calibrating my monitor and printer

[moea]

I recently purchased this Epson 1400. I typically do artwork using Corel Painter. I am having serious problems getting my new printer to calibrate with my monitor. i am using a ViewSonic 22"LCD monitor. I have used the reference guide to work with Color Profiles. Most colors relate pretty good. The significant problems occur with the very light grayscale tones. I create the most subtle and light tones, but when I print, I get grays that are significantly darker. I can create tones that are nearly invisible on my screen, but still print relatively dark. It is to the point, I really am unable to visually adjust what I'm working with.

Can anyone suggest how to more accurately calibrate my printer to my monitor? Again, I have a ViewSonic VG2230WM monitor. I'm using Photoshop for post-production. I'm using settings 1410-PGPP profile and relative and perceptual color. I've turned off Color Management and high speed Printing.

[Steven Barall]

It's not a question of matching the monitor to the printer but rather getting them both the match the same standard. If you are using the correct color profile for your printer and paper combination, I mean the one supplied by the paper manufacturer, and your results are not good then you have to calibrate your monitor.

I think that using a monitor calibrating device like the Eye-One or Spyder is the way to go. You are looking at spending a bit more than $200. This will get you a lot closer to what you want. If you are looking for absolute perfection then you will have to make your own paper profiles which just means spending a lot more money on a different device. This all depends of course on how well your monitor can be calibrated.

It's well worth getting all of this figured out and spending whatever it takes because if you have the confidence that you will get a print that you like you will be a lot happier. Trust me, I've been there. Good luck.

[Lenny Eiger]

I recently purchased this Epson 1400. I typically do artwork using Corel Painter. I am having serious problems getting my new printer to calibrate with my monitor. i am using a ViewSonic 22"LCD monitor. I have used the reference guide to work with Color Profiles. Most colors relate pretty good. The significant problems occur with the very light grayscale tones. I create the most subtle and light tones, but when I print, I get grays that are significantly darker. I can create tones that are nearly invisible on my screen, but still print relatively dark. It is to the point, I really am unable to visually adjust what I'm working with.

Can anyone suggest how to more accurately calibrate my printer to my monitor? Again, I have a ViewSonic VG2230WM monitor. I'm using Photoshop for post-production. I'm using settings 1410-PGPP profile and relative and perceptual color. I've turned off Color Management and high speed Printing.

A number of things. First of all, you can't calibrate your monitor to your printer. That isn't how it works. You calibrate the monitor, which takes you to a "neutral" state. Then you calibrate your printer, to a different standard, that is about what your printer and the paper you have chosen does. You can use a service like Chromix, which is very reasonable, to calibrate things exactly. Or you can use manufacturer supplied profiles for that printer.

Finally, grayscale images don't do that well when they are produced with color ink... there are special inksets for that. Regardless, a good printer profile will make a huge difference.

Lenny

[Ken Lee]

Call CHROMiX (http://www.chromix.com)

I don't work for them. I'm just a very satisfied customer.

[Brian Ellis]

A number of things. First of all, you can't calibrate your monitor to your printer. That isn't how it works. You calibrate the monitor, which takes you to a "neutral" state. Then you calibrate your printer, to a different standard, that is about what your printer and the paper you have chosen does. You can use a service like Chromix, which is very reasonable, to calibrate things exactly. Or you can use manufacturer supplied profiles for that printer.

Finally, grayscale images don't do that well when they are produced with color ink... there are special inksets for that. Regardless, a good printer profile will make a huge difference.

Lenny

I have to disagree with the next to last line of Lenny's excellent message. Using a RIP (I use QTR from Roy Harrington) you can make gorgeous b&w photographs using color inks. I display and have exhibited darkroom prints and digital prints made using QTR and Epson UC inks together. When under glass so that the different paper surfaces aren't a give-away the two processes are indistinguishable. I used to dedicate a printer to a special b&w inkset as Lenny mentions but since QTR became available I haven't had to do that. Epson's Advanced B&W seems to do a nice job too but I've only used it a couple times and never exhibited anything done with it so I don't have enough experience to say.

[Joanna Carter]

Epson's Advanced B&W seems to do a nice job too but I've only used it a couple times and never exhibited anything done with it so I don't have enough experience to say.
I have shown prints, made with the Epson Advanced B&W, to some very discerning folks who who could only tell that they were digital because the untrimmed paper sizes were not of the "correct" proportions. As you say, when expertly printed on a good paper, behind glass, there is very little chance of folks realising that they are inkjet prints.

[Lenny Eiger]

I used to dedicate a printer to a special b&w inkset as Lenny mentions but since QTR became available I haven't had to do that. Epson's Advanced B&W seems to do a nice job too but I've only used it a couple times and never exhibited anything done with it so I don't have enough experience to say.

We can just agree to disagree. This goes for Joanna's comment as well... If I can translate, the quality you are looking for in a b&w print is satisfied with color ink and the system that you use.

The prints that ABW or any system that uses color ink is capable of producing are not good enough for me. If it's good enough for you - that's great.... But when held next to each other, they aren't the same. This is very similar to the Costco conversation. The prints can be useful in certain circumstances, but they aren't the finest prints that can be made (unless you redefine "finest" as being usable). Its arguable whether ABW prints are better than Costco color ones, and I will leave that to someone else.

Now, maybe not everyone needs or wants to be a museum quality printer, or to have prints that could match up to a Paul Strand gravure (for one example). I have one in my house, of a Clarence White image, for inspiration. It's something that has always been an interest of mine, that I strive for, but I don't for a moment believe that anyone else should follow me...

Lenny