Adobe Gamma and Windows Vista

It may be too much to soon, but I very recently made the switch from film to

digital. With the new DSLR, came the need for Photoshop, which I never used

before, and since my computer was old, I also had to get a new computer. So,

new camera, new computer, new software. I'm starting off with Elements 5 and my

computer is running on Windows Vista. I want to calibrate the monitor using

Adobe Gamma, but I can't figure out how to use it in Vista. I'm reading Scott

Kelby's <u>The Photoshop Elements 5 Book</u>, but the steps he provides are for

Windows XP.

 

Anyone familiar with Elements 5 in Vista??

Chantal,

 

There's a thread in the Adobe forums discussing Gamma under Vista, linking to a more in-depth piece at Digital Outback - http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx/.3bc313e5 and http://www.outbackphoto.com/tforum/viewtopic.php?TopicID=2518.

If you also purchased an LCD monitor (can you even find a CRT any more?), Adobe Gamma will not work. It is not "strong" nor accurate enough. It's time to pony up for one of the new, very inexpensive calibration colorimeters or better.

Throw away Adobe Gamma! It's a non supported Adobe product and was never designed for

LCD calibration let alone using a modern OS like Vista. And then there's the severe issue of

eyeball calibration which simply isn't effective. For less than $70 you could pick up a

colorimeter like a huey and do the job correctly.

Thanks for the advice & tips. Even though I'm beyond broke from all of my recent purchases, I'm just gonna bite the bullet and get Spyder.

Some users (including myself) have problems running the startup LUT loaders on Vista. In that respect Spyder2 or Huey or any other calibration package are not different from Adobe Gamma. That's why the linked Chromix article recommends not to use Vista for color-sensitive work.

 

As far as Adobe Gamma and other visual LUT-adjusting utilities go there's no reason to use it in on a single LCD. I believe it's better to use nothing at all than to use something like that.

I have tried this simple batch file which forces the gamma load at <a href="http://www.xpwindowsvista.com/vista-gamma-display.asp">http://www.xpwindowsvista.com/vista-gamma-display.asp</a>

I am having a similar problem with my new laptop. I had a desktop and used photshop and lightroom have also tried picasa to edit/enhance photos. I've had no problems. My computer crashed and I decided to get a laptop. Ever since then my photos aren't the same. Skin tones and skin contrast is very odd. I thought it was my monitor. I used adobe gamma and it didn't help. BTW: my old computer was XP, now I have Vista.