Color calibration is a process that allows you to adjust the colors of one output device to match another. The Spyder3 Elite is a sensor that is used to profile monitors of various types. These include LCD, CRT, and projectors. When they come from the factory, most monitors display very approximate colors. To get accurate color representation, you either have to have a very good eye for colors, or use a monitor calibration tool.

The Spyder3 Elite is the latest product from Datacolor for monitor calibration. I have used the Spyder2 for a couple of years and have been really pleased with the results for the price range of the product, and so I wanted to see what the new Spyder3 Elite brought to the table.

What does it take to run the Spyder3 Elite? Either a Windows 2000, Windows XP, Vista, or Mac OS X (10.3 or higher), a USB port, a color monitor with 1024x768 or greater resolution, 16-bit video card (24-bit recommended), 128 MB RAM, and 100 MB of hard-drive space.

So what is new with The Spyder3 Elite? The  color engine now has 7 detectors which results in much better performance especially when calibrating LCD displays. It is focused more toward photographers and by having a larger sampling area results in more accurate color calibration. It has user defined choices for white point, gamma, white luminance, and black luminance that allow you to tune your calibration to various details such as shadow, studio light, lightbox matching, and destination output device. There is even an expert console where power users can bypass the step-by-step wizard.

Well first off, especially if you are working with monitor calibration. It is not something that is just done once and then you move on. Because of changing conditions, a monitor can go out of calibration over time. So it is recommended that you recalibrate every 2 to 4 weeks. The process of automatic calibration could take a while; although it took only 10-15 minutes, at times it seemed like it took a half an hour. Most of it is automatic, but it still meant that you had to make the time and you could not use your system while it was being done.

The first thing that I noticed was how much faster the Spyder3 Elite was. While I still had to make the color adjustments which are a manual process, the rest of the automatic portion went by in about 5-10 minutes and the recalibration was even faster. That made it so much nicer.

The device also, while becoming smaller in size, has a larger light measuring aperture which helps it take more accurate in measurements. It also has an ambient light detector so while it sits in its cradle on your desk; it measures your ambient light and adjusts your display accordingly.

What do you get with the Spyder3 Elite? Primarily you get the sensor and the software that installs, and sets it up. I know that it is simple touch, and its real use is for calibrating projectors, but the little holder makes the sensor look nicer and more functional when sitting on your desk.