Calibrating LCDs

[digidurst]

Hi all! I have a question about this whole color management thing... Actually, I have several questions!
1) I read in "Real World Adobe CS" that you really can't calibrate an LCD monitor using a visual method - just won't work. Also read that CRTs will shift (and therefore require recalibration) but that LCDs don't really share that tendency. True or false? How often do you calibrate your LCD?
2) I got the Monaco OptixXR and while creating a profile, ran into an issue with the 'Optimze Brightness for Room Lighting' screen. Called technical support and they said that I couldn't calibrate AND profile my LCD but that I should stick with the profile only option. Anybody have any experience with what I'm talking about? Confusing because the manual doesn't say diddly squat about NOT using the calibrate and profile option.
3) I want to begin selling my prints via the Internet which is what started this whole LCD profile journey in the first place. Those of you who sell your images via the web, do you mess with all this? Do your customers ever complain that a print they ordered from you didn't look like what they say on their monitor?

Sorry for all the questions, folks. I'm a newbie at this color management stuff and I am really beginning to wonder how much of it is marketing hype vs. truly needed.

Thanks for the help!

[Peter_AUS]

From my Own experience and Knowledge, those that do photography as an income, work on photographs in Photoshop professionally, artwork etc, all use traditional CRT monitors, not LCD screens for the specific reason you have stated. The inability to properly profile the monitor, although with the newer LCD's and in the future, this probably will change the scale a bit.

Remember, if you calibrate a monitor to optimally display for you, doesn't mean that customers are going to have their screens calibrated properly does it, so the problem with differences between what you see, post on the intenet and what they see will always be subjective won't it.

I'm still using a Mistubishi Diamond Pro 17" Monitor and will probably replace it within the next year and move up to a 21" Monitor as they have moved into a more affordable price range for me to start considering it, also this one is about 8 years old now, but is still very good colour displayed on it. I am awaiting my Eye-One Photo calibration at present and will wait to see what difference it makes to profileing the monitor and display of photos online.

It really isn't marketing hype, proper profiling does make a huge difference, even printers need to be profiled properly to produce their best as well.

Hope that helps in some way.

[digidurst]

Thanks for the post, Peter. I know that a CRT will most likely produce better results. The thing is that I have bad eyeballs and the LCD really helps cut down on eye strain so I'm sticking with it.

Still need help.... Pretty please!