Re: Profiling software
Re: Profiling software
- Subject: Re: Profiling software
- From: email@hidden
- Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 08:22:30 EDT
In a message dated 6/12/01 5:40:57 AM, email@hidden writes:
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I queried this list a few weeks back about Monitor calibration and printer
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profiling software. After purchasing a new monitor (you can't profile
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what's worn out, as I found out the hard way) I am now looking again for
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that profiling system, at a modest price.
Well, the answer to affordable, high quality monitor profiling is definately
the ColorVision Spyder... for some reason the rest of your post never asks
how EZ Color stacks up against that... but the answer is that neither the
sensor, nor the monitor calibration software are in the same league as the
ColorVision products.
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Several people suggested the Colorvision products, but I have also read
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a
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bit about the Monaco EZ Color 2.0. I have a few questions I hope someone
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can
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answer.
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Profiler RGB builds a printer profile using a scanner without first
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calibrating the scanner. Monaco EZ Color builds a scanner profile first.
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The later system seems to me to make more sense and, on the face of it,
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one
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would think that Monaco EZ Color would build "better" profiles because
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of
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the accuracy of it's input.
Is the goal here to reverse engineer the software intellectually, or to
compare the results!? If its the latter, then the majority of scanner based
printer profiling software users appear to prefer ProfilerRGB, despite the
fact that they don't know exactly why it works the way it does.
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Also, having read the thread about scanner profiles, I got the impression
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that profiling your scanner helps you out on more levels than just the
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color
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accuracy.
Yes, if you aren't scanning negatives you may find it faster and easier to
use scanner profiles, to save time and effort in getting your images in the
ballpark before final visual corrections. Some users do the entire process
visually, and feel this does less damage to the file's histograms (color
smoothness and continuity) than hammering it with a profile, others prefer
the convenience of a profile. But its not the first decision you need to make.
I'd suggest getting the best monitor calibration your can afford first, and
setting that up. Second in importance is profiling your printer as well as
possible. After you have all that running at optimum values *then* I'd worry
about source profiles, if you need to at all.
If you buy the Colorvision bundle, wouldn't you then be looking
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for some kind of IT8 calibration system, such as Silverfast's? Is it that
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Colorvision's monitor and printer profiling system is so much better that
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it
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is worth the expense to buy a separate scanner profiling system?
Thats one option. I have the IT8 version of SilverFast and find the results
to be roughly comparable to most other scanner profiling systems, and use the
resulting profiles for low end jobs, or when I'm in a hurry, as well a for
converting negatives. One reason I suggest an incrementat approach is that I
suspect many users would rather spend further money by upgrading to
ProfilerPRO and a spectrophotometer to further improve their printer pr
ofiles, rather than moving into source profiling for scanners and cameras, if
they had the choice. This is one reason ColorVision breaks their products up
into components; Disney isn't much interested in bundles to calibrate
scanners and printers, they just want to run ColorVision's monitor
calibration and profilng equipment on thousands of monitors.
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Silverfast AI with the calibration option and a 4x5 transparency IT8 target
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run about $350.00 US for an Epson 1640 SU Photo - it comes with a reflective
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target, quite a bit higher for a Nikon LS-2000..the 2 scanners I am
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currently using.
SilverFast's price is a function of scanner value and capability. I'm not in
a position to tell you how much value you'll get out of this, as I don't know
the type and quantity of work you do. I recommend SilverFast to all who can
justify the purchase, however...
C. David Tobie
Design Cooperative
email@hidden