Custom printer profiles

[MP640]

I have the following setup:

- Canon MG6150
- Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy II and Canon Photo Paper Plus semi-gloss
- Octinkjet inks

I want to have some custom printer profiles made and I came across this site: http://www.customprinterprofiles.com/

Is there anyone here who used their services before? And were you satisfied?

 

[The Hat]

I dont do very many Photos probably about 50 in a year but I do use the very same setting as you do and with the very same inks.

I have found very little difference in this set up to using OEM ink on the same Sihl photo paper
and to my eyes and these whom I print for are extremely happy with them.

What I am trying to say is yes by all means use the services of custom profiles
if you think it help you but the difference you get will not be all that noticeable.

The I.S. inks are a pretty good match for OEM inks and any scuttle difference that you may notice
can be easily tweaked in your own photo editor, thats my two cents worth..

 

[Grandad35]

I have no knowledge of that service, but their target printing instructions are lacking (to say the least). Here are the printing instructions from the Dry Creek site, and they give much more detail on how to set up various printers. Dry Creek hasn't provided profiling services to the general public for many years and some of the information on their site is dated, but it is still a valuable source of information. BTW - the targets provided in this site are the standard I1 targets and weren't specially developed for them.

IMHO, spending $30 for a profile is a cheap investment, assuming that you are printing using a color managed program (e.g. Photoshop or Qimage) and that you have a calibrated monitor so that the colors in the image file are correct as a starting point. My inkjet printing volume is low compared to many on this forum, but it is 100% in photos. It is a rare situation where I have to reprint a photo because the colors are off - if your nozzle check is good, your prints will be good.

 

[crenedecotret]

MP640, I'd be willing to make a profile for you, for free. Made with a Colormunki and Argyll. I just got the device and would love an opportunity to use it a bit I've made a few profiles for myself, they seemed to be pretty good. Much better than my Profile Prism ones every were. All I ask is that you share it with anyone else using the same combo. Worse case, you loose a few sheets of paper, best case, you're really happy with a profile that only cost you postage. Just send me a PM if you're interested.

 

[MP640]

Cool!

I have sent you a PM...

 

[MP640]

Here's an update.

Yesterday I spend some time finding the correct media settings for my printer, paper and ink. I used the instructions from Northlight that crenedecotret pointed me to.

As I have both a Canon printer and paper, the suggested media settings that come with the paper are indeed present in the driver. But as I'm using non-Canon ink, the avicce is to test some more settings and pick the best one. They have special testimages that you can use for media selection. It is important that media selection is done prior to any profiling. The result of my media selection prints were that I should use the settings as suggested by Canon. They gave the best results, despite the lack of Canon ink.

In the meantime, crenedecrotet mailed me the target files that I must print with the media selections I found. Will do that today, and then I have to mail the prints to crenedecrotet. This is regular postal services. Unfortunately we are on different continents (North America and Europe) so it may take some time to get the prints delivered.

Will keep you posted...

 

[crenedecotret]

I'll post the profiles here when they are done. They are common paper types, and Octoink sells Image Specialists ink I believe? Other printers use the same print head MP990 MG6140 MG6150 MG8140 and MG6150. There shouldn't be any licensing issues since I'm doing them using ArgyllCMS and i'm sure others people here will find them useful. Plus we will get a bit more feedback on the results.

 

[crenedecotret]

Question everyone, I have the profiles ready. What would be the best way to post this on the forum? I have three ZIP files of about 4 megs each

 

[The Hat]

Question everyone, I have the profiles ready. What would be the best way to post this on the forum? I have three ZIP files of about 4 megs each

I am sure that if anybody is interested then they can just Email you, if you have no objections.

Just my two cents worth..

 

[MP640]

Hi everybody, here's my update. Sorry it took some time, but I was out on a skiing holiday.

Crenedecotret was so kind to create the following profiles for me, based on test prints that I have sent him:

Printer: Canon MG6150 (CLI-526, PGI-525 cartridges)
Ink: OctoInkjet.

Following profiles were created:
- Canon GP-501 Glossy Photo Paper "Everyday Use" for sRGB
- Canon GP-501 Glossy Photo Paper "Everyday Use" for AdobeRGB
- Canon GP-501 Glossy Photo Paper "Everyday Use" for ProPhotoRGB

- Canon SG-201 Photo Paper Plus Semi-gloss for sRGB
- Canon SG-201 Photo Paper Plus Semi-gloss for AdobeRGB
- Canon SG-201 Photo Paper Plus Semi-gloss for ProPhotoRGB

- Canon PP-201 Photo Paper Plus Glossy II for sRGB
- Canon PP-201 Photo Paper Plus Glossy II for AdobeRGB
- Canon PP-201 Photo Paper Plus Glossy II for ProPhotoRGB

For printing I use the paper selection as recommended by Canon.

I have only tried the Semi Gloss until now and was stunned by the results. I took a photo I had printed before I had this profile and reprinted it. Better skin tones, better hair colors, no color casts. I always had kind of a greenish color cast on my photos that I could not get rid of completely, but it is gone now.

If anyone wants these profiles, let me know.