Need calibration help

My set up is a Macbook Pro Retina with an Apple Thunderbolt 27 inch Cinema Display.  I am trying to calibrate using a Spyder4Pro and not having much luck.  It seems to me that using the Apple procedure to calibrate the display gave a better result.  Does anyone have any experience with this set up and calibration?  Also is my display monitor an LCD with backlit LED?  I downloaded the latest Spyder software first.

What do you mean with "I am not having much luck". As long as you are doing it correctly and have the monitor sufficiently turned down in brightness so that the calibration software can obtain a 100 cd/m^2 luminance value it should be very good.

I don't know exactly what the problem is since you haven't described it but if it is your pictures that you processed prior to the calibration now don't look right, it is because your monitor was off and you adjusted the pictures to counteract that in your processing. Now that the monitor is accurate, all pictures done with a miscalibrated or uncalibrated monitor won't look right anymore and should be redone or at least color balance adjusted. But as I said, you need to be more specific for us to help you.

Thanks EJ. The dark grey screen got a brown color cast. Also I was not sure when the procedure asked what kind of monitor. It wanted to know if it was LCD and wether it was backlit with LED, and there were several more options.

Sounds like something messed up the calibration. Make sure you are using your puck properly as per the instructions for an LCD monitor. Don't mess with the contrast controls. Simply reset your monitor to factory fresh settings via the monior's menu. If it has a 6500K option use that, if not just leave it in the default. Adjust the brightness down probably to about the midpoint in the range. Now run the calibration and make sure that the light detector is squarely on the target with no air gap and do it in a dark room in case there is a light leak. Calibrate for 100 cd/m2 brightness. The Apple monitor is an sRGB display so if the colorimeter software asks or has it as part of the options, use that.

E.J., I'm recalibrating my monitor tonight and have a question for you. I see you mentioned doing the calibration in a dark room (I've also read to cover the monitor with a black sheet). But, I've also read that the monitor should be left uncovered as to allow for ambient measurements since they will affect the way colors appear.

Is there a right/wrong way or just 2 methods of getting to the same point?

I just make sure the blinds are closed and the lights are off. The fear is light leakage at the sides of the puck due to the finite thickness of the LCD display cover material (usually a thin plastic layer).

Do you leave the ambient measuring on as recommended? Using a Spyder 3 Pro.

I don't use a Spyder.