Four Variables...

[charles_watson]

Hey all,

 

I have the following things that I need calibrated, the difference between the

devices is overwhelming. A pure red document on the desktop comes out purple on

the laptop.

 

1) Dell M1530 [with Glossy Screen, not ideal at all].

 

2) Homebuilt computer with a WFP2407 [great results].

 

3) Epson R2400

 

4) Espon V700

 

5) Nikon 4000ED

 

6) Nikon D300

 

Colors are all over the place. I've received all of this equipment except for

the D300 using used / refurbished parts to save costs, I even added the hard

drive and operating system [both computers are running Vista Ultimate] to the

laptop myself to save costs. This has led to some complications, though --

despite setting color profiles to sRGB whenever I see the option, the image

comes out significantly different when I use different devices.

 

Is there a way that I can calibrate all six devices to get at least somewhat

accurate hues / levels of saturation? I'm not looking to constantly update the

monitors every week, I'd simply like to be able to get a workflow going that's

more accurate.

 

My budget is around $200, so I can afford a Huey but not a Spyder PrintPro. Is

there some kind of ICC profile I can load the printer / scanners with that would

keep things streamlined? I only use PhotoShop and Bridge for my editing, which

should simplify things.

 

So, pretty much, I need a way to roughly calibrate two scanners, two computers

[one glossy / one regular screen], a camera and a printer for under $200.

 

Once again, I'm not looking for industry-leading quality, more like "I can scan

or upload the same image onto either computer and what I see will be the same,

and when I print it the colors, it'll come out the same from either computer"

 

Thanks,

Charles

[patricklavoie]

better the tool, better the result.

 

the huey is OK, but the Spider 3 or Eye1 is better..wait a bit longer until you get the cash difference (50$). That will fix your desktop monitor.

 

For your laptop, not much to do there, calibrating will be a bit of time loosing, since the vision angle and other light source around you will change the way you see image on your laptop monitor..

 

For the Epson printer, learn correctly how to print from photoshop, selecting the right ICC profile and turning OFF color management in the epson driver. I wrote a tutorial on that subject not so long ago, if you search PN for HOW TO PRINT ON A EPSON you will get all the needed instruction.

 

For the scanner, use it in the manual mode not in the automatic one, and refine the setting you want, indeed for that part you will need your monitor to be calibrtaed first.

 

For both Nikon theres not much that can be done in them, but shoothing in NEF will give you the power of control and tweaking in your raw development software..again, a calibrated moniotr is needed first.

 

As many PC user suggest themself, if i was you i will upgrade my Vista to XP to get ride of all the problem you may have : )

 

Also, i will suggest a good book on color management..i know a lot of people dont want to read, they want result fast and now..but until you read and understand the basic of this huge subject, you wont get any result soon. Theres no plugin that can do a proper scan - print without knowledge;

 

1_ Real World Color Management by Bruce Fraser, Chris Murphy, and Fred Bunting

 

2_Color Management for Photographers: Hands on Techniques for Photoshop Users by Andrew Rodney

[charles_watson]

Patrick,

 

Thanks for the response!

 

I've set up the Epson and I'm getting great results when printing from the desktop, as Epson has supplied ICC profiles for it's papers. I can make prints with colors that are at most ~2% different from the monitor's.

 

The problem is that if I then try to scan the print, or look at the .PSD on the laptop, the colors are radically different.

 

I guess the answer to my question would be any modern color calibrator that supports glossy laptop screens, and manual controls for the scanner.

 

That way, if I print a print after soft-proofing using good paper and the right ICC's, off of a calibrated monitor, scanning would result in a scanned picture that is similar to the original.

 

That'll be my benchmark...

 

But for now, I think Vista is working well. Compared to when I was running XP on my desktop, Photoshop loads in maybe half the time; and I haven't ever had a crash...yet.

[michael_darnton1]

I don't know if this works, but it's free:

http://quickgamma.de/QuickMonitorProfile/infoen.html

[roger_smith4]

You can get an IT8 target from Wolf Faust to profile your scanner just like your monitor. You'll need different targets for transparency vs reflective media.

Vuescan can make and use these profiles. There are also free third party software that can do the same (scarse is what I use).

If you want to use the laptop, hook it up to an external monitor. I gave up using my Dell laptop for photo work.