Mountainphoto

Are you happy with the results? I have to ask why you are going through all this? Canon has very good paper available and spot on profiles for the media too....... You could buy a lot of ink and paper with those Munki Bucks.

Neilp Loc: Jersey, C.I.

Yes,
But now I have done it, the results re not really worth the effort or the cost.

yes the prints do look different ..much closer to the screen colours now.
but if it is better or not ??
Well it is more true to life colours.

I wanted to calibrate the screens, and since the option was there to create a printer profile too, I thought it was worthwhile.

We have printed stuff int he past, and the prints have been way way off colour wise.

I had seen various recommendations that colour profiling the screen and the printer was a good idea..and I can see that in some cases it may be.

the original thoughts to do this came from thi forum ..I had not considered it before reading about it on here.

So I am going through it because I have bought the device...and seems daft to buy something and then just leave it in the draw unused>.


Yes Canon do have good papers, but none of our prints are for shows or 'proper' display...Mainly for the girlfriend to cut up to make Christmas/birthday / greeting cards etc.

So the main print stock is generally what ever paper is on special offer..this month is it Ilford..last mont it was HP Premium.
Unless doing a special print..it is a basic unbranded ink too. So profiles do need to be created to get the best of cheap raw materials Resulst acre never going to be print shop quality, but good enough..and the profiling has made a difference.

If it is worth it or not? Well probably not in time taken ..or the cost...but I only realise that now after buying the device

I'd tell others..don't bother.

Mountainphoto

One of the biggest improvements would be to lower the brightness/luminance of your screen, it will make images look more like what the printed result is. Ink, paper and printer cannot match the contrast ratio of a LCD monitor. Hope this helps!

washy Loc: Dorset UK

Find a company to buy your paper from, if they are up to scratch they will make some profiles according to the ink you use, the paper you use and the printer you use. Quite easily done if you send them the required information. We have a company here in the UK called Fotospeed, if you buy their paper the profiling is free. So when you print, each profile matches the paper you want to print on. I have currently on my pc, which is printed via Lightroom or Photoshop five different profiles. Matt, Lustre, Satin, Gloss and Metallic. You can have as many as you wish. try them, Fotospeed.com Why buy expensive ink and paper only for them not to match.

washy Loc: Dorset UK

You could always use Canon's own profiles but having tried most ways to get the correct tones and colours, I went to Fotospeed, now the prints are just right.

Neilp Loc: Jersey, C.I.

I am in Jersey, so could use them.
Just had an order arrive, from PhotoPaperDirect. ordered yesterday.arrived today.

As you say, I could use the ready mane profiles, but how do different profiles from the manufacturers cope with different inks?

But either way..now I can profile..after finding out how to do it..and having the device to do it, that ( Iwold have thought) would have been more accurate?

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

That is correct, you always turn off color management, or you run the risk that your printers driver will interfere with the calibration ( and ruin your work).

washy Loc: Dorset UK

Once you have your profiles. which were made according to your printer and your ink, you use the same ink and only alter/choose which profile according to which paper. Having your own profiles made for you by Fotospeed starts out by you downloading their profiling pack, then you send them some prints, they use a profiles machine to create your profiles according to which papers you may wish to use. Of which there are numerous. Their papers are reputed to be some of the best and not that expensive. I bought from them a test pack of A3 size paper of 25 sheets for much less than £30 of various types of paper with free profiles thrown in. Try them with a test [pack of A4 print some images post them back to them and your profiles will arrive normally by email within 48hours, You can also get expert advice from them on which papers are better for which type of image. Landscapes, people faces, buildings etc

Neilp Loc: Jersey, C.I.

But that is (was) the problem. If you browse through the entire thread, you will see that it is not possible to turn off Colour Management on a Mac with Canon printers.

X-Rite have got back to me to confirm this, and that what yu do is use Colour Sync and choose "Generic RGB " profile.

Neilp Loc: Jersey, C.I.

[quote=washy]Once you have your profiles. which were made according to your printer and your ink, you use the same ink and only alter/choose which profile according to which paper. Having your own profiles made for you by Fotospeed starts out by you downloading their profiling pack, then you send them some prints, they use a profiles machine to create your profiles according to which papers you may wish to use. Of which there are numerous. Their papers are reputed to be some of the best and not that expensive. I bought from them a test pack of A3 size paper of 25 sheets for much less than £30 of various types of paper with free profiles thrown in. Try them with a test [pack of A4 print some images post them back to them and your profiles will arrive normally by email within 48hours, You can also get expert advice from them on which papers are better for which type of image. Landscapes, people faces, buildings etc[/quote]


After just spending a silly amount of money on the colour munki (and that is the basic entry level device), my reasoning is going to sound a bit odd.
On the one hand I buy a piece of kit to get better colour rendition, (fed up of re printing multiple times to remove a colour cast that was not on screen)
Yet we still always go and buy the cheaper inks and what ever paper is on special deal, rather than the more expensive branded items.

Odd though it may seem...there is a reason of sorts.

Most of the printing that gets done here is colour documents, random "For Sale posters", event tickets or whatever, all items where colour accuracy is not of great importance.

So to buy expensive inks of which 80 % is wasted on unimportant 'trash' is just not worth it.

Yes I suppose I could buy the better expensive inks and only put them in when printing photos...but all extra hassle...and not considered it before.

I have just bought the Colour Munki, as the view on here and other forums seemed to be that it was the way to go to get colour accuracy.

Now I know the device, I can do a profile, with a couple of sheets and 20 minutes

washy Loc: Dorset UK

there was I thinking you wanted to print some quality images, you cannot alter what the printer prints from a colour monki, the colour monki will only alter what's on your screen if you want quality prints then individual profiling is the way to go, without buying expensive inks

Neilp Loc: Jersey, C.I.

Yes you can, this is what Colour Munki is for..it does both the screen and the print output






I do, occasionally, want to do quality prints...at least the best quality I can manage with inexpensive inks.

The profiling of the printer is done using colour munki.

You print a test print of colour strips
Scan it with the scanner.
Colour munki software reads the scan, and then creates a custom test print of colours it needs more information on.
You print that and scan it again.
Colour Munki then produces a icc profile for that printer/paper/ink combo.

If you go back and read the thread, you will see my initial problem was that instruction say to turn off all colour management, but this is not possible with Canon and Mac.
I had a reply from X-rite confirming this and they told me how to get around the issue

Mountainphoto

Enough already!

Neilp Loc: Jersey, C.I.

Only explaining again since Washy had not understood the first time. More polite than just saying 'read the thread '

Problem solved now. As explained multiple times.

Neilp Loc: Jersey, C.I.

Another update.

it is not possible with a Mac, Canon Software and the Colour Munki Photo

Even had their Customer Services take control of the computer and try. Something to do with what Apple have done to the driver system.

There is a work arid but does not produce great results