Sorry, another calibration thread!

AshleyC

AshleyC

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ok so i finally want to put my wallet where my ego is and print my images off with a view to selling on a market stall or something. I just dont think ive got my setup configured at the best of its ability for printing. The hardware / software I use is

Dell 24" U2413 main monitor for editing and a smaller LG 22" monitor that just holds the second grid window in Lightroom for browsing so im not too fussed with that one
Canon Pixma Pro 100 printer
Photoshop CS5
Lightroom 6.2

Ive calibrated both monitors with a Spyder 4 Pro device and I have used paper profiles for my printer, sending off test prints to Permajet who set up a profile to use in Photoshop/LR

Now the question i have is that i believe the monitor is "wide gamut" capable which to my uneducated mind means it can handle a much wider range of tones than normal. In configuring the monitor I set it up to use a white balance of 6500k , there is a colour space option there of sRGB but this isnt ticked in the menu so i assume its not using it. I then calibrated the monitor with the Spyder and ended up with this which seems to suggest its gone beyone sRGB which is nice.



Basically im just not sure if my print outs will be making use of this wider range of colours/tones. This is all about getting the best possible print now rather than just posting stuff on flickr. So is there something more i need to to either in LR or PS when it comes to printing to ensure i get the best i can? Is it really worth the worry and would there be a noticeable quality difference anyway?
 
I believe Lightroom has a printing module which has a soft proofing mode. Load the paper profile and it should show the areas your printer can't print correctly. I haven't done this myself so I could be wrong.
 
I'm not familiar with the spyder pro s/w or device (other than they work). In my simplistic world I calibrate the monitor (same one btw) and then use the supplied profile when printing. Using soft proofing in LR/PS will show how it will look. The trick is to make sure that the software handles the printing, so make sure the setting in the print driver is correct. This is for my Epson printer but the canon will be similar
Printer settings by Paul, on Flickr

Then make sure when printing the right type of paper is selected and which profile, again for my Epson ...
LR Print settings by Paul, on Flickr

ETA: the first image is the printer driver (in Windows in my case), the second is in Lightroom print module, very similar for PS.
hth.
 
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You need to be aware of the printing gamut of the printer/ink/paper combination. Now your monitor may have a wider gamut than sRGB, which is nice. The problem is can your printer match it. The answer is probably no. So when you print, the colours in the print don't match those on the screen. This is where soft proofing comes in. Soft proofing "mimics" the end result by showing you what the final print will look like when printed. Now there may be some slight discrepancies, depending on if you are using a "canned" profile or a custom one. Plus a display on a monitor will always be a bit different to the print due to the inherent differences in the two . However this will give you an idea of the final result. Remember though that if your soft proof shows a deficiency in some colours compared to the non soft proofed result , you may not be able to compensate as you could be asking for corrections outside of what the printer is capable of
 
Great monitor that is! you could use hardware calibration on that U2413 monitor :) not tried it yet on mine as dont have X-Rite i1 Display Pro. but will be getting 2nd same screen soon so will get i1 Display Pro :)
 
thanks for the replies peeps. Im just concerned that while my monitor is showing this nice big range, my printer doesnt make the most of it. I noticed on the drivers page on the canon site this extra driver

"PRO-100 series XPS Printer Driver Ver. 5.85a (Windows 10/10 x64/8.1/8.1 x64/8/8 x64/7/7 x64/Vista/Vista64)
Description
This file is a printer driver for Canon IJ printers. XPS printer drivers support 16-bpc printing, which enables more smooth gradation printing than the current drivers (8-bpc printing)."

So that might be worth a go too.
 
Something you said in your OP

You mention calibrating both screens, now can you clarify does your graphics card have 2 LUTs? The reason I ask is that AFAIK unless specified a dual output graphics has a single LUT, so you can only calibrate a single screen.

Unless of course I am making a poor surmise and that you have such 2 LUT card or you are using 2 separate graphics cards.

FWIW I do not print at home but have used labs who supply print profiles so that I can soft proof in light room to make as little as possible (if anything) is out of gamut.
 
AshleyC said:


Basically im just not sure if my print outs will be making use of this wider range of colours/tones. This is all about getting the best possible print now rather than just posting stuff on flickr. So is there something more i need to to either in LR or PS when it comes to printing to ensure i get the best i can? Is it really worth the worry and would there be a noticeable quality difference anyway?
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Looks to be equal to AdobeRGB... you could select that option and check.

As to if your prints will make use of the wider gamut...probably not. The printer has to accept and be calibrated to use a wider color space, and sRGB is still the standard. While some printers can exceed sRGB *in areas,* I don't think any inkjet can fully meet the AdobeRGB color space, much less the ProPhoto/Lab color spaces.
 
Box Brownie said:
Something you said in your OP

You mention calibrating both screens, now can you clarify does your graphics card have 2 LUTs? The reason I ask is that AFAIK unless specified a dual output graphics has a single LUT, so you can only calibrate a single screen.

Unless of course I am making a poor surmise and that you have such 2 LUT card or you are using 2 separate graphics cards.

FWIW I do not print at home but have used labs who supply print profiles so that I can soft proof in light room to make as little as possible (if anything) is out of gamut.
Click to expand...
Some monitors can have their LUT modified... if you are calibrating the graphics card you are not calibrating the monitor's LUT... you are modifying the output (i.e at the card).
 
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AshleyC said:
thanks for the replies peeps. Im just concerned that while my monitor is showing this nice big range, my printer doesnt make the most of it. I noticed on the drivers page on the canon site this extra driver

"PRO-100 series XPS Printer Driver Ver. 5.85a (Windows 10/10 x64/8.1/8.1 x64/8/8 x64/7/7 x64/Vista/Vista64)
Description
This file is a printer driver for Canon IJ printers. XPS printer drivers support 16-bpc printing, which enables more smooth gradation printing than the current drivers (8-bpc printing)."

So that might be worth a go too.
Click to expand...
Yes, worth a go as long as you keep you images in a 16bit color space format (raw/psd/tiff/dng)
 
sk66 said:
Some monitors can have their LUT modified... if you are calibrating the graphics card you are not calibrating the monitor's LUT... you are modifying the output (i.e at the card).
Click to expand...

Ah! fair comment was never sure a hardware calibratable was calibrated but in the case of the op is that monitor such a one and does the Spyder software work with that monitor? I think I read somewhere that not all the calibration device and their software work with (all?) such monitors???

Also if the dual headed graphics card is then card LUT calibrated for the secondary monitor is that 100% compatible with the hardware calibrated primary monitor?
 
Box Brownie said:
I think I read somewhere that not all the calibration device and their software work with (all?) such monitors???

Also if the dual headed graphics card is then card LUT calibrated for the secondary monitor is that 100% compatible with the hardware calibrated primary monitor?
Click to expand...
Good questions. Typically a monitor that can be LUT calibrated will have it's own software and will only work with certain sensors. Some of these even come with the correct colorimeter (optional).
I *think* that if you calibrated the card output (it doesn't have a LUT) for one monitor, and *then* calibrated the second's LUT you could run the two "calibration schemes" together... but I'm not certain.
 
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Calibration! **bangs head**I hate this
 
sk66 said:
Good questions. Typically a monitor that can be LUT calibrated will have it's own software and will only work with certain sensors. Some of these even come with the correct colorimeter (optional).
I *think* that if you calibrated the card output (it doesn't have a LUT) for one monitor, and *then* calibrated the second's LUT you could run the two "calibration schemes" together... but I'm not certain.
Click to expand...

We need the OP to come back with such details because just possibly if he has a conflicted setup any question relating to workflow and output are academic??? Correct setup and stability are key starting points.
 
ive no idea what a LUT is so cant help there. I know i has two sockets and i can calibrate both monitors separately. I dont usually bother calibrating the other one though as i only use the Dell for editing, the other is just for holding the grid view in LR to browse images.
 
AshleyC said:
ive no idea what a LUT is so cant help there. I know i has two sockets and i can calibrate both monitors separately. I dont usually bother calibrating the other one though as i only use the Dell for editing, the other is just for holding the grid view in LR to browse images.
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LUT or Look Up Table. This is the way the majority of monitors are calibrated. Basically it's a table that is loaded into the video card that modifies the output to calibrate the video system. Some high end monitors use hardware calibration where the calibration data is fed into the monitors system itself, and doesn't use the computers video card to make the adjustment. This can be useful as it can be used to map any deviations in screen uniformity and compensate for it. ( provided the monitor supports this ) .
 
AshleyC said:
ive no idea what a LUT is so cant help there. I know i has two sockets and i can calibrate both monitors separately. I dont usually bother calibrating the other one though as i only use the Dell for editing, the other is just for holding the grid view in LR to browse images.
Click to expand...

Hi Ashley

Can you tell us what graphics outputs setup you have?

Is it a single card with two outputs? What make and model number is the card?

Two separate cards? What makes and model numbers?

A single output card that one monitor plugs into and the second monitor plugged into the motherboard? As above what model card?
 
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