Monitor Calibration Hardward In Thailand?

[wpcoe]

I've been doing more work in Photoshop these days and know my work would be a lot easier if I could calibrate my monitor correctly. I know what I need is a hardware device like the Huey or Spyder, but in all my window shopping in tech malls here in Thailand never recall seeing one.

Are they available for sale in Thailand, and if so, where? I live in the Pattaya area, so that would be great, but I also frequently find myself in Bangkok, and in fact will be there this next weekend. I will also be in Singapore the following week, and wonder if I should buy it there, depending what the prices are here.

[webfact]

take a look:

http://www.thaicharger.com/index.php?topic=291.msg2324

[hughden]

I have seen them in Fotofile in BKK (MBK 3rd and 5th floor). In Singapore I have seen them in camera shops in the Funan Centre and in Peninsula Plaza which is next door to Funan.

[Guest Reimar]

Windows 7 now has the function of Monitor Calibration!

[webfact]

Windows 7 now has the function of Monitor Calibration!

You can do that with Photoshop as well with any Windows version but it will not replace the accuracy of an external calibration device.

[Crushdepth]

I've seen Spyders on sale in Fortune IT Mall (Bangkok) a couple of times at a couple of different shops, although you'll need to look around carefully. But really, unless you are doing high end work (and good luck finding a printing company that cares about colour profiles) you may as well just use Adobe Gamma, which comes with Photoshop.

[webfact]

unless you are doing high end work (and good luck finding a printing company that cares about colour profiles) you may as well just use Adobe Gamma, which comes with Photoshop.

I agree 100% with your comment!

[wpcoe]

take a look:

http://www.thaicharger.com/index.php?topic=291.msg2324

Thanks for that link. I was unfamilar with Spyder3, and since I can't read enough Thai, I Googled it and it seems nice, especially the Sypder3Print, but not sure I want to spend $300+ (on amazon.com), much less B19,900 (~$560!) on thaicharger.com, just for that.

Is thaicharger.com strictly an online retailer, or do they have a brick and mortar store someplace? I can't read enough Thai, and don't see and "English" link nor anything that looks like a link to a map.

I have seen them in Fotofile in BKK (MBK 3rd and 5th floor). In Singapore I have seen them in camera shops in the Funan Centre and in Peninsula Plaza which is next door to Funan.

Thanks for the locations. I will check both in Bangkok and Singapore this coming week and compare prices.

Windows 7 now has the function of Monitor Calibration!

I'm booted into Vista now, but when I reboot later into Windows 7, I'll see how well that works. I was pleased to see that Windows 7 natively handles monitor pivot/rotation.

I've seen Spyders on sale in Fortune IT Mall (Bangkok) a couple of times at a couple of different shops, although you'll need to look around carefully. But really, unless you are doing high end work (and good luck finding a printing company that cares about colour profiles) you may as well just use Adobe Gamma, which comes with Photoshop.

My time will be tight when I'm in Bangkok, but I'll try to make it to Fortune as well to check prices.

I'm interested in a more technically correct color profile for my monitor to see if I can match color with my own ink jet printer. As it is now, what I see printed is substantially different than what I painstakingly manipulate in Photoshop. I've heard about X-Rite Colormunki that calibrates not just the monitor, but also a printout from the printer, but not sure I want to spend that kind of money ($500+). But, I suspect that the real solution to my situation *will* be to spring for a Colormunki or Spyder3Print.

I'm not a professional photographer or design person, just a hobbyist with a bit too much time on his hands. (I do web design also as a hobby, and color accuracy would be nice, there, as well.) It would also be nice to have a properly calibrated monitor to see faithful colors onscreen in all applications, I guess.

[Crushdepth]

In that case, I suggest you try using the sRGB colour space in Photoshop to prepare your images for printing. You can get quite a close match between what you see on the screen and what comes off your printer, as sRGB actually has quite good support across different devices (it's kind of the defactor standard for consumer grade stuff).

To make it work you also need to a) adjust your monitor eg. with Adobe Gamma b. use decent quality inks and paper and c) select appropriate paper quality settings on the printer itself (matt/glossy etc).

I still don't think you need a spider, as the main limitation will actually be the output capabilities of your printer (which is almost certainly designed for sRGB). An added advantage of sRGB is that the images will also reproduce quite well on the web.

Edit: The last place I remember seeing a Spyder at Fortune was at one of the camera shops. I forget the name but its out of the main IT area, more towards the the hotel end of the complex, on the mezzanine walkway.

Edited January 20, 2009 by Crushdepth

[webfact]

take a look:

http://www.thaicharger.com/index.php?topic=291.msg2324

Thanks for that link. I was unfamilar with Spyder3, and since I can't read enough Thai, I Googled it and it seems nice, especially the Sypder3Print, but not sure I want to spend $300+ (on amazon.com), much less B19,900 (~$560!) on thaicharger.com, just for that.

Is thaicharger.com strictly an online retailer, or do they have a brick and mortar store someplace? I can't read enough Thai, and don't see and "English" link nor anything that looks like a link to a map.

I'm not a professional photographer or design person, just a hobbyist with a bit too much time on his hands. (I do web design also as a hobby, and color accuracy would be nice, there, as well.) It would also be nice to have a properly calibrated monitor to see faithful colors onscreen in all applications, I guess.

sorry, I cant answer your question about thaicharger.com, but as someone who is involved in professional prepress/graphic design on a daily base I guess you do not need that spyder to achieve your goal.