Using ArgyllCMS + Colormunki to produce excellent printer profiles

[nrdlnd]

Even so, my 3880 gives virtually the same colour gamut (918,035) on a reasonable microporous RC paper.

So comes a very obvious question about making profiles from papers with a lot of optical brighternes as I think all RC-papers have. This thread started with making profiles with the Colormunki that has an UV-cut filter. As I've understood it this instrument can't read a part of the blue/violet spectrum as the UV-filter also cuts off some of the blue/violet spectrum. I bought an i1 Pro instead without an UV-filter. In the Argyll documentation it's recommended to buy an instrument without UV-filter if you have the alternative . When you make a profile with a paper with optical brighteners it's possible to make a compensation (UV-cut?) in software (Argyll CMS) instead.

I try to use papers without OBA but for some 'everyday' prints I want to use RC-papers as they are a lot cheaper and often very good. How important is it to make this compensation for UV? What commands or arguments should I use? Is it necessary to measure the OBA-content of the paper to be able to do a satisfactory compensation? Is a profile made with an UV-cut instrument (like the Colormunki or the i1 Pro with UV-filter) correct when you make a profile with a paper without OBA-content as the filter cuts off some of the blue/violet spectrum?

One of the reasons I'm asking this is because I have problems getting the colors correct on the RC-paper I'm using (SIHL Masterclass Lustre).

Per

 

[RogerB]

I try to use papers without OBA but for some 'everyday' prints I want to use RC-papers as they are a lot cheaper and often very good. How important is it to make this compensation for UV? What commands or arguments should I use? Is it necessary to measure the OBA-content of the paper to be able to do a satisfactory compensation? Is a profile made with an UV-cut instrument (like the Colormunki or the i1 Pro with UV-filter) correct when you make a profile with a paper without OBA-content as the filter cuts off some of the blue/violet spectrum?

One of the reasons I'm asking this is because I have problems getting the colors correct on the RC-paper I'm using (SIHL Masterclass Lustre).

Per

I use a few papers, some OBA-free and others with varying amounts of OBA. Like you, I have an i1Pro without the UV-cut filter. I have to admit that I never try to compensate for OBAs when I make a profile with Argyll and I have never had any real problems.

I recently profiled four RC papers from the Harman CrystalJet range. These papers have lots of OBAs - the paper white measures (L*, a*, b*) 95.9, 1.5 -11.0 The profiles give very nice results for both colour and B&W so I have not felt the need to tinker with OBA compensation.

What kind of problems are you having with the Sihl paper?

 

[nrdlnd]

What kind of problems are you having with the Sihl paper?

I printed a series of pictures and I couldn't get the colors exactly right as I wanted. I tried to tinker with them in Capture One but I didn't really get it. I came to the conclusion that it was the difficult lighting conditions that made it. I haven't tried to print on a paper without OBA so I can't say that it was because of the optical brighteners. The people that got the pictures were very happy so maybe it's only me!

I wanted to ask if someone else have had the same experience. I also have a general interest to know if it's important to compensate for UV and how to do it. When I made profiles for the SIHL paper I tried the argument '-f D50M2' but when I printed I couldn't see any difference between the two profiles. I haven't analyzed the profiles with Gamutvision though. I didn't use illum as I didn't want to measure the papers. I don't quite understand the documetation in Argyll on how to compensate. If it's not necessary I will not bother.

As a bynote I have printed my first series of pictures on the mattte Museo Portfolio Rag with my own profile (576/1152 on 3 papers) and the result is very good for a matte paper! I couldn't wish for better!

Per

 

[nrdlnd]

I looked at the two profiles with the RC-paper SIHL Masterclass Lustre in the trial version of Gamutvision. One with the command '-f D50M2' in 'chartread' and one without. I'm not sure if this is the correct command to get a standardized FW-compensation without measuring the actual OBA content with 'illum' that seems rather complicated. There is a difference between the two. D-max is slightly higher with compensation but there is a difference in the way gamut looks in the red/violet area (the one with '-f D50M2' has more gamut especially in the red area the one without very slightly more in the blue area). The '...OEM2.txt* is the one with 'FW-comp' or with the above command. The one with compensation has a little greater gamut overall. Is this result according to theory?

Per