I've been searching for an answer on the Colormunki Optimizing Profile process when you print the new chart do you go to the original no color management set up or use the color managed setup with the profile you are refining?
I just did that 5 minutes ago. According to the warning box that comes up, it says go to the original settings as you did your first profile from. It furthermore says 'do not proceed' if you don't have the original settings.
What Printer / Ink / Paper combination are you tying to profile?
Creating an accurate printer profile is not a trivial process. The good ones are created by printing and analyzing a 900 patch target on a robot controlled analyzer and even then they need to be tweeked to optimally profile the printer. When you get to that level of precision just changing batches of paper or ink will affect the results because the profile will no longer be valid.
If you are using a paper / inks that have an available profile it may wind up being more accurate than anything you and your monkey create. If you have critical requirements or are printing with paper/ink you can't get a canned profile for you'd get more reliable results by printing a test target and having it profiled by someone with the more sophisticated tools.
But because human color perception is so adaptive a high level of clinical perfection isn't needed for most photographic applications. Color management will map the color in the file to the gamut the print is physically capable of and if there is a full range of color and the expected neutral objects like white shirts and black tires on cars are rendered correctly it will look "normal" on a wide range of output gamuts.
Ink sets are all Epson UC originals, I have had all my printer profiles created by a professional profiler from the Digital Outback and they are my bench mark for the ones I'm running in house so far they are very close but as I become more savvy I see things and start to question things like individual ink limits as each new paper I try isn't Epson. I use Epson, Innova, Harman, Hahnemühle, Brilliant and Ilford my main stock is Innova FibraPrit White Matte, for pk inks I use both the Innova FibraPrint Smooth Gloss and Harman Gloss Baryta.
I do see the target charts look different for each media, they are repeatable for each type and some have better (brighter) colours others look dull, I'm really wanting to measure a patch and compare this between the different paper/media types and ink loads but rather than take a guess I thought I'd ask if there was a process to determine the targets created were indeed optimum.
ProImages wrote:
Watch this X-Rite Webinar on the ColorMunki Photo LOOK HERE
Thanks for the link, it really just covers the basics and does it very well but there is another level where you need to determine media settings and if you use a rip with ink control it becomes a little more complex establishing the initial settings of you really want to get the best out of your kit and media. I'm not a perfectionist in the technical I read of dmax and linearisation people dwell on but I do want to understand a little more and if it improves or confirms my workflow then I'm happy.
cgardner wrote:
.... But because human color perception is so adaptive a high level of clinical perfection isn't needed for most photographic applications. Color management will map the color in the file to the gamut the print is physically capable of and if there is a full range of color and the expected neutral objects like white shirts and black tires on cars are rendered correctly it will look "normal" on a wide range of output gamuts.
I just read your replies in the Out of gamut areas thread and had me thinking the target may not be in gamut for every paper this will compromise the target print and no amount of the profile being tweaked will compensate.
