Epson Printer R3000

[mahfoudhhi]

I have both Epson R3000 and Hp photosmart printers, and I have a colorMunki for calibrating screen and profiling printers. and I already profiled my Epson R3000, and it is giving good pictures, However I always have to bring the exposure of the picture in Photoshop ACR between .5 and 1 (Higher than the standard of the screen) to have the print acceptable in terms of illumination in both printers. there is a big difference between the screen and the print.
previously I asked this question here and I got different answers, but I am confused now, also a friend of mine said he does not have this problem (He almost gets what he sees on the screen). could he be mistaken?
any ideas please?
thank you in advance.

[Macmahon]

Hello Hafedh

He probably is not mistaken. My screen and print match very well too.

You are saying that, since you have profiled your Epson R3000, the colours in your prints are good. Yes?

But, relative to your screen they are not 'illuminated' correctly. Are you saying that, without adjustment, your prints are always too dark? or always too light?

This problem is nearly always to do with the luminance of your monitor being wrong. The monitor is either too bright or too dark. (This has nothing to do with its colour accuracy, which is controlled by your colormunki profile and is likely very good.)

The easiest test is to look at an image of a white sheet - for example, a blank page in a word processing document - on your monitor. Then compare the brightness of what you see with a blank piece of inkjet paper under the lighting you usually use when looking at prints. Adjust your monitor brightness until the image of the white screen and the printer paper appear the same. That should fix the problem.

Unless you have a particularly bright office environment, a monitor brightness (luminance) of somewhere around 100 cd/m2 should be about right.

Cheers

Tim

[mahfoudhhi]

Thank you very much Tim for your nice comment, but how can I see the luminance in my iMac.
there are text presets, but no numbers!!

[Macmahon]

Hafedh,

You don't need numbers to 'fine-tune' the luminance.

Tell the Colormunki software that you are aiming for 100 cd/m2 when you are making your screen profile, (see this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI1SM8WbWt8) then fine tune the brightness 'by eye'.

I no longer have an iMac, but, if I remember correctly, pressing the function key f15 increased the brightness of the screen and f14 lowered it. What you need to be doing is watching the brightness of the screen as you adjust it, relative to the brightness of your piece of white photo paper. This is a visual perception issue, rather than a strictly measurement issue. The important thing is that the luminance agreement on 'white' is good enough that you are not tempted to adjust exposure in the image to compensate for what is not a photographic, but a calibration, issue. Does that make sense?

Tim

[mahfoudhhi]

Thank you very much Tim. this is clear and makes sense.
I appreciate it.