Monitor Calibration

[Mike Farley]

I have just found this self help website, which has been set up by Tony Reilly (one of SPA's luminaries) which might help with setting up a reliable colour managed workflow.

http://www.imagetune.co.uk/

[Mike Farley]

I have just found this self help website, which has been set up by Tony Reilly (one of SPA's luminaries) which might help with setting up a reliable colour managed workflow.

http://www.imagetune.co.uk/

It was quite late last night when I found this website, so I did not look at it in detail. By providing an already correctly adjusted test image for printing, it bypasses any possible issues with monitor calibration and individual workflow processing prior to the actual printing step. It would certainly be worthwhile doing this to help pin down where the problem lies.

[davidc]

Also - it's entirely possible that depending on your computer, and laptops are particularly prone, that when you update your graphics card drivers it wipes the profile and you need to recalibrate.

[Mike Farley]

I have just looked up the new printing brightness and contrast controls in Martin Evening's excellent book about LR4. He says that Adobe added these functions in the current version as some people were reporting that previously their prints were coming out too dark. What Evening does not state is how these controls work, but hopefully Adobe has implemented a sophisticated algorithm akin to the one in the Exposure control in the Development module which ensures that the tonal values are evenly distributed as a result of the adjustment.

Another potential cause is the use of non OEM inks, either in the form of cartridges made by third parties or a CIS (Continuous Ink System). Whilst this avoids the exorbitant prices charged for ink by the printer manufacturers, it does mean that generic printer profiles might not be accurate unless they were made for the exact combination of inkset and paper.

There is more information about this topic in the Printer Profile thread.

http://forums.croydoncameraclub.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=128

Note that both Permajet and Fotospeed provide free custom profiles for their own papers as well as for other manufacturers' papers at a modest cost.

[PaulW]

Hi
Yes, I think that is the problem, I use Permajet refill pigment inks and FBG paper. So I have printed out two of there templates files, one straight printed and one with the +30% brightness adjustment, and they are going to adjust the new profile to match. So I should then be able to print without the + 30%.
Many thanks again.
Paul

[Mike Farley]

Hi Paul

That certainly sounds like positive news and, hopefully, between us we have now cracked it. There are so many variables it can be difficult to find the cause, especially without seeing someone's worrking practices and setup. Once you get the profiles from Permajet, let us know how you get on.