Datacolor SpyderX studio overview review - Monitor calibration and printer profiling
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- Опубліковано 8 кві 2021
- Keith Cooper looks at the Datacolor SpyderX Studio kit. It contains a monitor/projector calibrator and a spectrocolorimeter for reading printer profiling targets and creating printer icc profiles for paper and other media. The kit also contains a Spydercube device - useful for exposure checking and setting black/white levels.
There are detailed reviews of all the component parts of the kit at:
www.northlight-images.co.uk/sp...
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Thanks for the excellent info, Keith!
Thanks
Keith you are a Rock Start. I enjoy the clear, concise and direct approach of your reviews. No frills or thrills' either the device is useful or is not. I am glad I have discovered your channel and website
Thank you!
I love my/ SpyderX Studio. Amazing kit. Thanks Keith for showing the contents of the kit. It will be nice to have short episodes on each one of the items.
Thanks - I have already covered the SpyderX and studio
They are all additionally covered in much greater detail in my written articles. Remember, the videos are often only there to supplement the full reviews
A very nice, clear explanation of this kit. Thanks very much indeed. I'll be looking at your other videos shortly!
Thanks, but if you want detail, do check the main [written] articles/reviews as well.
The videos are mainly supplements to written articles. The videos go back less than two years, the articles nearly 20 ;-)
@@KeithCooper You're right! Very helpful - how do you find the time to do it all! BTW, just found a very good deal for the SpiderX on Wex photo. 🙂
@@johndn9238 Thanks - partly because when I decided to be a working photographer I decided there would be a solid maximum amount of photo work I'd average over time. It's partly a hobby and partly how I learn new stuff for the photography business... oh and it helps with general business publicity...
Many years ago, I was excited when this product became available, but after purchasing I was actually underwhelmed by the printer profiles this device produces. It had difficulty with reading some type of papers and somehow the blues turned purple with the profiles made with the Spyderprint. In the end I sold the Spyder X Studio in favour of the Colormunki and couldn't be happier with the Colormunki: even with the iterative method of 2x50 patches the profiles were far superior to any produced with the Spyder X Studio (even compared with the 729 patch + grays targets). Afterwards I could hold of a hardly used i1Pro2, that off course is a totally different device in terms of quality improvement, but the Colormunki produces profiles very similar to my newer i1Pro2 device, making it a much better deal compared to this shabby Spyder X Studio plastic looking device. It is shame they still sell this device. I suggest the XRite i1Studio (Colormunki device) or the i1Pro2 (second hand, version E).
I'd not argue with that.
The 'spectrocolorimeter' is the weakest part of the package - the design has not been updated for many years [my detailed reviews long predate me making videos]. A new spectro with their software would be a much more interesting proposition these days.
Hi, have you done a step by step video how to calibrate the epson printer with the spyder print?
Sorry, my SpyderPrint reviews and guides predate me making videos - It's not been significantly updated since then. They are still relevant.
www.northlight-images.co.uk/spyder3-print-review-v3-5/
and www.northlight-images.co.uk/spyder3print-sr-spyderprint-review/
How does this compare to the Colormunki. Wish you had a test of it. Maybe on the site?
The i1Studio is a spectrophotometer, and takes a lot more measurements in order to build paper profiles. The original Colormunki still runs on the new i1Studio software.
Lots of detailed stuff on the colormunki and its successor the i1Studio at:
www.northlight-images.co.uk/category/articles-and-reviews/x-rite/
Whilst I'll be adding new colour management kit videos to go with new stuff, it is a subject that any significant technical info always comes primarily in written form
For every video I've made since last summer, there are ~10 articles/reviews on the site ;-)
I'm going through the back catalog to see about doing a few 'introduction videos' for more articles to try and get them to an audience that starts out from YT
I'm not sure if you'll still get notifications with this video being uploaded back in April. I've now bought myself what I consider to be a half decent monitor as an amateur (Asus ProArt PA278QV). Having researched it, there's various Spyder X kits, but the colour profiler is the same unit in each kit.
In your experience, what are the differences between this and the Xrite i1? I know you don't like the "which is best" questions, but if you could be so kind as to provide the key differences you feel would be noticeable to a beginner/first time colour calibrator I'd be most grateful. Thank you.
Yes -it gets flagged up!
You are right in that the Spyder units are indeed all the same physical device
Add to this my guide that if you don't know why you would want a particular more advanced feature, then take that as a clue that you don't need it ;-)
The basic devices all cover what you need. i.e. a colour temperature of 6500K (or maybe lower if you print a lot) and a screen brightness that is low enough that your prints don't come out too bright.
BTW, I'd suggest also to have a look at my actual written articles on colour management - my videos are often meant more as an adjunct to the detailed written stuff ;-)
@@KeithCooper I've read quite a few of the articles, and they've convinced me that it's something essential I need to do having bought a half decent monitor.
I don't need anything fancy, I certainly agree if I don't know why I need it I probably don't need it.
I like the fact that the Datacolor comes with a nice case, the colour charts and cube etc., but having read round I've seen comments re gelatin filters degrading over time, but no facts seem to be available regarding the current Spyder - which makes me wonder if it's no longer an issue.
I've noticed you seem to have an Xrite present in many of your videos. Is there a particular reason you favour that brand?
I've always made a point of testing different makes equally, since I have a longstanding policy of not selling kit at all.
However I do more development work with X-Rite which is why I have some of the high end kit I use for making paper profiles.
For monitor profiling there isn't a lot of difference at the basic level - it often comes down to what deals you can find and what extras are on offer.
So for example, with my monitors I use for work, I use a spectrophotometer (i1Pro2) and the Benq monitor hardware calibration software.
Hi Keith, great overview of this kit. My printer is an Epson ET-2750, only 4 colours and when printing my wife's art pictures, the colours never seem to match very well, even with an ICC profile specific to the paper (Permajet) Would this kit help or is my printer just not up to it?
Thanks
Impossible to say without knowing your end to end workflow... Match what, for example?
Art pictures can be a challenge, but ideally need a fully colour managed workflow.
"Art Pictures" is just one of those terms which raises my colour management alert level to 'wary'...
[competent] Art repro can be quite a technical area, no matter how good your printer.
@@KeithCooper thanks for the reply. My wife creates her art on an iPad and I then import it to my PC on Photoshop, but when printed the colours never look the same which is why I thought maybe I need to calibrate my monitor as well as the printer. I wasn't sure that the ET-2750 was up to the job and would I be better off upgrading to the ET-8550.
Ah - 'iPad' ...never a welcome word in any colour managed print workflow discussion...
Yes - the screen absolutely needs calibrating - that and you need to pay careful attention to working colour space choices when importing/editing the file
This is potentially quite complex - I've not used a win PC this century, so can't offer much more help...
You are not even close to seeing whether the 2750 is OK - try printing a know colour test image to test the print/profile aspects of the workflow?
Yes, an 8550 might well be a lot better, but as it stands at the moment, it's a coin toss as to whether you'd notice it...
@@KeithCooper thanks for the advice.
Do you get a smooth movement of the print scanner in the groove of the plate? I have recently purchased the kit. If I press the scanner firmly to the scanning plate it gets stuck and the movement is very hard an uneven. Maybe I have a defective one. Br, Eeli
Yes, but I remember rubbing it with extremely fine sandpaper when I first got it. I forgot this since it was an engineering test sample I had
@@KeithCooper Okay. It seems the measuring nose or the groove is little misplaced, the nose gets stuck at the edge of the groove.
Now I seem to get consistent results, just clicking the patches one by one without the plate.
Hi,
Spyderprint works on macos Catalina?
Rewiew on the web don’t is clear
Thanks
You need to check with datacolor as to the latest Mac OS support - the Mac in the review is running an old system. I don't see why not, but check with the people who make it...
Hello Keith and sorry for the dis
browsing through the various used material sales sites I came across the announcement of the sale of a Datacolor Spyder 3 Studio SR which appears to be still sealed.
It is probably a stock fund and therefore an outdated product.
But at around 250 euros to negotiate it could be useful.
To profile printer papers should still be fine, perhaps the procedure could be more complex and articulated, but in the end the result is reached.
Could it be a purchase to be evaluated in your opinion or to leave it alone and buy a technologically fresher product? ...
The measuring device will still work with new software. It has not changed internally for several years.
The choice is that or the ColorMunki/i1Studio/ccStudio device
Find an old ColorMunki model and it too will work with current software
Purtroppo non è facile trovarne e quelli che ci sono costano circa 350 euro.
Oggi ho definito il prezzo finale dello Spyder 3 Studio SR a 200 euro, l'acquisto e mi diverto un po!!!!
?
@@KeithCooper Sorry I didn't realize I wrote in Italian !!
I will translate into English.
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Unfortunately it is not easy to find and the ones that are there cost around 350 euros.
Today I defined the final price of the Spyder 3 Studio SR at 200 euros, the purchase and I enjoy a little !!!!
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Again greetings from a hot and red-hot Italy
Thanks for the re-post!
I have more details about using the SpyderPrint and its predecessor, the PrintFix on the Northlight site that might be of help - I've many more articles than videos (which I only started last year)
And greetings from the rain ;-)
There is no software in this kit?
Yes, there is - software for monitor and printer calibration
😀😀😀🙏🙏🙏🙏
Thanks
Is this the one you reviewed on the website that's a rebranded colour munki?
Never mind, that was the i1 studio. I'll have to read both reviews to see which one seems the better solution for me.
Thanks for the great content.
If it's printer profiling you want (and need) then the i1Studio (colormunki as was) is a spectrophotometer and more capable instrument than the SpyderPrint. The Datacolor software is easier to use (they do usability well) but the SpyderPrint device has not changed much since I reviewed it nearly 15 years ago