Is my monitor calibrated within reason

G

gizmo001i

Suspended / Banned
Messages
10
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi everyone,
I have been trying to manually calibrate my monitor, on and off for the last few weeks (well since Christmas to be honest). I have now got it so that my photo printer prints photo's that very nearly (as near as dammit) matches the monitor without any modifications done by the printer. I only have to use the printer profile and that is it. What I want to know, is, does this mean that my monitor is fairly well calibrated or is there something I am missing. Any advice will be very welcome.
Many thanks
Ian
 
I have to say, that's largely what I did.
Apparently there is more to it than that but I'm blowed if I understand it.
 
er no
what you have done is matched monitor and printer to one another (which is no mean feat manually!)
but they could both be out!

ridiculous example
printer out of yellow ink
tune monitor to show no yellow..... :naughty:
 
If you have a virtually identical image you've done very well - providing of course you are happy with the print itself. The whole idea of calibration is to align the monitor & printer but using the colour-correct printed output as the start point.
It's worth understanding this fairly dry subject if prints are your main concern, since the calibration can change over time & you may have to go through a lot of trial & error to get it back.
 
Hi gizmo,

I agree there, getting a monitor and printer to match making adjustments by eye is no mean feat at all. If the system is working for you then great, it's not how you're "supposed" to do it but calibration is all about the destination and not the journey.

The trouble may be here is that monitors and some lesser degree printers, tend to drift over time and the settings you have in the profiles now will be become less effective over time. Monitors should ideally be calibrated every 2 to 4 weeks for real colour accuracy.
 
A further problem could be if you decide to send something out to get printed. I wouldn't have thought that their profiles would be calibrated to your settings?

Or have I got completely the wrong end of the stick :bonk:

That said... if you never get anything printed anywhere else apart from your printer, then what I've just said doesn't matter :D
 
mattyh said:
A further problem could be if you decide to send something out to get printed. I wouldn't have thought that their profiles would be calibrated to your settings?
Click to expand...

Mmm, I was just thinking of that when reading this thread. I use the Adobe1998 profile on my canon and same profile with Photoshop, my laptop and my printer. Would this be a good thing to do?

Not so sure if the laptop's screen is calibrated, it's a Dell 6400 tweaked up, but I can see all the black and white shades when using those calibration charts etc.
 
mattyh said:
A further problem could be if you decide to send something out to get printed. I wouldn't have thought that their profiles would be calibrated to your settings?

Or have I got completely the wrong end of the stick :bonk:
Click to expand...

It depends how far out the printer profile is to start with. If it's close then there won't be much difference with a print from elsewhere. Only one way to find out tho...

gman said:
Mmm, I was just thinking of that when reading this thread. I use the Adobe1998 profile on my canon and same profile with Photoshop, my laptop and my printer. Would this be a good thing to do?

Not so sure if the laptop's screen is calibrated, it's a Dell 6400 tweaked up, but I can see all the black and white shades when using those calibration charts etc.
Click to expand...

Adobe1998 is a working space for images, you shouldn't be using it for your printer or screen. In effect what you've done is disable colour management because there's no need to manage the colours if output device (printer/screen) has the same colour space as the image.

Colour management works by translating image colours between profiles. You image lives in one profile and in order to be displayed correctly you need the correct profile for the output device then the s/w will know how to translate the colours between the two.
 
Thanks for all your replies everyone and I can see what you are all getting at. I am using adobe1998 in photoshop for processing purposes. However, the printer (canon pixma mini 220) is using it's own icc profile supplied by canon on the setup disc. Obviously this sin't perfect, because no two printers are alike. But until I can afford to get a spyder, I'm afraid it will have to do lol.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top