Monitor Calibration

I have been kicking this question around for awhile now and figured the great minds here would have the answer.

How often do you re-calibrate your monitor? I have a NEC P221W wide gaumet monitor and use the Spectra View calibrating system. The manual recommends to re-calibrate the monitor every two weeks for new monitors. Do you go longer then the recommended two weeks for monitors older then say six months?

Thanks
Harold

Using SpectraView and a NEC monitor, I've always done mine monthly, Harold.

I re-calibrate my iMac monthly. From what I've read and in my own experience, most modern, good quality LCD's hold a calibration much longer than one month but if you want to ensure the best accuracy, more frequent calibrations won't hurt.

For newer LCD's there is a "burn-in" period when they are new, and the brightness of the screen will drop somewhat in the first few months. After that, it will become much more stable, and it'll be safe to go with once a month.

I know some professionals in the industry just go through the "validation" procedure instead of the full reprofiling. If the validation result shows that it's still within a small delta E range, then you can hold off on reprofiling for a few more weeks.

Maybe it depends on whether consistency of your monitor is more important that accuracy.

Patrick Herold
Tech Support
www.chromix.com

Thanks guys! I thought once a month would be ok, but wanted to know for sure.

Harold

I am a huge fan of the Spectraview II and NEC Monitor setup. Any of the Spectraview capable monitors are great.

RichieV

I do mine about every 3 months but I don't perceive any drift in that time.