Dell Precision IPS Screen Calibration (m4600 - m6600 - m4700 - m6700)

Which device do you use to calibrate your RGB LED IPS screen?

I bought my m4600 w/IPS for work in animation (Maya, Houdini) and film (Premiere Pro, Da Vinci Resolve).

Reading up on Spyder vs X-Rite, it seems X-Rite deals with shadows better.

I'm looking at the following devices in order:

X-Rite EODIS3 i1 Display Pro

Spyder4Elite

X-Rite i1 Display 2

Has anyone used any of the above calibrators for their IPS screens of larger monitors?

 

I use the M4600 with the IPS display for "typical" office work and image-work - Photoshop and Lightroom.

To be honest, the IPS display is not on par with a "real" desktop monitor - but that's to be expected. So you don't really need a top of the line calibration device for big bucks.
I bought a Spyder3Pro and am happy with the results - to be honest, regardless of which calibration tool you buy, I think you won't see any difference between those three you mentioned. The M4600 IPS display just isn't that hard to calibrate. What's harder is selecting your calibration settings - like White point (I set it to 6500K, and not native white point because it is terribly blue).

Now if you're talking about monitors beyond the IPS display of the M4600, maybe look into monitors that have hardware-based calibration (those use the 16+Bit LUT of the monitor, not the 10Bit colors within the GPU). And those have FAR superior screen uniformity.

But long story short: how much are you willing to spend? and exactly how important is color management to you? I think a Spyder4Pro (identical to the Spyder4Elite in hardware, unless you need the extra software features) would do the job pretty well for a reasonable amount of money - and the software is reasonably easy and straightforward to use. I can't comment on the X-Rite software. But if you have a lot of money to spend, by all means go for the X-rite.

 

Thanks, Jutti! I can live with IPS panels not being on par with IPS monitors. That makes sense.

Can you switch between the two for continuation work? If I start a project on the home monitor then switch to my M4600 on the road, would the color profiles remain consistent if calibrated with the same device? If the monitor has a 16-bit LUT, is it possible to limit it to 10-bit color to better match up with the M4600 IPS panel? (Is that even advised?)

I'm leaning toward the cheapest X-Rite for now for a color grading film class. Like you mention, we are taught to calibrate to a daylight 6500K.

Any problems with the calibrator suction cups leaving marks on the screen? (Speaking of which, what do you use to clean/dust off your screen?)

Which monitor do you use, btw? Do you use a larger Dell PremiereColor or a ViewSonic, etc? I bought an older model M4600 instead of the new M4700 to save money to apply to a monitor to plug in to with a higher resolution. I'm looking at a Dell U2713HM-IPS-LED. The 30-inchers get crazy expensive.

Sorry for the 20-questions, but I'm really fascinated by the precision of color calibration and want to get the most out of this IPS panel.

 

The i1 Display 2 is EOL and wasn't made for wide gamut panels. Though it may work fine if you emulate srgb or argb using the premier color software.
For full/wide gamut, probably sypder 4 or colormunki as the cheaper choice.

16bit LUT or w.e have nothing to do with the 10bit color, in most cases, bit depth doesn't even matter.

You don't need the suction cups for lcd, those are for CRT monitors.

Monitor wise, what kind of colorspace you work in?

 

Hey baiii, you're right. Reading up, the i1 Display 2 caters to photography (PhotoShop/Lightbox).

Good thing I kept losing those Ebay auctions for the Display 2, after all.

Still a newbie to color grading, and haven't bought the external monitor yet, but here goes:

Photoshop / After Effects - AdobeRGB

Premiere Pro / Davinci Resolve - 4:2:2 YUV and 4:4:4 RGB color space (Full RGB in PremiereColor)

Maya - I just use Full RGB in PremiereColor on M4600

Basically:

rec709

100% rgb gamut

100% srgb gamut

100% ntsc gamut

 

@Zach101:
Switching between two different monitors - especially a desktop display and a notebook display - is always critical regarding color management. although dell praises the M4600 IPS display greatly, don't get too fooled. Screen uniformity regarding brightness is not as great. using just one calibration device would help though. You could try how it works for you and see if the quality is good enough for your work.
High-grade desktop monitors have a 16-Bit LUT (like Eizo ColorEdge) - that greatly helps prevent posterization effects when calibrating (you won't need an external device for that, most of them have a calibration tool built in!). 10-Bits calibration and manipulating the GPU is of lower quality. That's the difference between "hardware" calibration and "software" calibration.
Suction cups usually are only needed for CRT monitors for cleaning, I try not to touch the display (and tell all colleagues to keep their fingers off the screen!) to keep it clean. If I need to get rid of dust, I use a cloth I bought for cleaning my camera's lenses.
I personally use a Eizo ColorEdge CG246 and am really happy with it!
I think it was a good choice to get a M4600 (and not a M4700) and save money for an external display. Dell removed the IPS display from the M4700 by the way! You can't get a M4700 with the IPS anymore.

@baiii:
regarding bit depth, there seems to be a misunderstanding. most GPUs feature 8-bit output. While OK for "Normal" work, it's better to use 10-bit output for color critical work - and use a display that can handle 10-bits input and have sufficient gamut. The display uses a LUT, which can be 16-bit to have plenty of headroom for calibration to prevent posterization effects.

 

True enough, but the OP is nowhere close to above "professional" level. The amount of content that can utilize 10bit is pretty limited as well.

 

I thought that the OP somewhere stated he is into color grading of video - which seems professional to me. But I might be mistaken...

 

The majority of my experience is in 3D/CGI and editing, but I'm a newbie to color grading for film.

Just taking a class for color correction to get my feet wet. We're using DaVinci Resolve lite.

That Eizo monitor is off the charts in price and capability for me at the moment. I'll likely end up with a 27" Dell IPS PremierColor monitor that I calibrate with an X-rite. That will probably help me keep things calibrated between my home and away screens, as we discussed.

Are the two of your performing film or photo color grading in the industry? Is it very niche? Does it pay well? In LA?

I'm really attracted to short-form editing and would like to pursue that, along with animation.

 

hi
i'm looking into buying an Eizo Color Edge and was wondering if you get any banding with it on the m6700, i have a k4000m, but i get banding with profiles other than Default when viewing on the RGB LED display of the m6700, so it's useless for working in Maya/Nuke.
thanks