using color munki smile for monitor and printer matching

<p>Hello all, it has been a while since I have posted here.<br>

I am attempting to print from home again. I recently took a nice photo of my niece and I tried to print it for my sister in law and it kept coming up darker then my screen. I tried many things including modifying the image more in Lightroom but it was nor working. <br>

So i broke down and went to a professional photo store and they recommended Colormunki Smile. I brought home the product and Calibrated my Monitor and i am having the same problem.<br>

I do not think that the colormunki created a profile. <br>

My questions are did I get the wrong product? was a profile created i simply can not find it?<br>

My Gear: Canon 7d, Imac, Canon pixma 480 for work and simple prints and an Epson 1400 (this printer rarely prints properly)</p>

<p>Any insight would be appreciated </p>

<p>david</p>

 

<p>Hi<br>

I don't think you got the wrong product.<br /><br />A very common reason that a print is perceived as much darker than the screen is that the screen brightness is set far too bright. Try to reduce the screen brightness significantly and see if it does not help.<br /><br />An article that might be worth reading: http://www.colourprofiles.com/dark.htm<br /><br />Here is a video showing the calibration process with Color Munki smile (the screen brightness problem is mentioned towards the end of the video):<br /><br />http://xritephoto.com/ph_product_overview.aspx?ID=1970&Action=Support&SupportID=5624</p>

<p>Good luck and happy 2014,<br /> Frode Langset</p>

<p> </p>

What settings did you calibrate to (calibration and profiling are two different things. When you set the calibration values

(like 6500 K for color temp, 2.2 for gamma, a brightness level of 120, 100, or 80, and native for contrast) those are the

values the profile is built to. A profile alters the values of the data being sent through the graphics card to the display or

monitor so that within the limits of the display the colors of your image are rendered as accurately as possible. The 27"

iMacs shipped since late 2009 use a white LED backlit display which is very good, and very stable over time, but they do

need to be calibrated & profiled.)

 

I use the Smile's big brother, the i1 Display Pro, and get very good results with my 27" iMac. Good in the sense that

what I get in a print is a very close match to what I see on screen. I use 6500K, 2.2 gamma, native contrast, and a

brightness of 100 as my calibration settings and mainly print these days with a Canon Pixma PRO-10 , although I've had

equal success with Epson R2000 and a Canon iPF6300 imagePROGRAF printers.

 

 

 

That brings us to the subject of printer (really printer+inks+print media) profiles. What are you using for your printing

profile?

<p>IF you are using Photoshop, it will show you what profile it's using for the display. Go into <em>Color Settings</em>. Go into <em>RGB working space</em> popdown menu and look within the list of profiles presented. You should see <em>Monitor:XXX</em> where XXX is the name of the profile you built and saved. If you are on a Mac, the ColorSync utility will show you where all profiles are stored on your Mac. <br>

Did you get the wrong product? Maybe. You have to calibrate and attempt to produce a visual match and that may or may not happen. See:<br>

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/why_are_my_prints_too_dark.shtml</p>

<p>As much as we try to get 'print matching', it's actually impossible. The screen is backlit, and will show more detail in the dark areas. I was able to get close enough by turning my monitor WAY down. It defaults at 50 (out of a hundred), but a very well exposed photograph doesn't print right unless the monitor is set at 14 (89 cd/m^2). But images on the screen are always much more vivid because of the backlight.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>As much as we try to get 'print matching', it's actually impossible. The screen is backlit, and will show more detail in the dark areas.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>True, an emissive display and a reflective print will never match 100%. But the closer you get, the better. Also, control over the contrast ratio of the display is critical and unfortunately, few calibration products can control this. When you're dealing with a dispaly that may have a 1000:1 contrast ratio and far more (you see marketing spec's boasting higher values), yet the best print may have 300:1, the disconnect between the two in terms of matching is ever harder. <br>

Turning down the backlight to such a low level can produce other issues. Few units can get that low natively meaning there's some LUT in the graphic system trying to do so, the result can often be more banding on-screen. </p>