I have a problem with calibration for print...
My prints always come out much darker than they appear on the screen. I realize that this is a general problem that is treated a gazillion times online, but to the best of my knowledge I do things right. Yet this is obviously not the case, and I am wondering where my problem might be - any help is greatly appreciated.
So, here is what I have and do:
1. Pixma Pro 9000 Mark II, using only original ink cartridges
2. Imac 24", running LR4
3. Mostly Ilford Galerie Prestige Smooth Pearl with the according ICC profile (re-downloaded today)
4. Screen calibrated using Spyder4Pro
5. I do not have an ideal workspace with some outside light hitting my screen directly (but turning it away changes nothing).
6. Don't know if that matters, but I shoot mostly with a 7D, now also with a 5Diii, 95% raw; raw conversion, PP, and printing all in/from LR.
I don't print regularly (ambitious amateur), but I was never happy with what I got back from commercial printing services, so I decided to get myself a good printer. At first this worked out nicely, and the prints matched the screen well. But since a few months ago this is not the case anymore. Right around the time when I purchased the first boxes of paper after Ilford had changed the packaging of the Smooth Pearl paper, my prints started showing too much red (could be a saturation issue, or something else?). This now magically solved itself, but instead they look a lot darker than on the screen. For all I know the paper itself did not change with the packaging, nevertheless the dates almost coincided... The SpyderPro was sort of my last hope before getting a new screen and office, so I purchased that today. Unfortunately It made not enough of a difference (it did make one, but not enough).
My prime suspicion is the imac screen (I found online that these screens are not ideal), or my workspace. Are there other, simpler things that I should first try?
Many thanks in advance
My prints always come out much darker than they appear on the screen. I realize that this is a general problem that is treated a gazillion times online, but to the best of my knowledge I do things right. Yet this is obviously not the case, and I am wondering where my problem might be - any help is greatly appreciated.
So, here is what I have and do:
1. Pixma Pro 9000 Mark II, using only original ink cartridges
2. Imac 24", running LR4
3. Mostly Ilford Galerie Prestige Smooth Pearl with the according ICC profile (re-downloaded today)
4. Screen calibrated using Spyder4Pro
5. I do not have an ideal workspace with some outside light hitting my screen directly (but turning it away changes nothing).
6. Don't know if that matters, but I shoot mostly with a 7D, now also with a 5Diii, 95% raw; raw conversion, PP, and printing all in/from LR.
I don't print regularly (ambitious amateur), but I was never happy with what I got back from commercial printing services, so I decided to get myself a good printer. At first this worked out nicely, and the prints matched the screen well. But since a few months ago this is not the case anymore. Right around the time when I purchased the first boxes of paper after Ilford had changed the packaging of the Smooth Pearl paper, my prints started showing too much red (could be a saturation issue, or something else?). This now magically solved itself, but instead they look a lot darker than on the screen. For all I know the paper itself did not change with the packaging, nevertheless the dates almost coincided... The SpyderPro was sort of my last hope before getting a new screen and office, so I purchased that today. Unfortunately It made not enough of a difference (it did make one, but not enough).
My prime suspicion is the imac screen (I found online that these screens are not ideal), or my workspace. Are there other, simpler things that I should first try?
Many thanks in advance