rb61 Loc: Maple Grove, MN

Has anyone color calibrated this family of monitor to their printer? If so, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Is Mac OS calibration sufficient?
Recommendations for the application/hardware you used?

Thanks

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Your printer program probably has sliders that is the key as is the viewing light temperature.

Rember that your monitor radiates light and your print image absorbs light. The monitor can be calibrated to look close to the actual object just using the built-in calibration programs or wasting money on calibration gadgets. [I use paint color chart photo and the actual color chart]

I print the image and compare... humm... reds are a bit pale... OK... I use the print program sliders to tweak and print again... eventually, I have my settings. I record them just in case a W-10 update eradicates all my passwords and setting [oops irritation is showing]. Then I look at my print in the living room where the bulb is "warm" oh,oh, looks different than in my computer area where the bulb is a 5200K ... yes, the perception of the printed image changes with the light where the image is viewed. Then again the visual memory of what the images you photograph fades... you and others do not notice anything that is not a significant difference... Few people go to the trouble or are capable of calibrating the end result, the eye/brain combo.

Lighting:
https://blog.lexjet.com/2014/06/30/finding-the-best-lighting-for-color-calibration-and-print-evaluation/

I just go to Walmart and get bulbs marked as 5200K That is close enough. OOPS! wall color... my walls for viewing are ceiling white... with 2 oz of white pigment added... yep Valspar [surly others too] allows tinting so tint WHITE.

Yes, the print will still look OK in your living room with warm 3200K and light green walls. You will know but others will not. If you go to a consular and complain about the fine points of the color of prints of a nude when viewed in different rooms with different color walls and light bulbs ... well, then you will be labeled as an excessive compulsive or as Trump would diagnose ... a "real nut job."

rb61 Loc: Maple Grove, MN

Are you stating that you adjust the image that is to be printed on a one-to-one basis instead of creating and saving a monitor calibration profile that matches your printer output?

jweeks Loc: Phoenix

You need something like a Color Munki from X-Rite. It's pretty straightforward. First you calibrate your monitor - the device hangs in front of your monitor while it's software produces a series of color swatches that it measures. This generates a color profile for your monitor.

Then with the monitor profile in place you calibrate your printer: It prints a series of color swatches on an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper. Then you scan those in by running the device over the swatches. It then prints another sheet to refine the profile. You have to do this for each different paper you are going to use.

Combine this with soft proofing in your post processing software for the color profile for that printer/paper combination and you can get really excellent results without a huge number of test prints.

rb61 Loc: Maple Grove, MN

Thanks for the very helpful information.

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

I use a Color Munki on two PCs and my Dell laptop, so that viewing any of my images will be the same, on all of my screens. Best results when running program in darkened room (eliminating ALL other light).

I print 13 x 19-inch color prints on my own Canon PIXMA Pro-100, and am delighted with the color accuracy of my final images.

jweeks Loc: Phoenix

Sorry, I don't agree with this. The screen should be calibrated under the same lighting conditions that will be present when you are viewing/editing photographs, and/or soft-proofing for a calibrated printer.

jw

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

I struggled with color calibration until I bought a calibration device. I am very happy with the Xrite i1 Studio that allows you to calibrate monitors, printers, scanners, projectors and can even build color profiles for your cameras. Just a couple of observations. Need to use 5000k bulbs in your viewing area with lights pointing away from the screen. Being able to dim the room light is helpful. Also, you need to turn off the printer's color correction.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

One does not calibrate a monitor to a printer. They are each separately calibrated to a linear state, then ICC profiled. The operating system and printer driver can then communicate color accurately.

Typically, a paper manufacturer provides generic ICC profiles for each stock and the better printers on the market. But you have to make your OWN monitor profile. That requires a hardware and software kit ($150 to $250).

I use a Datacolor Spyder5Pro. But their current model is the Spyder X.

And no, Mac OS calibration is not sufficient. Human vision is very inconsistent! Calibrate by eye, then drink coffee and spend 20 minutes in the sun. When you go back inside, your calibration will look terrible.

That’s why the International Color Consortium established mathematical standards and models for color conversions. Hardware can do the job with consistent and repeatable results.