Datacolor Spyder5PRO – Designed for Serious Photographers and Designers (S5P100)

I used the Spyder5PRO on a brand new Dell p2416D IPS display -- unless you have a type of IPS or VA panel you very well may not want to bother. IPS & VA LCD panels are slower, making them less popular with gamers, but they display more colors, particularly as you get closer to pure black & pure white. Monitor promo materials &/or specs usually cite however many millions of colors -- more meaningful is if they list the percentage of sRGB that they cover.The Dell is specced at 99% sRGB, covers 100% after calibration, but doesn't make it to 80% of wider gamut color ranges like Adobe RGB. That alone doesn't make it that unusual or worth the extra cost -- you can buy monitors with IPS panels having similar coverage much cheaper nowadays. You can also buy more expensive displays with a wider gamut or range, but in that case you'd want to research if & how well whatever calibration device worked with wide gamut displays beforehand.Many people like extra bass when they're listening to music -- it's not accurate, but accuracy isn't important to them. PC monitors & HDTVs tend to be the same way -- out of the box these panels are set up so that what you see is more vivid &/or striking, while PC monitors are also very often too bright. You can find charts online, as well as use free & paid software that will help you adjust your display for accuracy, using only the display's built-in adjustments.When you use the Spyder5PRO's software &/or Argyll, you create a profile that software [including Windows] uses to alter the colors it displays on your screen. If your monitor adds a green tint for example, the profile will tell software to subtract so much green from what's sent to the display. The monitor will still display everything with that green tint -- the profile just tells software how to compensate. The only manual adjustment you do with the Spyder5PRO software is brightness -- with dispcalGUI & Argyll you can also adjust the individual RGB controls -- in both cases to get close [closer] to the target White Point.That means that it's to your advantage to at least set the contrast [& brightness] for your monitor beforehand, & it doesn't hurt to adjust the RGB levels [& maybe gamma if available] as needed. Not all software will use [or use well] the profile you create, plus if the display is too far off, that profile may not be able to adequately compensate to bring a color or colors back into range.Now before you can use the Spyder5 [any version] you have to download & install software. That's pretty much quick & easy with the software for the Spyder5, and it adds the necessary drivers. I downloaded dispcalGUI & Argyll as .zip files -- the Argyle software took a while -- and the only real installation needed was installing Argyle's drivers for the Spyder5. They're unsigned drivers that install in an unusual way in 64 bit Windows. dispcalGUI can install them for you, but it means restarting 64 bit Windows in a special mode. You also can't use the Argyll & Spyder5 drivers at the same time -- if both are installed you have to switch between the 2 in Windows Device Mgr. I took the easy way out, installing the Spyder5PRO software in win7 64, using dispcalGUI & Argyll in win7 32 since I've got both on this rig. Later I copied the profile they created to win7 64. The 1st time I ran dispcalGUI it asked me what folder Argyll was in, & after I installed the Spyder5 drivers it downloaded a file it needed.Using the Spyder5PRO software was painless. You hang the puck over the top of your display by its USB cord -- it has a felt-like ring to keep from scratching the surface. That USB cord passes through the *lens cap* that protects the sensor when you're not using it, & acts like a counterweight when you are. I've read reports that it was hard to slide the USB cord through the cap to give you enough distance between the puck & the cap to drape them over your display, but the one I got was pretty easy. Where I had problems is the cable is too stiff, having bends in it from being tied up -- I spent some time straightening it so the puck would lay flat on the monitor.The Spyder5PRO software is wizard based... It tells you when to hang the puck over the screen, & shows you an outline of the puck so you know where to place it -- during calibration the entire screen changes colors, so you don't have to worry about getting the placement exact. You can select whether to have the Spyder5PRO measure the room lighting or not. When you do it suggests a target White Point based on that measurement, or you can set a target from a drop-down box. It'll then measure a white screen, & ask you to adjust the brightness control -- after you adjust it you click a button to measure again, & it shows you how close you are. Once that's set you hit continue, & can now go off for a very quick cup of coffee or tea, as it doesn't take long at all. When the software's done you're asked to save the new profile, & the app gives you options to view test images with that profile on/off.Installing the software adds a utility app to the Startup folder in the Start Menu -- I'm not leaving the Spyder plugged in so I removed that start Menu Shortcut. It also adds a ProfileChooser app, that lets you switch the profile that Windows & your software uses. It'll complain that the profile you create with Argyll is too big, but it will use it just the same. As for the results of the calibration, it makes the screen a bit darker/warmer, especially if you accept a suggested lower White Point target after measuring room light. It didn't seem to alter image colors in Photoshop in a negative way, but my son & I [who prefer daylight bulbs] both thought it gave everything else in Windows a slightly unnatural look that wasn't there using the profile Argyll created. This is a big *Your Mileage May Vary* sort of thing -- I'm sure many people will prefer the warmer vs. colder look, the same way they prefer warmer vs. cooler lighting.Now on to dispcalGUI & Argyll... The dispcalGUI app isn't difficult, but neither did I find it intuitive. The developer goes to great lengths to explain what the settings mean on his web page, but then I had to spend some time figuring out where & how you change those settings. It wasn't immediately clear to me that you have to click the "Calibration" & Profiling" buttons -- it wasn't immediately clear to me that those were buttons. Other than that, my only complaint is that it's SLOW, taking 2 hours+ at default settings. Yes, it makes a lot of measurements, but the majority of the time it seems like nothing's going on at all, with no hard drive reads/writes & intermittent 1-2% CPU use -- the 1st time I ran it I kept checking Task Mgr. to see if it was still alive.One thing I like is that dispcalGUI will also do a verification run, where it will use the Spyder5 to measure what's displayed & compare that to the known values of color swatches. Assuming that when you read the report afterward everything passed, it's no longer a matter of faith that what you see matches what you're supposed to or should see on your screen.All that said, I personally can't say that the Argyll profile is more or less accurate than the one produced by the Spyder5PRO software, though it certainly contains a lot more data based on more measurements. The dispcalGUI web site explains the adjustments it does so that you can see more shades approaching pure black -- your screen most likely can't display pure black, so it can compensate by lightening the shades closest to black. You see more dark shades that way, but what you see is lighter than it's supposed to be. And comparing the Spyder5PRO & Argyll profiles with images in Photoshop, the main difference *I see* is increased shadow detail with Argyll's profile, I assume because of that.Bottom line, I bought the Pro version of the Spyder5 for the software, in no small part because I couldn't find out what I wanted/needed to know about using dispcalGUI & Argyll instead. I'd make the same choice today, because while I can [& likely will] use dispcalGUI & Argyll on this PC, I'm sure there will be times when I don't have time, plus I'll be using the Spyder5 on displays where I don't feel that the extra time & hassle are worth it.

I've been using every Datacolor monitor calibration device for years since the original ColorPlus. Spyder5PRO is yet another upgrade and I'm very happy with it.I'm not a photographer and I don't do much image editing, though I like to see pictures, video, etc. with the correct colors (who doesn't?). I've used the Spyder devices primarily to get the full value of my computers' monitors for two reasons:1. A decent monitor is expensive. As such, the color calibration should be correct. Over time, the original factory calibration gradually degrades and the Spyder calibration tools fix that very well.2. Regardless of how powerful your computer is (or isn't), except for sound, virtually all of the computer's output comes to the user through the monitor. In my opinion, a correctly calibrated monitor is much easier on the eyes, even with B&W text documents. I've always been very happy with the Spyder devices' calibration results.Both the hardware and the software are easy to install and use. The hardware uses a powered USB 2.0 port with no additional power needed (no electrical outlet). Once it's registered, it can be installed on as many computers (desktop or laptop) as you have.I use the software's wizard, so it guides me and does all of the work for me - almost no thought required :-) . For professionals, or anyone who wants to do it, the settings can also be adjusted manually to the user's ultimate requirements.I'm very impressed with Datacolor's Customer Service, too. I haven't had problems - just questions. For example, I had the Spyder4PRO and was happy with it. When I received the upgrade announcement, I compared the two and really didn't see much difference. So I emailed customer service and asked why I should upgrade to Spyder5PRO.I received a reply the next day with a refreshingly straightforward, honest answer: The rep told me of a few real improvements, but also told me that if I was happy with my Spyder4PRO, then I should probably keep it and not upgrade.I upgraded to Spyder5PRO anyway, just to stay current. The customer service rep was probably right. I don't really see any difference in the software or the results, but that's just me. Regardless, I like it and I don't regret upgrading at all.Note that for professionals or anyone who does a lot of photography or image editing, Datacolor also offers the Spyder5ELITE and Spyder5STUDIO. More expensive, for sure, but many more features to suit your needs.After years of experience with Spyder display calibration tools, I strongly recommend the Spyder5PRO to anyone who wants their display to look the way it should.