ICC printer profiles

[obzelite]

did a quick search but only came up with ppl talking about monitor profiles.

does anyone know where to get printer profiles made, or have hardware to do the job.

All the profiles i use here have been created by others , media suppliers, using mainly a GretagMacbeth ProfileMaker. A quick google says this puppy inc software and hardware is over 6 grand in US dollars. I know this is the best way, but there has to be a cheaper simpler option.

[DaveB]

I've had profiles made through Jeremy Daalder at Image Science in Melbourne. Print out the targets, post them to him, and he emails back the profiles. I've been to his place and talked to him: he definitely knows what he's doing.

All my current printer profiles have been made by Jeremy with ProfileMaker, although I do have some new EyeOne gear coming my way at the moment.

The ProfileMaker software is ~US$2200-2500 and offers lots of controls, although the EyeOne Match software that comes with the EyeOne hardware is enough for many people (but you're still looking at AU$2600 for the EyeOne Photo!).

[big pix]

The Eyeone2 profile maker is very good software....... I purchased my Eyeone from B&H New York with a big saving over the Aus price for the same piece of equiptment...... I make my own printer profiles with the software and print with a Epson 7600 printer

[stubbsy]

My solution was to buy an Epson printer and use only Ilford paper for which manufacturer ICC printer profiles are available for free.

[Bob G]

First you need to profile your monitor. (Recommend Gretag Macbeth)

There are really good instructions on the image science web site as someone above has already pentioned.

You need to print on the specific paper and with the specific printer and post to Jeremy Daalder at Image Science in Melbourne.

I did profiles for Hahnemuhle photo rag and epson archival matt for my epson 2400. I found the epson canned profiles to be pretty good though.

Hope this adds support to advices above

Bob G

[Colcam]

I have an Epson 7800 and have just come across a printing programme that makes it amazingly easy to gang up images & print - Qimage (priced ridiculously cheap). They also have a programme which creates printer & scanner profiles (Again not expensive. I am stunned by the quality of the printing programme (Very intelligent programming here) and am seriously thinking of going for the Profile Prism, as it is called. Go to http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage/ and look athe bottom of the menu at left for Profile Prism, but have a free downolad of Qimage too. It watches the monitor profiles ALL the time and as soon as they change, it offers to accept it, Control is almost infinite.
I did a dumb move one day after the job had been sent to the print spooler, and before the print job was finished, I moved the files to another folder. Qimage immediately jumped on me and told me that I had moved the files and should put them back!! This I did without loss.
Highly recommended especially for the price.(Even at double the price)
Try it. Saved me many wasted hours on each large job. I print about ten sq. metres a week and it soon adds up.
Col

[Steffen]

My solution was to buy an Epson printer and use only Ilford paper for which manufacturer ICC printer profiles are available for free.

Peter, sadly this didn't quite work for me. Maybe part of my problem was assuming that my all-in-one RX510 contains the R300 printer (like everyone says, and for which I downloaded the profiles). The prints invariably came out too dark and too warm.

I pinned my hopes on my monitor being way off, although it has a built-in calibration sensor plus ambient light correction, and bought monitor calibration/profiling hard-/software. Didn't solve the problem, see my next post in this thread...

Cheers
Steffen.

[Steffen]

First you need to profile your monitor.

This is not a pre-condition for printer profiling! All profiles are built as translation tables between a particular device and a profile connection space (like LAB). In theory, an accurate printer profile will allow you to print images from anybody, assuming they're in LAB or XYZ (or can transformed there via an attached profile). That's the only way folks like Image Science can operate. Of course, knowing both printer and display profile allows you to do soft proofing on your display by applying the printer profile backwards.

Ehemm, my point being, you need independent profiling equpiment for displays and printers (and scanners). I bought the Spyder2 and found it to do an excellent job on displays. It came with printer profiling software, but that didn't do any measuring, instead left me guessing. I'm not very good at guessing, so I got the more than twice as expensive Monaco stuff. That one requires a scanner to do printer profiling, which fortunately is built into my RX510.

The Monaco suite includes a printed IT8 target, as well as a reference file describing it. You print the file, put your print-out along with the target onto the scanner, and out comes a scanner and a printer profile. No monitor profile gets involed or a chance of screwing up the process.

That way I should be able to print files sent by people with calibrated monitors but without printer (profile). Plus I should be able (and am certainly willing to) provide printer profiles to people that have the same printer as I and supply me with a page of sample stock.

Cheers
Steffen.