Spyder with Optical Installed

[scottbergerphoto]

I installed Spyder / Optical today and calibtated my monitor with Spyder and the Optical software. Here are some observations:
1. My pictures before, using Adobe Gamma to calibrate my 19" Dell M992 monitor were very close to what came out of my Epson 2200 using the Epson provided printer profiles. Now they are a little better. Not earth shaking, but a little closer and a little brighter. They looked great before and they look just a little better now.
2. The factory settings on my monitor were a color temp of 9300K making everything look bright. Using the Optical / Spyder caused me to check that and reset it to 6500K, which is dimmer. That explains why my printed pictures before were a little darker then my screen. Now they are the same except for the difference between a monitor that radiates light and a piece of paper that doesn't.
3. The installation / set - up were easy.

I use a 10D, shoot RAW, set to AdobeRGB(1998 ), convert in BreezeBrowser with embedded profile, open up and post process in Photoshop Elements 2.0, Print with source as Adobe RGB(1998 ), output as "SP2200-----(Epson Printer Profile), and No Color Adjustment in Printer Driver.

If you thought that this was a useful post or have any suggestions about this software or the process I described, please let me know.
Scott

[Evanrich]

scottbergerphoto wrote:
I installed Spyder / Optical today and calibtated my monitor with Spyder and the Optical software. Here are some observations:
1. My pictures before, using Adobe Gamma to calibrate my 19" Dell M992 monitor were very close to what came out of my Epson 2200 using the Epson provided printer profiles. Now they are a little better. Not earth shaking, but a little closer and a little brighter. They looked great before and they look just a little better now.
2. The factory settings on my monitor were a color temp of 9300K making everything look bright. Using the Optical / Spyder caused me to check that and reset it to 6500K, which is dimmer. That explains why my printed pictures before were a little darker then my screen. Now they are the same except for the difference between a monitor that radiates light and a piece of paper that doesn't.
3. The installation / set - up were easy.

I use a 10D, shoot RAW, set to AdobeRGB(1998 ), convert in BreezeBrowser with embedded profile, open up and post process in Photoshop Elements 2.0, Print with source as Adobe RGB(1998 ), output as "SP2200-----(Epson Printer Profile), and No Color Adjustment in Printer Driver.

If you thought that this was a useful post or have any suggestions about this software or the process I described, please let me know.
Scott



You did the right process, except for one thing, did you use PreCal before calibrating? also make sure you completely disable adobe gamma, because it will screw with your new color profile. I have the same equipment, so i know you did this right. Best to reprofile your monitor every month, or if you do alot of work, every 2 or 3 weeks. Also, 9300 is WAAAAY too blue.. 6500 is what it should be... you should tell your monitor manufacturer to get their stuff right. :)

[LuisP]

Scott, thank you for the tips on calibrating the Dell M992 monitor!

I have been frustrated for some time with whites with a blue cast to them on the screen and was unable to fix this problem with Adobe Gamma (I don't have Spyder). Also, my prints to my HP 970CSE tend to come out darker than what I see on the screen. I did a search on the web and turned up your post. I have now adjusted the color temperature to 6500K, which seems to make colors on the monitor look better.

One question I have is how can adjusting the monitor profile change the brigtness of the printer output? Is it that you are now seeing a photo at its true brightness on the screen, so you are adjusting the brightness of the file in Photoshop Elements before printing?

Also, you state "Print with source as Adobe RGB(1998 ), output as "SP2200-----(Epson Printer Profile), and No Color Adjustment in Printer Driver." How do you set these parameters? Is it from within Photoshop Elements or do you set this up in your printer driver?

Any additional education you could provide on these questions would be sincerely appreciated.

Luis

[John_T]

Since 9300 K is the standard Japanese color temperature and also popular for office use, you will usually find it to be the monitor's default setting. Also whenever you reset your monitor to default settings before calibrating, you will then need to set the temperature to 6500 K or 5000 K if you want to do photo work.

If you take the time to read through the following web page and the PDFs at the bottom, it may help you to unravel most of your questions.

http://www.colorvision.ch/beta/support/01b98f93220b0d007/index.html

[w10d]

LuisP wrote:
Also, you state "Print with source as Adobe RGB(1998 ), output as "SP2200-----(Epson Printer Profile), and No Color Adjustment in Printer Driver." How do you set these parameters? Is it from within Photoshop Elements or do you set this up in your printer driver?

Any additional education you could provide on these questions would be sincerely appreciated.

Luis

The following is for Adobe Photoshop, I assume it is similar in Elements:

1) Select 'Print with Preview' - Adobe keep changing the shortcut for this, may or may not be Command-P.

At the bottom of the dialogue box select Options, Colour Management and choose the printer ink/paper profile.

2) In the next Print dialogue box (Epson), select 'No Colour Adjustment' - This avoids both PS and the Epson driver trying to colour manage the printing :)