Colour Profiles / Printing

[P1505]

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Hi all.

Im starting to get serious about making prints. Loving it. Not loving the colour differences though.

A new A2 photo printer is a year or two away I think, for now my Canon 8750 will have to do. I want to calibrate my screen to my printer.

I wonder if anyone has experience doing this? How close can you get the colours? I’ve found the Datacolor SpyderX Studio that scans the monitor and the printer, thinking this may help and I could soft proof in Lightroom.

Im a bit lost with it all. Do I calibrate my monitor, scan and profile my printer and then set Lightroom to use that profile and it should in theory be much closer to the final print?

All help appreciated.

[quietglow]

I was just on Moab (paper manufacturer's) website looking up profiles for their paper, and I noticed that they have a free PDF which basically is the roadmap you're asking for. It's linked from this page:

https://www.moabpaper.com/icc-profiles-downloads

Over on the right side. I also am seeing that their youtube channel is full of info. Hope that helps!

(btw, you'll see in the book, but you calibrate your monitor first, get your image processed, then print it using a profile you get from the paper manufacturer that's designed to work with your printer)

[zeitz]

Your first consideration is your monitor.  Is it suitable for graphics?  The Datacolor Spyder is a very good option for calibrating a monitor, but some monitors do not calibrate very well.

Then you have three options for printer/paper profiles:  1) use Canon paper that matches the printer profiles in your printer driver.  Lightroom will display the media types that are available.  Canon papers are pretty good and should not be a limitation until you get a new printer.  The results would be good.  2) use a printer/paper profile maker.  Spyder Print looks OK, but it uses very few color patches.  Canon also has its own calibration software (Canon Calibration Tool) that I have never used.  I had my paper profiles made by a Canon value-added dealer at about $50 per paper.  His tool works with 13 x 17 printouts.  But you have to be able to print without any profile being applied.  Lightroom will not allow printing without a paper profile.  Canon Print Studio is a Lightroom plug-in that allows printing without a profile.  I doubt the 8750 would work with that software.  So for now Spyder Print would be your best option, depending on whether or not Canon Calibration Tool does anything for you.  3) use Raster Image Processor software, such as ImagePrint.  IP is a little expensive.  If your printer and your paper are supported, you will get excellent results.

Finally you may also want to make custom profiles for your camera.  That is done with a color card such as X-Rite Passport.  Your custom profile is installed in Lightroom's database and will appear as a profile in the Develop module.