Ofoto ICC profiles

[kentdayton]

Hi,

I'm wondering if anyone has built an ICC profile for Ofoto's output device. Their prints are amazingly good for what they cost, and with a profile we could get great results. Even with a calibrated monitor and using Adobe 1998, the colors and densities are off...significantly (at least in the sphere of people who care about such things the issues are significant).

I've asked CS at OFOTO, and they aren't supporting profiles yet, but plan to soon. Of course, that could be a year or more, the way these things develop. I don't have the hardware to do it, but someone MUST have done it.

Any leads appreciated. Thanks. -kent

[slejhamer]

If you send them pics in AdobeRGB they will come back washed out, as you have experienced.

At a minimum you should convert to sRGB before saving and sending the file. I made a modified sRGB profile using Trinitron primaries and the Ofoto prints I got back are slightly better than the sRGB ones - more subtle magentas and reds.

(I tested this by sending three versions of the same image: sRGB, my own "ofoto" RGB, and an untagged file. Happily, my profile was the closest to what I see on my monitor, which is calibrated with a Spyder and Photocal.)

That said, Ofoto has no excuse not to provide profiles for their machines and paper. They only need two, as they reportedly use one combination of paper and printer for prints over 8x10" and another combo for the 8x10-and-under sizes.

I think the problem is that they want to appeal to the masses who do nothing about color management, so instead of providing profiles for their setup, they say they are considering going the other route and "supporting" the profiles embedded in pics. To some degree this makes sense, but is probably much more cumbersome.

In my opinion they should get the more advanced customers started with their media-specific profiles and worry about the rest later... in the meantime, I print any "important" pics at home.

P.S. There a website "Jet City Orange" you should check out. A while ago the guy who runs the site made a custom profile for Ofoto and had it available for download. You might want to email him and see if he will send you a copy. Do a search for the site and you should be able to track it down.