slagg

Well in my part of the world where i live this device was like 1750 euro on discount.

Now imagine you are hard core professional and you do in house proofs before you send your artwork to printer. To accomplish accurate color management and predictable printing devices you'll need are:

X-Rite i1 Pro or similar. i1Pro as i said is around 1800 euro here. On internet i saw better deals but depending where you live that can be painful experience to pay and wait for device.

Then printer like Epson. Personally i have Stylus Pro 4880 with 3K Ultra Chrome Inks. Price here is 2100 euro.

Proofing papers from manufacturers like EFI, Tecco, and similar (they are bit costly but outstanding quality and prints looks marvelous). Price depends on paper type but for example Tecco SG260 A3 50 pieces was like 50 euros. Now my friend who is general importer of Tecco and EFi in my country told me that paper is discontinued product. Basically that paper was manufactured for some big and important customer of Tecco and those A3's and A4's was leftovers of production of larger formats. Anyways really great paper and great relation between price and quality.

And finally RIP that will drive that printer. Again i am using EFI Colorproof Xpress which costs around 700 euros. Outstanding color management capabilities for low cost RIP software. I was having less then 1 deltaE between measured sample and printed one thanks to great color management control in software.

So when you have all these devices in sync most definitely your work will be super accurate. And when you have done some design and you have printed proofs you can show to printer what your artwork after pre press is capable to be printed so you are sure there is no mistake from your side because you can measure control patches with i1 Pro. Also it will be required to obtain an ICC profile from printer where your artwork at the end will be printed out (for example offset printing). That ICC profile is valid for unique paper and ink combination printed on that machine. Usually is paper you have chosen before print so you can do soft proof in Photoshop and simulate that device as you would simulate ICC profile from your Epson printer for paper and epson ink combination. If your printer can't supply an ICC profile for his machine then most definitely can't blame you for some mistakes when is printed. But any serious printer companies have profiled theirs machines so you can do better job.

I hope it makes sense now But to make things more clear i will make tutorial for soft proofing in Photoshop and demystify that topic a bit

Cheers
Db

Wow, very expensive i must say but if you are a proficient artist then you have the money to do this or you try to have all of this in order for your work to be perfectly accurate. Thanks for the in-depth explanation(s).

I used to not bother with calibrating my Duel Monitors and relied on adjusting my Printer setting.

What a big mistake that was...........So I decided to get the Spyder 3. and would you believe it, both my monitors are within a tiny fraction of each other, hardly noticeable to the naked eye.

Its a lot cheaper than the one mentioned above but the results I got were a real eye opener.

The colors look identical on each monitor and the Laptop from which I Tether Shoot with, so I know I can trust my Nikon camera colors and not waste ink and paper test printing.

My buddy 'Disegno' got me into this frame of mind and I save so much time and money getting to do the things I want to in such a time saving way.

Thanks Buddy.

I have a KVM switch, (running two computers on one monitor). There are obvious differences in color between both machines on the same monitor. So if I'm understanding your instructions correctly, when I save the ICC profile, will importing that to the other machine correct the problem?

Yep, it will correct the problem since you have one monitor hooked on two machines and they will use same ICC for that monitor. But remember to calibrate you monitor in light conditions in your working room that is always constant. Meaning whenever you work you will use that light in your room. As i said D50 bulbs are pretty cheap and they mean a lot.



You are most welcome my friend!

Nice info, btw what the heck are "d50 bulbs" i`ve made a search and didn`t find anything clear, are those fluorescent ones? And i`d have a Q about this, when you work at night you should have a light on in your room?

Well D50 is standard illuminant ->more info here<-. And D50 bulbs produces what is called "daylight". And yes, if your monitor is calibrated to certain light conditions then you should work in same light conditions always. So if your work is really color critical then you should work with your lights turned on.

Holy craparony, formulas, i hate mats aha, now i see, but i was asking more about the health of our eyes, i mean it should be more cofortable to the eyes to have a source light somewhere in your room? And also what it looks like it`s small or big (stupid Q, you could say but i don`t know .. ) and how about the price and consumption? Thanks

Edit: Found this http://www.theledlight.com.cn/led-light ... D50-A.html

and this http://www.voltexdesign.com/led12-d50-g ... id2305.htm = but this is EXPENSIVE

LED lighting it`s very interesting since it`s VERY low power consumption..!