# Color munki calibration



## kevinfoto (Mar 13, 2013)

Thinking of buying color munki for MacBook Pro. My prints are good but some came out dull. What are your guys thoughts?...


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## Mully (Mar 13, 2013)

I would invest in a monitor.... laptop is really not good for evaluating photo quality....sometimes dark and sometimes light depending on the angle of view


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## Ballistics (Mar 13, 2013)

Mully said:


> I would invest in a monitor.... laptop is really not good for evaluating photo quality....sometimes dark and sometimes light depending on the angle of view



I don't know about that. The macbook pros retina screen is on point. I use them at school. And I'm not a mac fan either.


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## KmH (Mar 13, 2013)

I recommend X-Rite products. But which Color Munki are you considering?
The $170 ColorMunki Display 1 - Xrite CMUNDIS ColorMunki Display1
Or the $420 ColorMunki Pro - ColorMunki Photo - Monitor, Printer & Projector Profiler 

The intensity of, and the color temperature of the ambient light falling on a laptop screen, plus the screen angle impact calibration. Mac Retina or otherwise.

An external screen plugged into the laptop and used in the same location, under the same ambient light solves that issue.


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## ann (Mar 14, 2013)

I have the Colormunk pro and am very happy, we shall see what happens when my new IMAC arrives.

I have also used it to make paper profiles .... but as Keith indicates it will depend on which version you buy


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## kevinfoto (Mar 15, 2013)

My prints sometimes appear darker. Are macbook pros not calibrated correctly?


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## ann (Mar 15, 2013)

It is very rare for the prints to match the monitor, any monitor.

For one thing they have "jacked" up the brightness range to create eye candy.

Some very serious photographers, calibrate their camera to the monitor and then to the printers. Most of us just calibrate the monitor to the printer


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## Garbz (Mar 15, 2013)

...  Calibrate their camera to the monitor? That doesn't make any sense. The camera is a capture device. The only thing it should be calibrated against is a reference card like the X-rite ColourChecker card.


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## kevinfoto (Mar 15, 2013)

Can you caibrate your mackbook pro to match pro photo?


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## Ballistics (Mar 15, 2013)

Garbz said:


> ...  Calibrate their camera to the monitor? *That doesn't make any sense. *The camera is a capture device. The only thing it should be calibrated against is a reference card like the X-rite ColourChecker card.



It sure doesn't.


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## KmH (Mar 15, 2013)

kevinfoto said:


> Are macbook pros not calibrated correctly?


Computer displays age and have to be re-calibrated on a regular basis, like monthly. 

If the ambient light falling on the display changes, the display has to be re-calibrated even if it was calibrated just hours ago.
That's a big reason laptops suck for image editing relative to display calibration.


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## ann (Mar 15, 2013)

Garbz said:


> ...  Calibrate their camera to the monitor? That doesn't make any sense. The camera is a capture device. The only thing it should be calibrated against is a reference card like the X-rite ColourChecker card.



I would agree but there are some who feel it is important. Not for me. Monitor to printer does fine, thank you


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## Garbz (Mar 16, 2013)

There's nothing wrong with calibrating your camera. It's just the target that you should be worrying about. There's nothing worse a judge of a calibration than your own eyes. They are devious things which can get tripped up by something as simple as light. Hell just have a look at all those wonderful images that mess with your eyes.

I calibrate my camera using a colour checker card. It's not so much the camera being calibrated but the RAW processor (in my opinion Nikon utterly fails with blues, and Adobe utterly fails with skintones).


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## ann (Mar 16, 2013)

I meant calibrating all three together is a bit over the top for me.


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