Profiling Epson 1280
Profiling Epson 1280
- Subject: Profiling Epson 1280
- From: "James B. Reswick, Jr." <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2002 11:41:22 -0700
- Organization: Reswick Consulting
Hi All:
There are many people in this group who have many years more CM experience
than I. However, there have been many posts relating to profiling the EP
1280, and I own three running third party inks through CIS, and have been
making a major effort for almost a year to get working profiles. I am still
not satisfied, but I have made much progress. I don't know if it will help
others, but after much grief and expense, this is where I am currently:
I have totally dumped the Epson drivers.
I currently use the Spectrum Pro 4.0 RIP for the 1280 with the EPS add-on.
This is available from www.LexJet.com, and is coded and supported by
www.ColorByteSoftware.com (Sold by them as ImagePrint)
I am using the Gretag-Macbeth ProfileMaker 4.0 and EyeOne spectro. I have
acquired some extended targets, and am also making my own targets and
reference files.
Although the SpecPro RIP has hard-coded linearization for the EP 1280 with
Epson inks, the inks that I am using are close enough to Epson that my
profiles can work around it.
First, I print the CMYK linearization target (a stepped gradation for each
channel), and adjust the total ink so that it's as good as I can get it. This
is adjusted by percentages in the RIP. The SpecPro RIP is actually a printing
application, so I can print my TIFF's through it without having to wrestle
with color management in my main applications, and I shut off all color
management in the RIP (although one output profile is required to see the
target on the monitor). I have found that the SpecPro RIP will let all four
channels through consistently, permitting direct CMYK printing to the printer
with control of the inks (the hard-coded calibration may be there, but it can
be worked around).
Second, I then print my target with the same total ink settings for my the
specific material that I determined in the above step. I let it dry at least
24 hours.
Third, I read the target into ProfileMaker with the EyeOne, manually
correcting patches when they fail to auto read in the strip.
Lastly, I do my separation in the RIP, as ProfileMaker allows gray balance and
total ink adjustments in the creation of a CMYK profile. I have found that
less 'K' seems to work better.
Finally, I look at the profile for problems in iccTools and ColorThink, print
my favorite linearization target, and make little tweaks in the editor if able
to, or junk the profile if it's too far off and build another one with
different settings, or maybe adjust the target.
This system is working pretty well for me, although I am still having some
areas of problems, such as the way that ProfileMaker 4.0 is mapping colors
close to saturation. I'm sure that other profile makers in the same class
work well, but I have bought Gretag-Macbeth.
I especially like the way that I can work in RGB or Lab editing with my apps,
save my TIFF in RGB or Lab, and load the TIFF into the SpecPro RIP and PCS as
RGB or LAB, and then print with CMYK directly to the printer, doing my color
space conversion with the RIP, and having complete control over which profiles
are used and where.
One comment of note: I did have much trouble at first differentiating exactly
what color transformations were occurring in the source profile, as opposed to
the output profile, and Photoshop didn't seem to be helping me any. Working
outside the editing software in the RIP for color management has helped.
This workflow will be modified again (as it always is being), but this is
where I am now. I am, as always, extremely grateful to all the folks who take
their time to help me move forward, and welcome any comments from this group.
Jim Reswick
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