacolor Spyder3 colorimeter with its 7 detector color engine, large light aperture and desktop cradle/tripod mount. Also in the kit is a cradle/tripod mount, software CD, screen cleaners, start guide, and 1-yr warranty. Aimed at professional photographers who are serious about color, Spyder3Elite is capable of profiling the latest in wide gamut, LED backlight and AdobeRGB displays as well as popular LCD, CRT, projector and notebook displays.
The Spyder3 colorimeter can measure automatically the ambient light that exists inside the studio and which will affect the way you perceive colors on your display. It has the intelligence to distinguish between true lighting changes and random fluctuations caused by studio flashes or shadows.
Spyder3Elite offers unlimited, user-defined choices for white point and gamma, together with white luminance and black luminance. With these sophisticated controls, expert users can optimize shadow detail as well as ensure that the colors displayed will match those on a lightbox or the intended output device. Non-expert users have guidance from the wizard-driven user interface, but there is also an Expert Console which shows all the calibration parameters and actions within a single window.
As an alternative to typical gamma settings, Spyder3Elite provides an alternative by offering a calibration option called L-Star Technology which generates tonal response curves for open shadows and detailed highlights. Some photographers prefer to work with L* as a monitor gamma rather than with the more frequently used 1.8, 2.2 or 2.5. This is said to eliminate the compromise of 2.2 in shadow detail and 1.8 in highlight detail.
Comment
Spyder3Elite represents a dramatic improvement on the highly acceptable Spyder2Express. It uses a colorimeter that increases light sensitivity 400%, giving much greater accuracy. It is also more convenient to use, with its fast ReCAL option that allows you to perform quick re-calibrations more frequently, thus ensuring accuracy before every vital shoot.
Apart from the beauty and precision of the instrument that comes with the package, perhaps the main appeal of Spyder3Elite is the clever way it caters for both expert and non-expert users. Today, most keen photographers are either using or considering the use of color management, beginning with monitor calibration. Even contributors to iStockphoto.com are encouraged to use monitor calibration to ensure color accuracy, for which purpose iStock recommends Spyder3Elite as the ideal tool.
Tech info
- OS: Windows XP onward; Mac OS X
- Price level: Approx. $250
Datacolor
Founded in 1970 with operational headquarters in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, Datacolor provides affordable, easy-to-use digital color control products for photographers and other users who require accurate color.
From the same vendor:
- Spyder3Studio
- Spyder3Pro
- Spyder2express
- ...and many others
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