Re: calibrating monitors to what?
Re: calibrating monitors to what?
- Subject: Re: calibrating monitors to what?
- From: Andrew Rodney <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2001 13:29:52 -0600
on 10/26/01 12:24 PM, R. Lutz at email@hidden wrote:
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Question 1. My lab sent me a calibration file and print and told me to
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use the gamma settings on my monitor to make the calibration file look
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like the print that they supplied. I find this is difficult to do.
Not only is it difficult, it's stupid and counter productive. It also flies
in the face of all logic considering how Photoshop 5 and 6 work. You don't
edit files based on your display but rather with a Working Space. What you
do is calibrate and profile your display so that no matter what file you
look at, you are getting an accurate preview based on the profile embedded
in that file. Time to find a new lab!
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A.) Is it better to do this or to use the Colorvision spyder and
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software (or any other product) to calibrate my monitor?
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B.) If the latter (spyder and software), how does the monitor calibrate
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to the color lab printer so your prints from the lab match what you see
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on your monitor?
Yes, use the Spyder and calibrate your display to a set standard (something
like Gamma 1.8 or 2.2 and 6500K). That display can now be placed into that
specific state on a regular basis (as displays do change over time). You've
not only calibrated the display to a standard you can always reproduce but
you've produced an ICC profile that describes this behavior of your display
to ICC savvy applications like Photoshop 6. That's all you have to deal with
as far as the display is concerned. Now any file you get will preview
correctly based on the embedded profile (we have to assume the profile is
accurate and correct).
This display has NOTHING to do with any individual lab. It's in a consistent
state and doesn't alter it's behavior to any individual lab or output
device. That's the way it should be! Now you need an ICC profile for your
labs output device which will fingerprint how that printer deals with color.
If that profile is accurate and your display is calibrated and profiled, you
are all set. You can now get files from other people or get profiles from
other labs and your monitor will work correctly BUT YOU ARE NOT ALTERING
YOUR DISPLAY FOR EVERY STINKING LAB!
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Reply 1: If your monitor and your lab's monitor are calibrated and
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profiled to the same standard, they should display images very much
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alike.
Yes as long as the file you are both looking at have am embedded profile
(input, Working or Output space).
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In which case, if your lab has their printer profiled to match
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their monitor, it should also match yours. ...
No, they don't have their display calibrated to their printer. They have an
ICC profile of their printer and in Photoshop 6 they can set up a soft proof
(View Set-up) and load that profile to see how the file will appear IF
output with THAT profile. Or if they convert the file using the profile, it
will now preview correctly because Photoshop 6 looks at the embedded profile
(the output profile they used) and preview the file for that device.
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My question back to
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them is what is the monitor calibrated to.
A standard in which it can be recalibrated (and profiled) back to. The
consensus these days is a gamma and white point where most agree D6500 is
the white point to aim for. Mac's and PC's have different gamm's for
displays but it really doesn't matter inside of Photoshop 6 because it will
preview both platforms the same due to how it uses the display profile to
compensate for a correct preview. So if you are on a Mac and want to
calibrate to Gamma 1.8, go ahead. If you lab is on a PC and they calibrate
to 2.2 you'll both see the same preview inside of Photoshop 6. Outside of
Photoshop 6 and non ICC savvy applications, that isn't the case.
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...The adjustments that we do make [to your files] are done via the
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Frontier environment, they also have their limits. In extreme cases,
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better adjustments can be made in Photoshop than through the Frontiers.
The Fuji Frontier assumes all files are in sRGB and assumes it's output
space is sRGB so at least you know what the lab (Frontier) assumes.
Andrew Rodney