Calibration Question...

[Korky]

I want to do some prints, but I'm having trouble calibrating my iMac so that what comes out of the printer matches what's on screen.

 

If I buy one of those Spyder or Colour Munki thingies (and I'm meaning the ones that are on Amazon for around £70 not the silly priced ones) will it make a difference? Or are the cheaper ones just not worth the effort?

 

Korky

[KateW]

I've got a Huey (oo-er missus!) - the cheaper one - and it's pretty useless. I've tried all kinds of calibration and I still can't get the colours the same. As a side note, I use a PC, so I don't know if it would be any different on a Mac.

[Guest]

question is which is wrong the screen or the printer is the printer producing the colour its being told to ?

[ChrisLumix]

This is what I've done:

 

1. By trial and error - adjust the screen calibration (via System Preferences / Displays / Colour) on my iMac until it matches the printer

2. Save that particular calibration as (something like) "iMac to printer"

3. Return to my normal screen calibration

 

Then, when printing anything :

 

1. Switch to the "iMac to printer" calibration

2. Open the image in Photoshop or Elements

3. Adjust colour if necessary to how I want it to look 

4. Print

5. (If I think I'll want to print it again sometime, I'll save a copy with the adjusted colours).

 

Though I've never made changes that way, Photoshop / Elements also allow you to change the printer's colour management, so that's yet another option.

 

The reason I do all this, is that I don't want to permanently calibrate my iMac to be the same as the printer : to my eyes, all printers and - initially, until I recalibrate - computer monitors are biased towards red / blue / magenta, so I ALWAYS recalibrate towards yellow / green.

Edited May 16, 2014 by ChrisLumix

[bugmeister]

I use a Spyder Pro hardware gizmo to calibrate my monitors but I also have profiles for my printer that I know give good results with particular papers and ink.

 

So my process is....

 

Check the calibration on the monitor regularly!

Check the printer profile occasionally and always if I am using a different brand or type of paper or ink.

 

Then in PS work on the picture until the screen shows what I want (I normally use sRGB or AdobeRGB for working space).

Apply the appropriate printer profile to the picture for printing, and it looks odd on screen because the printer and screen are not exactly matched.

 

The printout does look like the screen without the profile attached to the picture, so I may save the 'profiled' version as well as the unprofiled.

 

If I'm sending for printing by a lab or printer, I tend to download their profiles if available or just send sRGB which normally work quite well.

[Mike]

Hi All

I was just about to post a topic on this very subject but I think that my questions have been answered.

 

Must say how impressed I am with this forum, only just joined and I find it superb.

The information posted is invaluable, I can read it for hours.

 

Thanks 

[JHFoto]

I must be very lucky to get prints exactly the same as on screen. I do have access to a colour monkey but if its not broken why mend it..........