What do you use to calibrate your monitor color for printing.

[Viridian]

I was looking at the Spyder4 Pro, but its got a bunch of bad reviews, especially for dual monitor users like myself. I was just curious to see what you guys used and maybe I can try your methods out.

Thanks

[Andrew76]

Hey Zach. I use the Huey Pro by Pantone. But, not for any good reason, it was on sale at the time, and it is quite intuitive, and easy to use - which was an asset for me!

I have heard other members here mention the Spyder Pro though, and have heard good things myself. Just a little too rich for my liking!

[Viridian]

Thanks Andrew, I'll look into that!

[Colin Southern]

I was looking at the Spyder4 Pro, but its got a bunch of bad reviews, especially for dual monitor users like myself. I was just curious to see what you guys used and maybe I can try your methods out.

Thanks

I use a Spyder III system and it's been just fine. They have a feature called "studio match" for matching multiple-monitor setups, but for the most part it becomes a moot point because you'll typically only have your image on one screen (the calibrated and profiled one), and all of your toolbars / palettes / menus etc on the other one (which of course doesn't matter how it's setup).

[Mark von Kanel]

i use the EYE 1 match and it does the job, now that im doing my own printing i wish id bought one that could do ICC profiles as well, i can get them from my paper supplier for free so its no great shakes but this can take a few days and im not a patient person!

[Manfred M]

i use the EYE 1 match and it does the job, now that im doing my own printing i wish id bought one that could do ICC profiles as well, i can get them from my paper supplier for free so its no great shakes but this can take a few days and im not a patient person!

What brand(s) of paper are you using? Anything I need is online at the paper supplier's website.

[DanK]

I also use an eye-1, and it has performed well. I use Red River and Moab papers, and both companies have ICC profiles online for my printer for all of the papers I use.

[Mark von Kanel]

Hi

I use a company called permajet and yes they have ICC profiles for all of their papers and my ink combo. What was interesting to hear from them when i was having printing problems, was that any profile made for a paper/ink combo for a given printer will still only be an approximation. This is because that 2 printers of the same model will rarely lay the ink down in exactly the same way.

Permajet encouraged me once id chosen my stock papers, to print a test panel for each paper and send it to them. They then made a custom profile for my paper/ink/printer combo, they do this for free if you have bought their papers and so i did this and my printing is now far more consistent that it has ever been.

Not all paper suppliers offer this free service and like i said it takes a week or so to get the profile done, so given the choice to go back in time 3 years id have bought a system that allowed me to do my own profiles, but at that time i hadnt even considered doing my own printing.... HEY HO!

[marstar]

I go with the Spyder 4 pro. I actually use three monitors (so calibrating takes a while..)
Its pretty straight forward and easy to use, but I have never tried any others out there.

And Colin is right, if its just calibration for printing and not showing clients a live feed of your shooting on multiple monitors, then I wouldnt worry about the dual monitor reviews (Although Ive never had a problem)

[Manfred M]

Mark - while there is an element of truth in that there will be some degree of variability from printer to printer; the production controls on the manufacture of the key parts and controls are very tight. In fact the variability between components is going to be fairly insignificant. These parts are manufactured with very high precision processes to within very high tolerances.

The inks and paper you run through the machine are far more likely to have issues as these manufacturing and compounding processes are much more imprecise than the ones that went into your printer. I would be far more concerned about batch to batch variations in the paper and inks. But even here, a reputable manufacturer should have products that are reasonably consistent.

[Colin Southern]

Hi

I use a company called permajet and yes they have ICC profiles for all of their papers and my ink combo. What was interesting to hear from them when i was having printing problems, was that any profile made for a paper/ink combo for a given printer will still only be an approximation. This is because that 2 printers of the same model will rarely lay the ink down in exactly the same way.

Hi Mark,

Generally, a profile is only valid for a given paper / ink / printer model / media settings combination. Differences between samples of the same model are generally minor and can be ignored for all intents and purposes.

Another big variable though is "how do you like it to look?" - the concept of a "correct" profile being the one that reproduces whats on your monitor is just that - a concept. In reality they'll never match perfectly because one uses additive colours and has - typically - a 6 stop dynamic range whereas the other uses subtractive colour over - typically - a 4 stop dynamic range; they're as different as chalk & cheese as we say.

The bottom line is "get your own photospectrocolorimeter and start creating your own profiles" -- they don't cost a lot - it's interesting - it's gives you control - and it'll expand your level of expertise (I use SpyderPrint). You also need a copy of the colour management "bible" by your side (Real World Color Management by Fraser, Murphy, and Bunting 2nd ed).