Datacolor Spyder4Express S4X100 Display Calibration Device

I have had this in my cart for some time. I was about to pull the trigger when this popped up in one of Amazon's Goldbox Deals. It's worth ever cent!I normally shoot with a Canon 5D Mark iii. I edit using Adobe Lightroom 4 but was always a bit disappointed when my prints came out with a slight reddish cast when I printed. I knew that I had to profile my Apple Cinema Display to get accurate target prints. The Sypder4Express is meant for those who just want to "set it and forget it". Actually, the process was less than perfect. The first 2 times I profiled my ACD, the colors looked a bit reddish. I had downloaded the latest software (version 4.5.4) from datacolor. I later let my monitor warm up for about an hour and turned off all ambient lights in the room and the 3rd try was the charm. My screen was now "warmer" in terms of color temperature. I can now see shadow detail that used to be "crushed" due to aggressive factory contrast with the default profile from Apple. And now my prints match what I see on my display.I just want to point out that getting an exact match on paper is impossible. That is due to the fact that light shining thought a LCD is very different from light reflecting off a photographic print. I will not get into unnecessary detail but you are doing well if there are no strange color casts in your target output. And being that today's monitors are really bright, you need to lower the brightness to 120 cd/m2. Now that Express does NOT show you the actual brightness but simply tells you to set it to a "comfortable" level. This may fool the uninformed to think that their prints will match their screens in brightness, which it may not if you didn't get the Pro or Elite version of the Spyder4. According to research, my Apple Cinema Display hits the target brightness at about a 40% setting. So that's where I set it before I did my profile. I now only try to edit my photos in a darkened room to get proper prints.PROS:1) Great value whether you pay MSRP or less2) Good results after profiling, provided you follow the steps on the program to warm up your monitor for at least 30 minutes and clean the area of the screen with the provided microfiber cloth where the sensor reads the color patches3) Easy One Click software program makes it easy for 1st time users to do it correctly.4) Before/After comparisons and color gamut calculations of your specific monitor after calibration in terms of sRGB, Adobe RGB, and NTSC colorspace. (My Apple monitor was a full 100% of sRGB, which is nice as we are in a sRGB world in terms of how web browsers display colors.)CONS:1) No provision for setting desired screen brightness (e.g. 120 cd/m2) for proper print print brightness output2) Only able to profile 1 monitor. You have to register online to activate the software and it will deactivate the color profile on the older computer if you try to run the program on another computer. BUT, this is clear stated in the product description.3) Only profiles at 6500 Kelvin. (But this is standard setting for most photo editing so it should not matter unless your have a very specific need to adjust the color temperature)4) User must download the latest software (version 4.5.4) as older version was know to cause a red tint, according to datacolor.5) No ambient light sensor. Pro and Elite has this sensor.In conclusion, I would say that the Spyder4Express should satisfy the needs of most amateurs and enthusiast users despite the limitations in the software. Unless you must profile more than one monitor or have specific needs to set arbitrary color temps, the Express will get the job done. You will be happier with your target output and that will help you to enjoy your photography so much more.

Natively, this product does NOT support dual monitors. I was under the impression that it did but I may have read wrong - there are three versions of the Spyder4 and this is the most basic one. I'll chalk it up to poor reading comprehension - which STILL haunts me long after I have graduated.Luckily, there is a workaround I have found if you are running Mac OS X:1. RUN THE CALIBRATION - Open up the included utility called Spyder4Spress and follow the steps. This is very easy and straighforward. Takes about 5 minutes.(Now you will have to change the name of the ICC profile you just created. If you don't, then the one you just created will be REPLACED by the new one you create when calibrating the second monitor. This results in a maddening cycle where the monitor you previously calibrated will always look like garbage because they are both running the same profile - and no two monitors are exactly alike even if they are the same brand and model.)2. ACTIVATE APPLESCRIPT MENU (if it isn't already) - To do this, go to Applications > Utilities and open the AppleScript Editor. Open the preferences and under the General tab, check "Show Script in menu bar." It looks like a little scroll and will sit on the right side of your menu bar near the date, airport status, etc.3. RENAME ICC PROFILE IN FINDER - find the profile, should be in ~/Library/ColorSync/Profiles and will be called Spyder4Express. Rename it to whatever you want, I did "Spyder4Express - Dell27" to correspond with that monitor.4. RENAME ICC PROFILE DESCRIPTION STRING - Go to your AppleScript menu > ColorSync > Rename and navigate to the profile you just renamed. After selecting it, click "filename" to match the description to the filename.5. SWITCH MAIN MONITOR - Open your Displays prefrences, click the Arrangement tab, and drag the menubar to the other display.6. Run the color calibration again on your second monitor. It will create another ICC profile with the same default name of Spyder4Express7. Repeat steps 3 and 4 to rename the new ICC profile.8. Open Displays prefs and make sure you are running the correct profiles on each monitor. If they don't show up in the list, make sure you UNCHECK the box "Show profiles for this display only."There you go!After you do this once, it only takes a minute. To me it's worth the money I saved instead of getting the more expensive version of this product. I have the Spyder2 and this is a vast improvement. The calibration is faster and the USB unit is much smaller and lighter. The software is easy to use, and there is a little utility that you can set to remind you to recalibrate at the duration of your choosing (I plan to uninstall it, but others may find it useful).GREAT tool if you have 1 monitor or just want a single color accurate monitor. GOOD tool if you want two calibrated monitors.

Si te dedicas a la fotografía y no quieres llevarte sorpresas a la hora de imprimir esta es la mejor solución junto con el spyder cube y colorchequer.

I edit photos as a hobby in photoshop, I had pictures printed and the colors looked off. After I calibrated the monitor it was amazing to see the before and after and how off my colors were. Really easy to use

Arrivato al solito puntuale (grazie Amazon). Perfetto per calibrare il proprio monitor. Semplicissimo da usare e di ottima qualità. Seriamente consigliato a chi fa fotografia: un must al prezzo giusto !

Si si, y que nadie se ofenda, no me voy a referir a la entrega y el estado del producto, porque todo lo que he comprado en este portal, siempre me ha llegado en perfectas condiciones. Me refiero al sistema de calibrado; he probado otros y te piden datos: que si la temperatura de la luz donde estás, si le llega luz de la calle al monitor, si hay luz directa a la pantalla, la gamma de tu monitor.....en fin, una serie de datos que hacen que de pereza la calibración. Este modelo no, es estupendo sigues las instrucciones, miras que no le de luz directa a la pantalla, ajustas el brillo a tu gusto y el resto lo hace todo él solito. Estoy encantado con este modelo de calibrador.

Have bought this Spyder after doing some prints and they came out dark and flat from my new Monitor a BenQ it was easy to use and it Calibrated it well the images are stronger and the prints are right........the software has just ask me to re calibrated the monitor again which you can set from 2 weeks to a 1 year.......but for me a have set it to 1 month. it works well and is worth the money.