Introduction

As little as five years ago it was nearly impossible to purchase a consumer-grade display that included a properly calibrated picture mode.  Accuracy could only be obtained by careful adjustment of the service menu by an experienced calibrator.  Today many displays have the ability to achieve correct color, gamma and grayscale tracking.  This leads inevitably to the question – is calibration even necessary?  The answer is a resounding YES.  With the ability to calibrate a display comes added complexity.  To achieve a truly correct image, there are a myriad of adjustments to be made.  And yes, you still need some sort of instrument to properly adjust color and grayscale.

The decision to calibrate then becomes – do you hire a professional or do it yourself?  It is quite feasible to do your own calibration with tools that don’t cost much more than a pro calibrator’s fee.  The product that is squarely at the forefront of this market is CalMAN from SpectraCal.  CalMAN is a package that can be used by anyone interested in display calibration from the hobbyist to the professional.  Not only does CalMAN include every function and feature necessary to measure a display, there is thorough and well-written documentation to guide you every step of the way.