Is the Epson ColorLife 1440 profile accurate?

I tried to print an 8.5x11 at 1440 dpi on my 1280 using the Epson

provided ICC profile for their ColorLife paper. It came out with a

pronounced greenish cast. However the soft proof looked just fine,

and in fact if anything it was on the warmer side. My monitor *is*

callibrated, and I have got my prints to resemble the soft proofs

fairly close with other Epson paper and respective profiles

(downloaded from Epson Australia).<br>

I know ColorLife has a strong tendency to go magenta if printed

with the default color settings, or with the ICC profile for

premium gloss or photo matte. I am wondering if the profile

overcorrects for this tendency and is responsible for the green cast.

<br> Thanks.

In the subject, I meant to write "..Epson ICC profile for ColorLife 1440.."

I have an Epson 950 and I have found that both the Premium Glossy profile and the ColorLife profile for my printer have the same tendency to render some colours with a greenish cast, greys especially look quite green. In some images it looks acceptable, in others it makes the image look dull. I do believe that the profiles over-corrects the printers tendancy toward magenta. I have now switched to Tetenal Fine Art Glossy 290g (a German made paper) and using their ICC profile I can get a much more pleasing and warmer looking print.

I used the

<a href= "http://www.color.org/membersonly/profileinspector.html"> ICC profile inspector</a> to look at the profile, and it appears that

it was for the Mac even though the download link said it was for win 2000. (??)

Tim:

 

1) yes, the general tendency is that prints using the 1280 Colorlife profile on Epson Colorlife paper (or Ilford's equivalent - Galerie Classic) are relatively greener than prints on Epson Premium Glossy/Lustre papers using the Epson 1280-Premium Glossy profile. But...

 

2) it is a relative difference - the Epson premium paper/profile prints neutral grays (equal amounts of R/G/B) with a distinct magenta tint.

 

In considering your question I just ran a series of tests printing gray patches (80%/60%/50%/40%/20%/10%) onto Premium and Colorlife papers using the appropriate Epson profiles. This eliminates any question of monitor calibration since an RGB-neutral gray (e.g R120/G120/B120) should print "gray" regardless of how it looks on the screen.

 

The Premium setup/papers were (slightly) magenta across all the grays. The Colorlife prints tended to be (slightly) green in the dark grays, neutral at 50%, and slightly magenta in the light grays.

 

Just for the heck of it I made and printed 4 different gray-patch images, one in each of the 4 most common color spaces (Adobe 1998, Apple, sRGB and Colormatch). The file created/printed in the Adobe color space printed a little more green than the others - so your chosen color space can have some influence on how grays get translated into dots by Photoshop's CM and the Epson profile/page setup.

 

I use a Mac, the Colormatch colorspace, and Epson 1280 Colorlife profile with Ilford's Classic pearl or gloss papers, and find that this gives me prints that best match my original color slides. I find the Epson premium paper/profile output to be consistently on the magenta side.

 

You might try your own gray-patch test as a check on your monitor calibration. If the gray-patch prints are still green, then it's the profile. If they are more neutral than your previous print, your screen may still be a little 'magenta', causing you to overcorrect the image on-screen towards the green side.

 

FWIW, I basically don't trust or use the 'soft-proof' function. I get a better match between screen and print by just getting the image the way I want it on the monitor without soft-proofing. The 'soft-proofs' always show something out in left field (american baseball slang).

Andy,

thanks for running those tests. I ran some of my own last night

and had to wait until this morning to view them under daylight. <p>

 

 

I printed nearly a dozen 1x1 square gray patches on a single sheet

of ColorLife paper at 1440 dpi. For my reference I printed a pure

grayscale patch (k=50) using black ink only (No color management

or profiling involved there). Compared only 2 squares at a time

and often recallibrated my vision by staring at the "neutral" patch for a few seconds. All viewed in daylight under an overcast sky.

<p>

Here is what I found: <p>

 

1) Mid tones (RGB:127,127,127) with<br>

* Adobe RGB and ColorLife ICC - noticeably green<br>

* Adobe RGB and Preimium Gloss ICC - very slightly magenta.<br>

* ColorMarch RGB and ColorLife ICC - almost imperceptibly green.

Closer in appearnce to the neutral patch than the other two. <p>

 

2) Dark tones ( RGB:88,88,88) with <br>

 

* Adobe RGB and Premium Gloss ICC - Hard to tell though it appears neutral. However everytime I would shift my sight to the neutral patch, it (the neutral patch) would look a little warmer. So I am guessing it MAY have had an almost imperceptible greenish tint to it.<br>

 

* Adobe RGB and ColorLife ICC - Nearly as green as Adobe RGB and ColorLife ICC in 1)<br>

* ColorMatch RGB and ColorLife ICC - ALMOST neutral, but again the

reference path looks slightly warmer for about a second when I looked at it. So it may be immeasurably greener, but certainly impossible to

tell without the reference. <p>

 

3) Light Tones (RGB: 205,205,205) with

* Both Adobe RGB and ColorMatch RGB and ColorLife ICC - Hard to tell. I should have printed a neutral patch ( black ink only) in light gray. <p>

 

One conlusion from the above tests for sure is that, the Colorspace

does matter. With the subject in high key I will print from Adobe RGB

and with medium to low key, in ColorMatch RGB. That is, until I get

custom profiles made !