POVDOV

Good luck with your calibrations. I have found that spyder pro and the icc profiles of the papers I use to give me good results. povdov

ntonkin Loc: western Upper Peninusla of Michigan

I would caution all to make sure their monitor can be calibrated with the devices offered for the purpose. I bought a Colormunki for $170 and after much angst and calling the manufacturer they admitted that the thing dosen't work with plasma monitors. Even though their advertising claims that it works with ALL technologies, In fact, it will NOT work with all technologies - and B&H will not take it back because I don't have the original packaging.

If you buy such a device, make absolutely sure that it works properly before you thow away the packaging.

photocat Loc: Atlanta, Ga

I know of several people who have "trained " their eye to judge the difference between the monitor and the printer.

THey have lots of years in the darkroom and experience and make 100's of test prints.

So it can be done, it will depend on how much time, energy and money one wants to spend.

donnahde Loc: Newark, DE

I use Costco, too, but have a difficult time getting my prints to match what I see on my monitor. I got the ICC profile for my local Costco but have no idea how to use that profile. I have Elements 9, LR3 and Picasa but can't find anywhere in any of those programs to "install" that profile. Can anyone help?

alaskanfrog Loc: Alaska

for the best results in printing, it's actually a good idea for you to set your printer preferences, rather than calibrate your monitor. Monitor calibration is a good idea so that your photos look like what your camera saw when you shot the image.

Setting your printer preferences to "Color Match" the monitor offers the best solution to resolving most, but not all color printing issues. Setting your printing preferences to RGB color value, Adobe color packer or monitor calibration allows the printer to see what is available and chooses your preferences for color printing. Each time you select print by either selecting "control-P" or scrolling down from "File" to Print in the drop down menu, a popup window appears. There are numerous selections to choose from for your printer settings, including color matching for your monitor, quality and speed, papery type, and etc..

When working with photos, you are actually working with a minimum of 4 different color technologies; the computer, the monitor, the camera and the printer. All 4 of these work in tandem to create a printed picture. First, you shoot a photo with your camera, next, you load the photo into your computer, followed by editing, and lastly printing. That's the very basic of how this works.

Calibrating your monitor will assist you in creating the photo you took with your camera. Editing allows you to make adjustments to your photo so that it closely matches what you saw. First, your monitor must be calibrated as best as possible to achieve the best possible picture on the monitor. Once calibrated properly, then the printer can be set to print what is on the monitor by using the popup window that appears, asking what you want to do and how you want the printer to behave when it prints.

All this said, one of the underlying weak links of all this for color values, are the inks. All inkjet printers use a water based ink and most are actually vegetable, nontoxic inks. However, the weakness and problems are with the inks themselves and not actually the printers. This changes again for color office, high volume printers, including workstation printers such as a "Bizhub, or Laser Printer." Different companies use different formulas for their inks. Since there are dozens and even, hundreds of different printers on the market, the margin for error in ink colors is huge. Even though a manufacturer follows specific guidelines for mixing batches of ink, there will inevitably be variations in the colors from one batch to the next. Most are so minute you would never be able to detect the differences until you actually start printing.

This can be and really is a complex topic to discuss. Knowing how to calibrate your monitor is very important in photography. Knowing how to set your print preferences in your printer is equally important, so that you always get the most consistent printouts of your photos. Read about setting the printer to "Color Match" your monitor so that most color print issues are minimized. Great discussion topic and thanks. Good luck...

silver Loc: Santa Monica Ca.

The correct procedure is to first calibrate the monitor. By doing this your monitor has a correct color gamut that will be correct. This has nothing to do with color space, it only matches your color to an industry standard. There is no such thing as calibrating a printer, what is done is you can design profiles for whatever paper you want to print on. It may not make sense but every paper you use will print differently. Making profiles is easy with the right set up. I use a device called the Colormonki. This device allows me to calibrate my monitor and it also allows me to create paper profiles. The unit is easy to use and it is very effective. The only problem is the Colormonki is expensive, around $375.00. When you consider how much paper you use trying to get good color prints that this device saves you in the long run its a good deal. I can now calibrate my monitor and create my own profiles easily and in most instances I do one small test print and then I am ready to do final prints. You can use the "canned" profiles that are supplied by paper manufacturers but in most instances these profiles are not as good as the profiles that you can make your self in a custom way for your system. I did have a minor problem when I first got the Colormonki but a call to Xrite solved the problem, they are very helpful. Calling them first before you purchase one and asking about compatibility with your system is a good idea. I am a custom digital printer and I have been doing this for quite a while.

CAM1017 Loc: Chiloquin, Oregon

You can download free monitor calibration programs from the web. Try entering " monitor calibration". something will come up. That said, after calibration, you may still notice a difference between your monitor and the printer. When I have reached this point I have experimented to find the adjustments I needed to make in my editing program to give me the output I wanted from my printer. A lot of the color space stuff (etc.) that people talk about is above my head. Just doing a little experimenting a wasting a few prints works for me.

bulach

A friend of mine uses a software product called Qimage Ultimate and it sells for around $90. He says the software has full color managment control including the paper, monitor and printer. He says he is really satisfied with the product. I saw some of his prints and they look pretty darn good. I never researched the product so I do not know its capabilities or how it functions. We have a local photography shop in town that makes prints. That is where I have my prints made. It is more expensive but very satisfying.
Bulach

Ronny Loc: Netherlands

What if you do not use Photoshop?

nikonshooter Loc: Spartanburg, South Carolina

Aperture, Elements, NX2 .....most post software will let you change your color space.....but I would never convert to CYMK without intentions of converting back to either Adobe 98 for printing, and Adobe Srgb for web. RGB converts directly to CYM in the printer....also there Black is added. RGB emits colors while the CMY filters subtracts color and has the affect of absorbing or reflecting ink. i

pebo111 Loc: Eastern Oregon (Pendleton)

To help a little I hope. I have two monitors and I have to adjust them ever so often One adjusts fine the othere not so much. but I only need one to be very close.

I use a tool called HUEY PRO. It walks you threw different steps to set up your monitor. I have used it for 5 years and like it.

Good luck Pebo111

photocat Loc: Atlanta, Ga

I have been using Qimage for my printing rip for years,

It will let you decide to use the printer or the software for color control. You can print in sRGB or RGB color space, you can download ICC profiles and use this as well.

I believe they still have a trial download and I would suggest giving it a try.

It does amazing other things .

rborud Loc: Minnesota

Having gone through the hell of calibration and never being totally satisfied with my result, an epiphany for me happened when with the need for a new monitor became apparent. I happened into a Micro-center and found a Gateway that looked nice and was priced well, and I bought it. Started down the same road to calibration HELL, and discovered in the box an unasumeing CD marked Easy Tune, and thought what is this. Loaded it, ran it (which was easy and kind of fun) and discovered if I defaulted my printers software, all seemed to match. I also discovered the CD was specific to Gateway monitors alas. I do not have any need to match anyone else, so with this I became free of the angst of calibration. I gave away several calibrators I had a love/hate relationship with.
This may help someone to crawl out of this sometime mess.

rborud Loc: Minnesota

Sorry on my comments I used the name Easy Tune, it should have been Eztune.

photocat Loc: Atlanta, Ga

ry here for some info on color space, calibration and a ton of other goodies

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials