New to calibration, help Needed

Hi all

I have the Spyder 4 calibration system and have followed to instructions to profile my Samsung Monitor and Epson 1500W printer and generally get good results with colour prints but have noticed that when I print B&W images the prints do come out quite a bit darker. I used the Spyder recommended setting of 90cd/m2 and have also tried going as low as 50cd/m2 but that is almost as low as my monitor will go, and the B&W prints still look brighter on the screen.

Or am I expecting to much from my low end Monitor & Printer, the Monitor only just covers sRGB if that makes any difference.

Anyone got any recommendations for getting my prints closer to what I am seeing on the screen.

Thanks for any help with this

Paul

general rule is :if your prints are too dark it is because your monitor is too bright, adjust the brightness at the monitor and recal.

Hi thanks for the reply

I have tried that but to get it anything close to what I am seeing in printing have to have the monitors brightness set to its minimum setting, should I have to have it that low to be correct.

I am new to calibrating but that just seemed wrong, should I be setting it to something as low as 30cd/m2 which is the lowest my monitor will go to. It's so dark as to be too dark for colour prints but still too bright for black and white.

I have spent hours googling this issue without much success, it's almost like its a dark art and those who know are not telling, even datacolors own documentation is woefully lacking.

Thanks for your help

Paul

Paul-H said:

Hi all

I have the Spyder 4 calibration system and have followed to instructions to profile my Samsung Monitor and Epson 1500W printer and generally get good results with colour prints but have noticed that when I print B&W images the prints do come out quite a bit darker. I used the Spyder recommended setting of 90cd/m2 and have also tried going as low as 50cd/m2 but that is almost as low as my monitor will go, and the B&W prints still look brighter on the screen.

Or am I expecting to much from my low end Monitor & Printer, the Monitor only just covers sRGB if that makes any difference.

Anyone got any recommendations for getting my prints closer to what I am seeing on the screen.

Thanks for any help with this

Paul

Click to expand...

Does anyone know how to calculate the cd/m^2 value from a lightmnetwr's EV value?

Paul-H said:

Hi all

I have the Spyder 4 calibration system and have followed to instructions to profile my Samsung Monitor and Epson 1500W printer and generally get good results with colour prints but have noticed that when I print B&W images the prints do come out quite a bit darker. I used the Spyder recommended setting of 90cd/m2 and have also tried going as low as 50cd/m2 but that is almost as low as my monitor will go, and the B&W prints still look brighter on the screen.

Or am I expecting to much from my low end Monitor & Printer, the Monitor only just covers sRGB if that makes any difference.

Anyone got any recommendations for getting my prints closer to what I am seeing on the screen.

Thanks for any help with this

Paul

Click to expand...

This is quite common with newer bright screens.modern monitors are great with high contrast and luminance.That's why Ilimit myself to a monitor calibrationand follow it up with a simple luminance calibration for the paper.Isend out free full description to this process to anybody sending me an email request to rlambrec@ymail.com.:cool2:

I believe the 1500W is a 6-color dye printer with only a single black channel, so it's not the ideal printer for fine b&w printing. Anyway, just calibrating your monitor is not enough -- your printer needs to be profiled, too. Are you sure you are specifying the correct printer profiles when you print?

Hi

The printer is profiled and yes the correct profile is being applied.

I do know the 1500 is not the best for monochrome with it only having the one black ink but once profiled it does produce a very neutral monochrome image.

I do suspect that this issue I am having might just be that I am working with trailing edge technology rather than leading edge, 6 colour printer, monitor that only just covers sRGB etc, just trying to make the most of the equipment I have available.

Sort of trying to put lipstick on a pig

Thanks again for all the help

Paul

Problem solved

Printed B&W image is now a match to the Monitor without effecting the colour ones.

Problem turned out to be the Monitor.

Like many I have two monitors attached to my system, one for the work space and one for all the tools etc.

The Main one is a 24 inch Samsumg T240 and the secondary is a 22 inch ACER AL2202W, both are calibrated with my Spyder4Elite.

I had one of those I wonder moments and shifted the Photoshop window over the the ACER and bingo it was an exact match to the print, so after a quick shift around on the desk I am now using the smaller ACER as my main Monitor and all is as it should be.

I just knew this was going to be something simple in the end, and now an even bigger reason to persuade SWMBO that I need that Dell Ultrasharp monitor.

On the subject of a new monitor how can you tell from looking at the specs that a given monitor will fully cover the Adobe1998 colour Gamet, because they don't say on the websites which is how I ended up with the two that I did and both of those only cover sRGB Do the Monitor makers have another way of describing the gamet their monitors will cover.

Thanks

Paul

Paul-H said:

Hi

The printer is profiled and yes the correct profile is being applied.

I do know the 1500 is not the best for monochrome with it only having the one black ink but once profiled it does produce a very neutral monochrome image.

I do suspect that this issue I am having might just be that I am working with trailing edge technology rather than leading edge, 6 colour printer, monitor that only just covers sRGB etc, just trying to make the most of the equipment I have available.

Sort of trying to put lipstick on a pig

Thanks again for all the help

Paul

Click to expand...

Paul,I'm with you and came to the same conclusion;color management and calibration is a black art and the once who know are not telling.I spoke to a number of people and companies at Photokina and they either don't know or they keepsuspiciously quiet. no book,I checked was much help either.authots just copy from each other and leave you with trial and error and huge equipment bills.I was lucky,bought an iMac and an Epson 38800 and they worked togrther under Photoshop CC right out of the box without any calibration.