This is an important step because you need to set the brightness of the monitor appropriately for the ambient light level. Next, the wizard took a measurement of the ambient light level while the colorimeter device was sitting in its stand. The Spyder4Pro software advises you to choose Unknown if you don’t know and says that choosing Unknown is better than guessing wrong so I chose Unknown. I searched both the spec sheet and full manual PDFs but it wasn’t specified. I was able to get the gamut for my EIZO S2433W from the spec sheet but didn’t know about the backlight type. The first few steps were straightforward but the fourth step asks you to enter the monitor’s gamut (normal, wide, or unknown) and the backlight type (fluorescent, white LED, RGB LED, or unknown). After warming up the monitor for 30 minutes I was ready to run the calibration wizard. The hardware requirement would seem to be a built-in limitation on unlicensed copying so why the need for a serial number? Would I need to purchase a second and a third Spyder to calibrate my laptop and my wife’s PC? (So far, I haven’t tried.)Īfter getting the software installed and activated it checked for updates which I downloaded and installed. While the need for a serial number is common with software it seems annoying to require a serial number when the software is useless without their hardware. Another oddity is that datacolor requires you to enter a serial number to activate the software. Instead, the setup program is buried in the Data directory which seems an odd place to find a setup program. The initial software installation was a bit confusing as I was expecting to see a setup program in the root directory of the CD that I could click to get started. I purchased my Spyder4 in March and did an initial calibration at that time followed by a recalibration two months later.

With this information the software creates a color profile for your Windows or Mac system which is used to adjust the displayed colors to be as correct as possible for your monitor. The hardware device measures the color of light emitted by your monitor across the spectrum and compares each displayed color with the expected/correct color. The Spyder4 Pro includes both a hardware device the size of a mouse, called a colorimeter, and software which works with it. Color management solutions like the Spyder enable you to get consistent color across different monitors, different PCs and on different printers. Using a device like this is important for any serious photographer and is essential for getting predictable color from prints. Check out the ELITE, PRO and EXPRESS models to pick the right one for your needs. datacolor offers three versions of the Spyder4 at different price points depending on your needs. The Spyder4 PRO is $169.95 direct from datacolor. Earlier this year I purchased one of the new Spyder4™ PRO color calibration devices from datacolor.

Spyder 4 elite vs pro