I stand corrected. The M1 rental came only with the crap scan wizard and not the silverfast software. Maybe they do care.

I'm still going to hell.

Thanks folks. I'll get the gizmo and will report back when I've sorted it all out, probably in a couple of months, because we're looking to move soon.

Well if the move takes you up to the Syracuse area, let me know and I'll get you sorted.

Thanks, Greg. I think we'll be staying close to NYC, though. Syracuse would be a bit of a commute!

Okay, I just found an Eye-One Display 2 gizmo at a reduced price from a guy who bought one and never used it on the LF forum.

I have to say, though, the visual calibration seems to have been good enough to give me consistent results these past several weeks, as long as I have an ICC profile for the paper and printer combination. However, other people's images and videos often look too dark on my monitor, so I suspect I don't have it quite right.

Okay, I've got the Eye-One Display 2, and I'm not entirely sure I believe it more than visual calibration using Adobe Gamma or Monitor Calibration Wizard. If nothing else, it shows up viewing angle issues with my laptop screen, because if it's a little off, whites go blue-violet.

Is there a recommended white point? I went back and forth among the settings from 5000-6500K and 5500K looks the most believable to me (and is what I would expect, though the default it 6500K).

Update--

I looked at the Norman Koren monitor calibration page, which recommends 6500K, and now that looks better, since I've sorted out the viewing angle issue. But then it seems odd that the "Easy" setting in the Eye-One software sets it at 5000K (which looks too warm), while the default for the "Advanced" setting is 6500K.

My newest calibration trick: Having calibrated with the Eye-One, I realized I can use Norman Koren's gamma 2.2 test pattern at http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html#Gammabox to adjust the viewing angle of my screen. This improves things substantially.