datacolorSpyder5EXPRESS – Designed for Hobbyist Photographers (S5X100)

I have two desktops and two laptops at my home. I started this venture when I sent in photos to be printed out in a photo book and the pictures came out horribly. Low contrast, low brightness and just terrible. I had a copy of one of the digital photos that I had sent to be printed and decided to check it on all of the screens. Well, it looked different on every screen and only looked good on the computer screen that I had used to edit and upload pictures for printing. Calibrated all using the datacolor software and was quite happy with the results. I felt it did a real nice job with the screens I calibrated. A heck of a lot better than what I had. I then decided to test how close all the screens were to being equal by testing each screen with a test digital photo. Although close, there was still some differences but again, not too bad. Three of the screens looked pretty good and one of the laptops was not good. I calibrated the laptop two more times with the same poor results. I bought the laptop for my wife and it is only about 8 months old and not even used all that much.Anyway I ended up researching my issue and found a lot of useful info as well as a lot of confusing info. I came back to Amazon site to read read reviews that had been posted by owners of the Spyder5 Express. I noticed that several reviews complained that the datacolor software was just ok but there was a lot better software available. The popular Software was DisplayCal and Argyll which work together. DisplayCal is the GUI while Argyll is the software that does all the work.I figured what do I have to lose and I tried it. It was amazing and the laptop that was very poor, popped back to life again after running the calibration procedure. The calibration procedure takes about two hours but is well worth the time since all of my screens now look even better since I did recalibrate them as well with this new software. I was totally impressed how it brought the problem laptop back to life. In my opinion, the Spyder5 Express works good using the recommended software but works fantastic using DisplayCal and Argyll software. DisplayCal and Argyll are free by the way!! The site does ask for donations and I for one will certainly make a donation because of the fantastic product they have. I am extremely happy with my computer screens now. Now what I see on my screen is what I should see when I get my photos professionally printed.

The problem I had previously was that the two laptop screens have strong color cast. When I connect my laptop with my monitor, it color doesn't match at all. I'm no professional graphic designer, but I take pictures regularly, and has always had the doubt that however the color look on my screen, it will look different on another viewer.After calibrated with spyder 5 express, which only takes 5 mins on me, and maybe 15 mins in total, the color cast is all gone. There is still a very slight color difference (hue, saturation) between 3 screens, but I attribute that to the display quality itself. Now the white color looks the same. It might still looks different on someone else' screen, but if theirs get calibrated as well (which I believe all professionals, and most prosumers do), the difference should be minimum.One thing to notice is how the software interact with windows 10. Initially I switched to my laptop monitor view only, calibrated it, then switched to monitor display only, calibrated it, then I switched to the extended mode. Windows 10 only use the color profile for the monitor display, and therefore, the color on the laptop display was still off. So I calibrated the monitor display again, but in the extended mode. Now they are the same. I suspected that there is some configuration in windows that would allow you apply color profile to each display directly, but I didn't spend the time figuring it out. The calibration process was fast enough that I just did it again.Overall, I'm very happy with the product, and will recommend this to other people.

About the size of a demitasse cup, it controls your screen (via easily downloadable software) and generates a profile such that what you see on the screen is what will come out of a properly set up printer. I used it on 2 computers. The first one had a decrease overall in screen brightness, and the second computer had an increase; in both cases colors seemed a bit more subdued.Works well, with one caveat: The software takes a very long time to install itself. On several occasions, it seems to have stopped installing, and the screen has time to go into sleep mode. This made me abort the installation first time after 20 minutes. The second, I just let it run and went to dinner. It finished installing. The calibration process requires that in a not overly brightly lit room, you dangle the device such that it makes contact with the roughly triangular outline "place sensor here" area. You start the calibration, and the screen changes color, but sometimes looks like the computer is hung up (have faith!); takes a long time. Better to start the run before you go to lunch!