Monitor to printed photo calibration?

I'm not sure if this post belongs here but I don't see a specific printer forum. I am a neophyte at monitor to printed output calibration as I've always been ok with the results in the past. However, having recently switched from my trusty Pro 9000 to a new Pro 9500 II the printed photos have been badly out of synch colorwise compared to what I am seeing onscreen. I have no idea if I'm supposed to somehow 'calibrate' a physical photo held up to the screen or what? As of now the output of photos from the new printer are nearly useless due to this issue.

I see the. Datacolor Spyder4Pro Color Calibration System. in the news portion of TDP. Is this what I need or is there a cheaper alternative way to more closely match LCD and printed output? Again, output from the previous printer was acceptable in relation to what I was seeing onscreen.

As always, many thanks
Gary

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Originally Posted by waltgary

I see the Datacolor Spyder4Pro Color Calibration System in the news portion of TDP. Is this what I need or is there a cheaper alternative way to more closely match LCD and printed output? Again, output from the previous printer was acceptable in relation to what I was seeing onscreen.

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Your previous printer probably had a color profile that just happened to be suitable for the (uncalibrated) monitor you have. I have the Spyder4Pro and it's the way to go. If you want to seek out something cheaper, go for it, but given how much you've probably spent on camera gear and printer supplies, it's a drop in the bucket.

As already said, the first step is to calibrate your screen and i reckon this is the most important one.

But, if you want, you can also go a bit further.

Before the screen, the camera. You can use a colour grid like the x-rite passport to generate a profile that you can then apply to all your pictures. I did it and the effect is much less dramatic then calibrating the screen but it makes some differences in some colours. In my case, the red and the blue were a bit shifted.

Then the printer. Even if the canned profiles are pretty good, it's still not for your own printer with your paper. If you plan to buy some gear to calibrate your screen, you might also consider a device that can do both. I've read that the ColorMunki does both screen and printer. Personnaly I don't have that device (I have a spider 3) and sometimes I'd really would like to give it a try as my prints are never close enough to my taste at least. Most of the time, I have to boost a bit the brightness and colours are sligtly of even if the soft proof says I'm in the gamut. That being said, you have to remember that while your calibrated screen will always be good (provided your have roughly the same amount of ambient light), the prints will be much more influenced by the incoming lights (level, colour) as, unlike the screen, they don't have their backlighting.

Hope it helps!

Ok, I've tried removing all my printer software and replacing it. Hopefully that eliminates anything related to the Pro9000. Results were improved a bit (likely my imagination) but I think I need to learn much more before I can get anything resembling parity between screen and printed output. I have a few more questions:

First up, does this Spyder tool calibrate the screen, printed work, or? I see I'm told I need to 'calibrate your screen' but I've no idea how to do that.

Secondly, what if any, is the difference between calibrating say a monitor and generating ICC profiles. I've done some reading on ICC as I'd heard of it but never had a clue what it was. Unfortunately, most of what I've read has not sunk in. If I actually understand anything, I should calibrate my screen first?

Hopefully, this is a simple matter of explanation. I appreciate the experts' (in relation to myself) valuable time here. I will try and answer some of my own questions myself. The problem is I've too many hobbies to get very good at any of them. gary

I've been doing some more reading. I should probably give a little more info here. I shoot with 5d3 and print now with the 9500/II from TIF file copies. I use FastStone for viewing, PS Elements 11 for editing, and I print from Canon Easy PhotoPrint. A few years back I bought a box of photo rag paper and the results were awful. Something tells me that ICC profiles had a hand in that. Perhaps if I can get this figured out I can pull that paper back out from storage.

I've read a bucketload of reviews on the Datacolor Spyder. Most good, some not so much. I still don't actually understand what it does but many reviewers said that it was invaluable in matching their colors from monitor to printer. If that's the case, it sounds like I need to bite on one of these.

Again, thanks to all. gary

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Originally Posted by waltgary

I still don't actually understand what it does but many reviewers said that it was invaluable in matching their colors from monitor to printer.

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It's a USB peripheral with a calibrated light sensor, and a small weight on the cable. You drape the cable over your monitor and adjust the weight's position on the cable so the sensor hangs in front of the monitor. Software then runs to display different colors on the screen, and the sensor watches to see what the monitor presents. It then creates a monitor profile and applies it in the video card. Essentially, the profile reverse-engineers the color rendition of the monitor so that WYGIWYS. The software will also show you the color ranges that your monitor cannot achieve, so you at least know what colors aren't going to be accurate when viewed on-screen.

At work, I use a laptop screen and an external monitor. Because they're different models, they have vastly different capabilities. Prior to calibration, my desktop wallpaper (a rotation of our 300 favorite shots from our last Alaska trip) would appear blue on one, green on the other, and with visibly different contrast. After calibration, they're much closer - not perfect, but that's due to differing regions that each monitor can't achieve. At boot time, the screens start uncalibrated, and then a couple of minutes later after other stuff gets booted, the calibrations get applied, and it's neat to see the instant "snap" into nearly-matching colors. I can't believe I waited so long to get this.

Thanks to all. I will order it tonight. gary

While the calibration tool will help you out, you're prolly right in assuming it has more to do with the printer and the paper not liking the profile. Especially considering the prints were close enough before on the old printer. Make sure you find the right settings for both the paper and printer. I've had purple prints before because I selected the wrong manufacturer for paper even though the sheen was correct.

That brings up another point. I've read that I "should get ICC profiles for the printer" but I would have assumed that it came with it? Exactly because of these types of issues I print exclusively with Photo Paper Pro Platinum. I guess I'll have to wait until the Spyder arrives and see what happens. So, through this post I've learned monitor calibration principles, next up will be the printer.

Appreciated as always, gary

Thanks JRW. I assume the poor luck I've had in the past with aftermarket papers was due to incorrect ICC profiles. I think I will try a quality aftermarket photo paper again and see if I can get better results. I should be able to figure out how to do that. That and monitor calibrations when the Spyder arrives.

One final question. I've got PS Elements 11. I see the references to "softproofing" but I'm not sure what that means or if it available in PSE? thanks, gary

The case for my needing to calibrate my monitor has been validated! I ran the Spyder4Pro installation CD and my Windows 7/64 didn't like things at all, giving me the dreaded blue screen a couple of times. Uninstalled it and downloaded the updated software from DataColor and all seems fine now. I ran the calibration on both my PC and then my Asus laptop and the results are quite good. This is something I should have done some time ago, but as Peety3 pointed out my old printer probably just happened to have an ICC profile more in line with my uncalibrated monitor compared to the new Pro9500 II. Whatever the cause, things are noticeably improved now.

I love talking to people who know much more about a topic than I. Thanks to all. gary

PS: I'm going to find out if my PSE 11 will allow softproofing but so far haven't come up with a definitive answer. gt