The best Calibration system for screen to print?

[Alex]

Hey guys,

After a few hours editing a few of my bird of prey in flight photos, I though that the next time that I'm in work il get them printed off.. Iv never been one for doing prints but as of late people have been asking to buy copies of my work.. To cut a long story short, when I printed off the selected photos I noticed that they came out a lot darker and slightly over saturated.. But when viewed on my Mac they look fine.. I understand no two systems can be perfect specially with colour rendering etc... Basically what I am looking for is a piece of software/hardware that will look at the screens colour etc and then will look at the print colours etc and get a happy balance where I can accurately edit on my mac and print off exactly what I see on the screen...

The lab that I use at work is a Fuji frontier wet lab using light sensitive paper and chemical based developers.. It is regally checked and calibrated by fuji engineers.. I understand that it will never be a perfect match like having my own printer, but I will never use it that much to warrant the costs ( much rather invest it in lenses )...

If anyone can recommend a good but not too expensive calibration system I would much appreciate it..

Regards
Alex

[wayno]

I use Spyder 4 Pro. $200 AUS. Does a reasonable job. There are better systems as I understand it but I've been quite happy with it.

[Mt Spokane Photography]

You need to calibrate your monitor, You do not need a end to eng calibration.  Getting the brightness right requires working in low light, and calibrating your monitor accordingly.  Any of the hardware calibrators do a reasonable job, but some of the models also have a room light sensor so even room light can be taken in to account.  I have a Spyder 3 pro, its fine and low cost.  If I replace it, it might be with a Xrite mostly jus to see if its better.

[Alex]

Thanks guys for your response.. I think spyder get some of the best reviews that iv seen on the net.. So what I need to do first is calibrate my monitor then run off a few test prints see how close they come to the colours on screen, then how would I go about adjusting the print to match the screen colours ?

[TrumpetPower!]

If all you need is to calibrate and profile your monitor, there're lots of excellent options.

But if you're also looking to profile a printer, the field narrows and gets a lot more expensive. Basically you really only have two options to consider, both from X-Rite: the ColorMunki and the i1 Pro. Both come in various packages with different software bundles, but the hardware is the same.

(I think there's a colorimeter sold under the ColorMunki name, and I know there're a few colorimeters sold under the i1 name. Neither will profile a printer -- you want the "original" ColorMunki or the i1 Pro.)

If you're not afraid of the command line, get the cheapest package you can find and use Argyll CMS for the software. Argyll is free / open source and produces better results than what you get from X-Rite...but there's no graphical interface for it, so you're typing all the commands. If that bothers you, get whichever bundle supports the devices and modes you want to profile; that probably means one branded either "design" or "photo." The X-Rite software is still excellent and very easy to use; it's just a lot of money and the results from Argyll are even better.

Cheers,

b&

[stringfellow1946]

Get a copy of this it tells you everything you need to know including how to do Soft Proofing which is very important. Also how to adjust the image once its been soft proofed to match the original.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/videos/camera-print.shtml.

[jthomson]

1. You should only need to calibrate your monitor.
2. The lab should be able to give you a profile for the developer that will take care of matching your calibrated monitor to the calibrated developing process.
3.  The type of paper being used also has an effect so you need a profile that matches the developing process and the paper. 


I've used a Colormunki to calibrate my monitors and profile my inkjet printer, when I've sent stuff to the local photo shop I just use their profile for the type of paper I want.

[serendipidy]

I tried it but the link didn't work

[bigmag13]

1. You should only need to calibrate your monitor.
2. The lab should be able to give you a profile for the developer that will take care of matching your calibrated monitor to the calibrated developing process.
3.  The type of paper being used also has an effect so you need a profile that matches the developing process and the paper. 


I've used a Colormunki to calibrate my monitors and profile my inkjet printer, when I've sent stuff to the local photo shop I just use their profile for the type of paper I want.

+1

I use x-rite ColorMunki and the profile of the labs i use. i also found that working in srgb while soft proofing in light room does very well and there is no need to profile for any one lab then.

[dafrank]

There's already been good advice. Unless your monitor comes with some proprietary software, like my NEC 3090 does (Spectraview II), your best bet is to use something from Xrite or similar brand to calibrate your monitor. There are two types of instruments that will do the job - a colorimeter or spectrophotometer - and which you choose will affect your use options and the price.

The cheaper of the two will usually come with good simple software to profile your monitor or projector or even ambient room light - any device or environment that transmits light. These devices and their associated software can be excellent to set up your monitor. Coloimeters can't accurately calibrate reflected light; only a spectrophotometer can do that and also calibrate transmitted light as well. So, one must buy a system which include a much more expensive spectrophotometer to do both. Xrite sells them in several different packages, each one unlocking different features in the same basic software program, each package level "higher" (in price and designation) allowing you to profile more devices in more specialized ways. For intsance, if you have a "photo" spectrophotometer system, you can profile your monitor and your inkjet printer and paper choices as well, among other capabilities. If you'd care to, you could buy one of the later packages, and have your Fuji printing supplier print out a test pattern, the file for which you provide him, for you to then evaluate and then profile yourself. Then, you could, in turn, present the resullting ICC profile from his test print back to your printer, so that he can use it to dial in your particular print orders. Of course, this assumes that he would have to be amenable to using your profiles just to print your orders.

Another approach also depends on your printer already having an accurate ICC color-controlled workflow himself and his willingness to share his own profiles with you. If he is able and willing, and you have a good and otherwise calibrated (usually set up for sRGB, sometimes for Adobe RGB) monitor plus Photoshop, you can preview how your file will look printed out on his printer by applying his ICC profile to the View menu using the "Custom" Proof Setup command and then viewing the result with the Proof Colors command. If your image, using your printer's profile, looks wrong, you can edit it in photoshop to look correct using the provided ICC profile and save a new and differently named color-correct-looking version of the original file for sending to your outside printer.

This is a big and very complicated subject and requires quite a bit of learning beyond the little I've explained, but I hope I've shed just a little bit more light on the subject than just telling you what colorimeter to buy.

Regards,
David

[PaulTopol]

I use x-rite eye-one.
The method is simple with the right tools but takes a while to do:
Use the calibrator (spyder, whatever you choose) to calibrate your screen. EASY.
Make sure computer uses this new profile.
Now your screen should show you the right colours. (prints too dark mean screen too bright).
Now print test charts (provided by calibrator software) on printer of choice.
(this takes more effort): Measure test charts with the calibrator. Normally means moving calibrator over printed test charts in a uniform manner. Software calculates the diiference between the print colors and what the colours should be. Then creates an icc profile.
You then use this profile to generate the print.
A bit involved.
Have fun. The results should be rewarding.

[wsmith96]

I use a spyder 3 to calibrate my monitor.   Works like a champ, but I'm also not a professional.  It was priced reasonably at the time ( I think it's been replaced by a spyder 4) off of amazon.

[RLPhoto]

I use the Spyder 3 Elite. Works just fine.

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Thanks guys for your response.. I think spyder get some of the best reviews that iv seen on the net.. So what I need to do first is calibrate my monitor then run off a few test prints see how close they come to the colours on screen, then how would I go about adjusting the print to match the screen colours ?

Since you are using a external printer, Calibrating your screen is about the best thing.  In addition, you may be able to get the printer profile for the printer that the company is using, and use the soft proof in photoshop to see what the print will look like. 
You cannot create a profile from your screen to their printer, but soft proofing the profile they use will be better in any event.

[Alex]

Hey guys, thank you so much for all your info.. It has really helped me.. I think that I have settled on the X-Rite ColorMunki Photo.. That is about as much as I'm looking to spend on a calibration system..

I should have said earlier that I am using a Macbook pro 17" with 2.3 i7 with 16GB of ram and a 750GB hard drive.. I noticed that can calibrate the display through the system preferences, which then gives me a profile .. Not sure how accurate it is..

Is the X-Rite ColorMunki Photo the right choice?