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Author Topic: Help needed for color matching Christopher Duvall Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 500 From: Denver, CO Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-08-2003 08:47 PM                     I figure somebody here (John P maybe) could help me. I cannot seem to get accurate color results on some printing of graphics and photos. All items that I scan in or download from my camera have accurate color rendition on screen and on the printer for the most part. However, Anything I create in ANY software package, some of the colors are not just right. The printouts tend to have a minor magenta/reddish hue but purples and always end up being very pink. I could edit the color balance Paint Shop or Photo Shop to force the issue, but other software does not have that option. I want WYSIWYG results. I have claibrated my monitor as much as possible I believe it is as accurate as it is going to get. My hardware... Monitor: Mitusbishi Diamond Scan 17HX Printer: Canon S800 Scanner: Canon CanoScan 1250U2F Video Adapter: nVidia GeForce4 Ti 4600 Digital Camera: Fujifilm FinePix 2800Zoom I currently have all the current Color Profiles for each device and they have the current drivers. I am using XP Pro service pack2 with its current color profiles as well and I am getting the same results globally. Is there any packages out there that can help me do proper color matching on all devices? I am also on a budget, so if there is anything free or shareware that would be awesome as well.  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 01-08-2003 09:26 PM                        The problem must be the Fuji camera . The Kodak website has some good tips about "color management" with digital images: http://www.kodak.com/US/en/home/dpc.shtml http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/dlc/index.jhtml Matching CRT displays and paper prints is a "can of worms" for many reasons, starting with the difference between an additive and a subtractive color system with very different color gamuts. There are lots of Kodak services and products that address this: Color Management Development Tools Color Flow  |  IP: Logged Christopher Duvall Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 500 From: Denver, CO Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-08-2003 10:47 PM                     Well, that's a start. I will check it out tonight. If anybody else knows something, I am a sponge right now... Thanx John.  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 01-08-2003 11:05 PM                        If it wasn't for you saying that scanned photos print out fine, I would suggest that you are low on cyan colored ink. You said that if you create anything in PhotoShop that it doesn't look right when printed out. What about when you edit a scanned photo in PhotoShop, how does that look when printed?  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 01-08-2003 11:52 PM                    Is there a web site with test images and directions to zero in on the best settings for a printer? I'm using an Epson 750 with an aftermarket continous flow ink system (ink flows from bottles via tubing directly into dummy cartridges). Results are good but since it's not OEM ink a color tweak might be called for. Sadly, this ink does not work at all with the box of Kodak paper I bought around the same time. The ink people claim that Kodak paper is not compatible with Epson OEM ink either, which I have not verified. Better results with Hammermill Jet Print but best so far is Epson paper.  |  IP: Logged Christopher Duvall Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 500 From: Denver, CO Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-09-2003 01:12 AM                     The scanned images look great. All 6 of the ink cartridges are fine. The only time everything seems off is when all other software packages in XP prints. Word, PrintShop, Excel, Explorer all have this problem. Paint Shop and Photo Shop both have the same problem as well until I tweak the color balance or tweak the profile to force the screen to match the printouts. My beef is that I should not have to that. Purple on the screen should look purple on paper, not pink. It seems mainly in that range of the color wheel that I have this problem on projects I create from scratch. Any digital imaging appears (close to) perfect. I fairly confident that the device profiles are just not talking the same language to each other. I may be REAL off on this, but I also believe that there is some profiling inbedded most images, so digital images should usually be ok. Any time I add any graphics to images they end up suffering the "magenta effect" if they are in the purple range of the spectrum. It seems that the "pure colors" are the ones that suffer. I am at my wits end over this. BTW John, I knew you were going to give me heat for the Fuji camera. As far as digital devices, I have been happy with the Fuji camera. I received it as a gift and it has been wonderful. On the film side of things, my wife and I are die hard Kodak junkies. We swear our eternal souls on Kodak Paper, film and processing. I even use Kodak inkjet paper in my printer...it rocks. The few times I have used Fuji products other than my camera, I end up kicking myself in the ass. The images end up looking very grainy, dull and muddied. I have been on the Adobe, Kodak, ICC and other sites and I have been downloading profiles and whatnot. I will pass on anything I find out.  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 01-09-2003 08:03 AM                        FWIW, here are links to Kodak tools and methods provided to motion picture labs and digital transfer facilities: Laboratory Aim Density (LAD) (My First Project that I won the Academy Technical Achievement Award for) Kodak ImageCare Program/ Kodak Digital LAD Kodak Telecine Toolkit Kodak Telecine Analysis Film (TAF) (another of my projects)  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-09-2003 10:58 AM                     quote: Steve Kraus: Better results with Hammermill Jet Print but best so far is Epson paper. If you like that Hammermill paper go out and get all of it you can right now! The mill that makes that paper (Owned by International Paper) has just been shut down about 6 months ago. Unless I.P. is "farming out" the brand name to some other mill you won't be able to get that kind of paper any more.  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 01-09-2003 11:32 AM                    I was using the Hammermill Jet Print with the Epson inks with good results. With the new ink (source: www.weink.com) it varies from sheet to sheet (must have something to do with dryness). The problem I have is ink pooling where the ink droplets on the paper join together to form larger drops with alligator skin breaks between. I could actually see this happening...the printhead would be laying down a nice looking image and as the paper moved on and a few seconds elapsed the ink pooling would occur.  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 01-09-2003 01:09 PM                        Kodak's line of InkJet media and equipment: http://www.kodak.com/global/en/digital/inkjet/ http://www.kodak.com/cgi-bin/webCatalog.pl?product=KODAK+Inkjet+Media&cc=US&lc=en Or you can let Kodak's Ofoto make prints and provide sharing and filing services for your digital images: http://www.ofoto.com/Welcome.jsp  |  IP: Logged

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