Smile, calibrate your monitor with a ColorMunki

If you regularly edit your iPhone photos (or any photos come to that) for printing, either at home or through a lab, there may be times when the resulting printed image does not match the image as seen on your computer screen. To correct these differences, professional photographers use colour calibration tools (both display and printer), and X-Rite, a leading supplier of such tools has recently released a simple to use and affordable solution for display calibration, called the ColorMunki Smile.

What do I think of the ColorMunki Smile? I've never calibrated a monitor before, so this whole calibration thing was a new experience for me. Thankfully X-Rite's ColorMunki Smile steps you through every step, making the whole experience painless.

With the aid of the ColorMunki Smile, I have now calibrated 2 screens, a 23" Apple Cinema Display (old model) that is attached to my Mac Mini, and the LED screen of my MacBook Air. After calibrating the Cinema Display, I noticed very little colour change (which goes to show how good these displays were), however there was a massive colour shift after calibrating the Macbook Air's screen. At first the Air's screen seemed really warm, but my eyes soon adjusted to this change. The real difference became apparent, when I compared images on both screens. Prior to the calibration, images on the MacBook Air looked cooler when compared to the Cinema Display, however after the calibration process, all compared images, to the naked eye, looked the same.

The ColorMunki Smile is currently available from Amazon in the UK, priced at a reasonable £75.00. Colormunki X-Rite Smile Monitor Calibrator

For other countries, and/or for more information, check out X-Rite's website.

Please note: The unit used in this review was provided by X-Rite