Monitor Calibration Equipment Question

dolomitefan

dolomitefan

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I'm going to be getting into some printing of some of my photographs. The printer (lab) I want to use uses a particular ICC profile (pretty standard one) which I have set as my default in Photoshop and as my monitor display.

Lots of people talk about Hueys and Spiders but are these helpful in this situation? Sometimes I find that my prints come out a little darker than on screen but I suspect this is more down to my brightness and contrast settings.

Surely if I use a Huey or Spider then it will create it's own profile which would not match that of my lab? I used to use a Spider many years back when I worked as a photographer but I don't remember exactly what the point was when it came to printing as again the lab used a particular profile on their machines.

In the meantime I have ordered a calibration image from the lab I will be using.

Any advice welcome.

Confused :thinking:
 
The profile your lab sent you is for soft proofing. It is not a monitor profile. Using it as such will give you incorrect results. The idea of calibrating and profiling a monitor is that the same image will appear the same on different monitors, hence giving you correct reproduction.

A profile is simply a description of the devices ability to reproduce colours, it's sort of it's signature. Each type of device has it's own response, hence profile ( simply put). You can't use an output device profile with a monitor. Doing so will distort the way your monitor displays the colours. You should un instal it.

You need to calibrate and then profile your monitor. In this way the editing software knows the characteristics of your monitor and makes allowances for them.

The next thing to consider is what colour space you need to output to. This is not a profile but rather a "Colour Chart" that enables the systems to print the correct value for each colour. The lab will tel you what it prefers sRGB Adobe RGB etc.
 
The profile the machines use is sRGB IEC61966-2.1 if this helps. This is currently the default monitor setting on my Windows PC.
 
sRGB is a colour space not a profile. Lots of people get these confused.

Can I ask what software you are using to view adjust you images
 
just to hijack, does the calibration hardware ie spyder also look at the contrast and brightness to provide a standard brightness image?
 
What the spyder, and other calibration devices do is to first set the brightness and contrast. It will then set the appropriate white point ( in terms of colour temperature) it will then read several generated colour patches, and use these to determine the monitors colour profile, in other words what colours the monitor can and cannot reproduce ( it's like setting boundaries) plus it should also make sure the monitors response is as linear as possible.

The profile is then saved and is passed over to the operating system and other applications, such as Photoshop to use
 
I use Photoshop CS3 to view and adjust my images.

I think the consensus seems to be that I should calibrate my screen then ensure that my images are saved in the colour space provided by the lab?
 
Sounds like a plan
 
I have a Huey Pro. You run the software and then stick the device to your screen with its built in suckers. The software then changes the colour of the screen over and over sensing the sctual colour before working out what the difference is between what it is displaying and what the monitor actually shows. The device then sits on top of your monitor and detects ambient lighting so that it can adjust the brightness of your display to compensate for the background light.

Works well for me and cost about £85-90 from Dabs although lots of people sell it at about the same price.
 
I see Dabs have the "basic" Huey at £49.99, don't think the pro would give me much of an advantage.
 
dolomitefan said:
I see Dabs have the "basic" Huey at £49.99, don't think the pro would give me much of an advantage.
Click to expand...


Apparently the difference between the Huey standard and pro is the software...... :)
 
I've never understood this properly either. If I understand this thread correctly

My calibrated monitor simply ensures that any images I see on my screen is the same as someone else with a calibrated monitor.

If in CS3 I want to ensure that what I see on my monitor is what my print will look like I asign the file with the profile of the printer (via the edit - assign profile menu)?

If not how do I use a Printer Profile on my PC (photoshop CS3) in conjuncton with my Spyder calibrated monitor to ensure the output matches what I see?
 
I've been thinking about this and I could be wrong but a calibrated monitor will mean that my colours appear on screen more accurately and as such when I then go to print assigning the relevant profile it should then more accurately reflect what I get back? I still can't get over the 2 profile thing though. I've always felt the problem I have with prints is they can be a bit dark vs my screen. I've never had much of a problem with colours. I think SimonTalm is right about ensuring consistency between monitors as the labs colour profile is more a set of colours. I can calibrate my screen do the bits I want to do, then switch to the proof view ctrl+Y to see what it looks like with my printers profile then make any adjustments that are needed to match that profile but in order for that profile to appear accurately I must first calibrate my screen?

When my sample print comes i'll be interested to see how it compares to the same file displayed on the screen. I shall report back.
 
We have a monitor which is approx 10/11 years old, the old CRT type and have found for a while now that when I come to view other members' images here and elsewhere, they seem darker. It seems to be the same with my pics too and peeps have commented that they can see specks on black backgrounds in my images, where, on my monitor, it's just purely black and it's only when I increase the brightness, I can see the specks or whatever....

I'm wondering if it's time for a new monitor and if so, will I need to calibrate it accordingly and follow some of the advice as mentioned above? This is totally new to me, so sorry for qu's, lol. :)
 
You're correct in thinking that a calibrated monitor will mean that your images will look the same as anyone else who has a calibrated monitor. This is essential if you are using labs to print your work, as they should also have a calibrated monitor.

How a printer handles prints from software not using printer profiles I don't know. However I've found that Epson profiles work very well. Epson though don't supply profiles for a number of machines , particularly the less expensive ones.

I don't know about all printer manufacturers but Epson do have a colour control in their printer software. How well this works I don't know, but may help if you don't have profiles for your machine.

Don't forget the profile is Printer/Paper/Ink specific.
 
You can get a really good base calibration just off a single calibration run using the HUEY or similar. If anyone is unsure as to whether they would benefit it is certainly worth thinking about if any of your friends have a calibrator and them calibrating your monitor for you to come up with a profile.

My HUEY is attached to my MAC Pro but I have been around the house and attached it to each computer in turn to create a profile for that actual computer then just disconnected it. Once you have the profile you can use it, it is just a list of relative changes that the OS will use to fine tune your display.
 
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