Monitor Colour advice

[Neare]

I've got two monitors setup.

One is HD with a slightly Coldish tint.
The other is non-HD with a Warmer tint.

I'm not quite sure on the standard, however which monitor should I be looking at the scans in?

Up until now I look through the non-HD, the images appear more correct. Images with warm colours look incorrect on the HD monitor, reds seem to have too much green in them etc. But perhaps that it only because my eyes have become used to the wrong monitor.

I have already balanced out the monitors colour as much as I can to neutral.

Which colour rendition would be more 'Standard'?

[Ranchu]

Go to "Monitor and Printer Profiling" on this page

http://www.dinagraphics.com/color_management.php

The article linked at the bottom of the page that appears should get you started, start on page 6 to get to the monitor specific part. I prefer 5400K-5500K color temperature...

[sevo]

Calibrate them, or forget it! A calibration device line a Spyder3 or Huey is not expensive, and essential. In absolute standards, 6500K is the reference white point.

But your appropriate white point colour temperature may be influenced by your environmental lighting and even the colour of tapestry, furniture etc., which all may bias your eyes away from the monitor white point, and usually are not up to standard unless you are living in a lab. Start out with the default 6500K - if your prints should turn out consistently too cold, increase the white point, if they are too warm (more common), decrease it.

Sevo

[not_in_good_order]

Yeah I know: The following is Blasphemy!

Even Calibrated you will have to learn the properties of your monitors. But calibration does help reach a sort of "standard," which works with printers which are off-site, or monitors on other's desks.

D50 and D65 are the standard (as noted by sevo), but you are almost always better off using whatever is native to your monitor, and calibrating with that.

If you are using a Mac, and printing only from your own printer, you can easily calibrate the monitor with software, and do not really need a calibration device. When you like the results from your printer you are done.

Calibration is always seen as mandatory on most photo sites, but after 30 plus years working with graphic designers, I have never seen a calibration device in any office! It is the realm of the CMYK pre-press folk. Most of us mortals rely on CMYK proofs, sent back from pre-press.

For amateurs, a calibration device is pretty valuable. I don't own a photo printer, I upload files to a site, tell them to do no corrections, and pick up the prints. I certainly want to get color balance as correct as possible on the first try rather than wasting a bunch of time doing test prints because my monitor isn't neutral and I have no idea what it will look like coming out of the printer.

[not_in_good_order]

Unless you have their printer profile, not so much, but your calibration will help if your monitor is way off.


Though I don't currently have software with the ability to use printer profiles, color calibrating my monitor has really helped with the appearance of my prints. I think it could likely assist the OP as well.

[Bruin]

Cheapest way to go is Pantone Huey using Argyll CMS (free software). You get all the functionality of the Huey Pro at a lower price (hardware is identical).

A cheap colorimeter is a lot better than none at all, but going to more expensive models might not make as much of a difference as when you started calibrating your monitor in the first place.