Threw away $90 on a color calibration card that did nothing

I bought this fancy color calibration card from a well known photo store because my prints kept coming out too warm. After three rounds of trying to match it to my monitor at home in Portland, I realized the card itself had a yellow tint right out of the package. A friend at a local print shop told me to just use a gray card from a camera store instead. Anyone else had bad luck with those pricey calibration sets?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_eric13h ago

Man that's rough, I had almost the exact same thing happen with a SpyderCheckr last year. Spent like $80 on it and the whites had a greenish cast right out of the box, totally useless. Tried taking photos of it in different light and the card itself was just off. Ended up getting a cheap gray card from a local camera shop for like $8 and it works way better than that overpriced nonsense. Feel like half these calibration tools are just expensive plastic junk.

schmidt.blake13h ago

@the_eric did returning it help or did the store give you a hard time about it being defective?