Monitor Color Calibration

[Gary R. Smith]

Recently I've had the urge to print. I purchased some Red River sample packets containing 2 sheets each of some of their various papers. I also downloaded their ICC profiles.

My hope was that my WF-7510 (with a 13" x 19" sheet feed capacity and pigment inks) would get me started.

My first two attempts were using the Epson generic Photo Glossy and Photo Matte settings (no ICC). I figured with actual ICC's for specific papers and a calibrated monitor I'd be golden.

Not so - at least not yet.

I received a Calibrite Display 123 (which I think is a brand of X-Rite) today and went through the calibration process. It did change my screen color some. So I tried a print from a RAW file that I processed with the calibrated screen and submitted it to the printer with the paper's ICC profile. The results were nothing like what I saw on the screen. They were heavily on the yellow side of things.

So, I reset the monitor and reprinted using the generic printer ICC and the generic Epson Photo Glossy paper selection and I got a very dark print that looked more like what I saw on screen although darker.

Not sure where to go next...

 

[Bill Brown]

I received a Calibrite Display 123 (which I think is a brand of X-Rite) today and went through the calibration process. It did change my screen color some. So I tried a print from a RAW file that I processed with the calibrated screen and submitted it to the printer with the paper's ICC profile. The results were nothing like what I saw on the screen. They were heavily on the yellow side of things.

Gary, I'm trying to decide what would be the next step. In order to troubleshoot the problem we have to have a baseline or control point. Something we know for a fact. Do you have a unusable image that you would like to share with me after you do a basic color edit? Or a cropped section of the image you said printed yellowish? That might be best since you've already printed it on your end. Or print that image I posted of me on my motorcycle. The print should be very close to that and reds can be tricky. I have to ask this question so don't think I'm being insulting. It's part of that baseline. Have you performed a head check on the printer? This shows if any heads are stopped up. This can greatly impact color fidelity.

I need to print a control print from one of your files on my printer so we can start narrowing down where to look for the issue. I can print on the Red River Polar Matte paper since we both have that in stock. How do you want to proceed? I want to help you get up and running.

Let's use the new calibration settings as we move forward so we have a control point for the monitor.

 

[Bill Brown]

Gary,

I thought I should let you know I work with outside photographers and their personal files regularly. I have a dropbox account that I can create a folder for the transfer of files if you want to keep it off line. I have a rock solid reputation for keeping all files safe that are entrusted to me. Everything will be deleted at the end of the process. I just wanted you to know.

 

[Gary R. Smith]

I want to help you get up and running

Thanks Bill!

So, NO to the head check although the printer is used daily to print a sheet (in color) that my wife uses to track her health.
I think that I mentioned that I reverted the monitor to the pre-calibration status after getting what I thought was lousy results.
As to my paper stock situation... the sample packets only have 2 sheets of each paper. At this point I don't really have a stock of anything only 2 sheets of satins, linens, canvas, etc... I suspect that I may order a package of Epson Photo Matte to use during the rest of my puttering around. Maybe we should wait until I get that to attempt any diagnostics between here and Texas? I'd be happy to send you both a raw and edit-to-jpg-using-the-calibrated-monitor once we're ready to go. When it's time, I can either upload to your dropbox or to a shared Google drive.

Thanks again for your offer!

 

[Bill Brown]

Gary,

Sounds good. I'll wait to hear from you and then we can decide what will be the next step.

- Bill

 

[Gary R. Smith]

Hi Bill,

I've ordered the Epson Photo Matte and should have that by tonight.

It was also suggested that I use a professionally-prepared test image file. Suggestions were: Bill Atkinson's printer test composite, a moderate-size sRGB JPEG of which you can download / save from post at:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/61518002

and Andrew Rodney's Gamut Test File, which you can download / save from:

http://www.digitaldog.net/tips-and-tricks.html

Thoughts on that? Or either of the above?

- Gary

 

[Bill Brown]

Gary, Both of those sound like a great idea. Dpreview is a very respected site so I would start with that one. The Gamut test file may be informative as to what you are getting (color range wise) from your printer/inkset. Keep me posted.

- Bill

 

[Gary R. Smith]

Hi Bill,
Looks like I won't get that matte paper until Sunday. In the meantime, I pulled the image from:
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/61518002
and printed it on RR 68lb. UltraPro Gloss using the RR ICC profile. There are significant differences. In the image below I have a scan of my print done at 1200dpi which I then adjusted to the size of the test image (which was small 455 x 560) and opened them side by side in FastStone. Maybe you can download the test image and compare the colors shown for my "original" (on the left) and see if anything springs to mind. I did run a head test and the printer heads seem to be OK but it almost looks like the black isn't dark enough. The colors rendered in the scan of the print are pretty close to the print (much closer than the print is to the original).

 

[Gary R. Smith]

I printed the test image by inserting it into a Word doc and printing from Word using the Photo Glossy default setting.

It looks better. At least the black seems correct.

The scan (on the left) is a 300dpi scan of a print which has been denoised and size adjusted to the same size as the original (on the right).

 

[Bill Brown]

The image on the left looks like about D 5000 while the image on the right is like D 6500. The previous image above that looks yellowish is missing magenta. Even this lower right image would benefit from magenta. What you may end up doing is creating a preset to correct for the lack of magenta ( blue +red ). I feel like I'm hitting a wall on this. There are just so many things that affect how colors are rendered and I have no experience on four color printers.

 

[Gary R. Smith]

Thanks Bill!

I've loaded a new driver for the WF-7510. I suspect the driver that I had been using was what was restored when I had the system rebuilt following a drive crash 4 years ago. The driver I just loaded looks better.

I'll re-try monitor calibration and printing tomorrow with paper-specific ICC.

 

[Bill Brown]

Gary, That's the first thing I should have suggested, making sure you had the most current driver for whatever OS was current for your computer. I guess that's why I don't do IT. I hope this gets you up and running.

 

[Pete Askew]

I’m a bit late to this, but it looks like you are on the way to sorting out colour rendering in your workflow. Are you there now?

 

[Gary R. Smith]

Are you there now?

Not really, I sort of gave up on printing for now. I did end up replacing my monitor. My wife now thinks that we need two computers (his and hers) which means that I'll likely get something with a graphics card. Not sure that I need an Alien.

 

[Pete Askew]

I have a fairly old book on colour management in Germany. I’m in the UK at the moment though, but I’ll see what it was called when I’m back. The principles haven’t changed, but the technology has of course.

 

[Gary R. Smith]

I have a fairly old book on colour management in Germany.

Wouldn't color management be the same in every country?

 

[Pete Askew]

How naive you are….