Spectrophotometer vs Colorimeter for profiling printer

[Smile]

Well, spectrophotometer uses a diffraction grating to "brake light" to individual colors that sensor reads.

While colorimeter simply is a detector sensor with some colorfull leds that shine on color sample and then software compares the output from sensor to known database of colors. No actual "light braking" to individual colors.

If database has no such color that you measure then you get wrong color output. Same as if printer can't print certain color the ICC profile prints the closest possible color. Same with colorimeter for reflective light. The emission light measurement like monitors has less of these problems due to fact most monitors can show limited number of PREDICTABLE colors. Else it would be a disaster.

Stay away from datacolor products if you care about colors, and do not want to buy something twice, it's always more expensive to buy crap cheap, then spend more money on quality item.

Also monitors and printers needs to be certified after ICC profile creation, else you cheat yourself if you think any calibrated monitor is suitable for whatever task you want.

Did I mention you need to send your expensive spectrophotometers to manufacturer every year to recalibrate, else you would be measuring with "rubber ruler".

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Profile editor - what do you intend to edit in a color profile ? I'm not in favour of that, tuning an image for printout - sharpening , contrast enhancements , color adjustments and more should be done separately, I would limit the functionality of a profile to its original purpose - color correction of the printout to the standard values, all those adjustments possible e.g. in the spyder software go beyond that. I'm not aware of a separate profile editor, software with that functionality typically comes with the profiling software package, e.g. with the old X-Rite Profile Maker or the current i1Profiler, but that's likely out of your budget. Whether the Argyll software meets your intentions - you need to test it, to dig into it.

 

[Robert Graham]

From the sound of it, the choice is either Colormunki, or the more expensive option, an i1 Pro with a scanning table. Hmm...perhaps a bit much for me.

ArgyllCMS seems to be another solution when used with Colormunki. But I understand it takes some wizardry to make excellent profiles, besides a round trip to Excel.

I will use the profile editor to tweak the generated profile for people who want a particular "look" for the printed photo. For example, more contrast or saturated colors for that "wow" effect. IMO public can like this type of distortion to the photograph. I then would have a profile to please.

Who knows?

Bob

 

[Robert Graham]

I wonder if the Colormunki works with i1Profiler? Yes, I admit that I am a geek at heart.

Here is what I am going to do. I will first learn how to profile with the software that comes with Colormunki. Next, I will expand my knowledge when I attempt to learn ArgyllCMS. Then I will go from there. My purpose eventually will be to sell my pictures. So I am looking for extremely good results. But Colormunki just may suffice.

Bob G.

 

[RogerB]

From the sound of it, the choice is either Colormunki, or the more expensive option, an i1 Pro with a scanning table. Hmm...perhaps a bit much for me.

ArgyllCMS seems to be another solution when used with Colormunki. But I understand it takes some wizardry to make excellent profiles, besides a round trip to Excel.

I will use the profile editor to tweak the generated profile for people who want a particular "look" for the printed photo. For example, more contrast or saturated colors for that "wow" effect. IMO public can like this type of distortion to the photograph. I then would have a profile to please.

Who knows?

Bob

The ColorMunki, either with its native software or with Argyll, will make perfectly acceptable profiles. And if you use Argyll there is no need for Excel - not sure where you got that idea. If you read the (extensive) threads here on Argyll you will find that it can be almost a turnkey application once you have set it up.

As for using the profile editor to give a different look, I think you are missing the point of profiling, or at least what most people think is the point. A printer profile, used with relative colorimetric intent, should enable the printer to reproduce colours accurately. This means that the print will be a good match to the image seen on a calibrated/profiled monitor. If you want a different "look" this is best achieved with an image editor so that you can see the "look" on the screen and then reproduce the "look" accurately in the print.

 

[Emulator]

I think a little practical application and experience would provide answers to many of the questions.

 

[Robert Graham]

Yes, I agree. I now have a Colormunki and a new Canon PIXMA Pro-10 printer. I think both are of comparable quality in what each does together to help create a quality print.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

How about the Colormunki together with the purchase of a good profile editor? What do you guys think? I can always use the same profile editor for future, more expensive spectrophotometer purchases.

There was a discussion about the possible need of a profile editor - changing particular table values after the creation of a profile. I'm not discussing whether this would make sense but yes - there is a profile editor available as part of a color profiler package by EFI and I tested it briefly.

https://www.efi.com/en-gb/products/...ow-suite/fiery-color-profiler-suite/features/

This allows changing profile table values or specific colors. This profile editor is part of the EFI Profiler package priced similar to the XRite i1Profiler software, and some of the functions only work in a Fiery server environment and not stand alone. This software may be beyond the needs of private persons and users of stand alone printers.