Custom Profile or of the Internet?????

[Tom Swaman]

I am curious as to whether you use generically available color profiles for printing papers with your printer or do you or someone else create custom profiles for you?

If you do your own custom profiles, which colorimeter/spectrophotometer do you use?

Thanks,
Tom

[felix.reichardt]

Tried all calibration beside colorimeter - nothing works perfect. I let the lab print them, it's also cheaper and more reliable from colors. If I had to print a lot at home I would buy a hardware calibration (colorimeter) system to make custom profiles for each paper type. It's around 500$ I think.

[dsp]

I use only a few different papers so I use the profiles from the manufacturer's website (Epson and Ilford). I find that while not absolutely perfect, the prints come out very nice and very close to what I see on the monitor. If I used several different papers and was always changing I might consider buying the equipment to generate my own profiles, but I can't justify $500 or more just to re-do a few profiles that I am satisfied with already. Try the manufacturer's profiles, they're free. If they don't do it for you then think about buying the gear.

[Tom Swaman]

Dave,
This is exactly what I do and how I feel. I only use Epson, Ilford and sometimes Red River. Epson profiles are done by X-Rite(Gretag-Macbeth). I do not know who is generating the Ilford and the Red River profiles, but I find the available ones to be quite good also. I used to print with Canon and there was a big difference between what I saw on the screen and what I got on the print. Now, I print with Epson and I find that what I see on the screen is close to what I get on the print. With my new monitor I even do better.
Thanks for sharing your experience.

Tom

[R. House]

I too use Epsons profiles and am quite satisfied with them. I have only used the Adobe Gamma to adjust my monitor and my prints are very close to what I see, although I do experiment and often print a 5x7 proof to make final adjustments by.

[dsp]

Originally Posted by Tom Swaman

Dave,
This is exactly what I do and how I feel. I only use Epson, Ilford and sometimes Red River. Epson profiles are done by X-Rite(Gretag-Macbeth). I do not know who is generating the Ilford and the Red River profiles, but I find the available ones to be quite good also. I used to print with Canon and there was a big difference between what I saw on the screen and what I got on the print. Now, I print with Epson and I find that what I see on the screen is close to what I get on the print. With my new monitor I even do better.
Thanks for sharing your experience.

Tom

Your welcome Tom. It's a good sanity check to see if anyone else is doing something similar to the way I do it.

[Tom Swaman]

Dear R. House,

Please enlighten me. What is Adobe Gamma? I have oft heard of this, but never did any research. I only calibrate my monitor very carefully and keep it calibrated. I have proofed, but I guess I am just not a good enough editor to do some of the fine tweaking you mention.

Thanks, in advance, for the education.
Tom

[R. House]

Hi Tom, Adobe Gamma is a little monitor profiling program that is automatically loaded with photoshop and photoshop elements. On a PC it is located in the control panel. It allows you to adjust contrast, brightness and color and then save as a profile. I consider it to be very basic, but will get you in the ball park.
I didn't mention fine tweaking, however I do often print a 5x7 before a final large print such as 13x19, and then make simple adjustments to contrast, color, brightness or whatever. I consider the whole process to be very subjective and accept the limitations of my equipment and my abilities. Best wishes, Ray

[markbluemica]

I only use ilford smooth pearl in roll form and a4 now in my 4000pro i find the results are outstanding and its so easy now just leaving the profile set for the 1 paper

[Tom Swaman]

R. House,

Yes, R. House, I get it. Subjective means R. House is different than De House.

Thanks for the training. I am in need of lots.

Tom

[ballentphoto]

Although the existing profiles from the manufacturers are pretty good. A custom profile should yield an even better print. If you were to compare prints from available profiles to one that was customized you will notice a difference... The kicker is that the prints viewed individually one would probably just fine and only a really trained eye would be able to tell them apart. My printer will generate profiles, so for me it's not an issue.