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Thread: Monaco EZ Colour useful?

  1. #1
    Unwitting Thread Killer Ari's Avatar
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    Monaco EZ Colour useful?

    I received a CD with my v750 of the Monaco EZ Colour calibration software.
    A week earlier, I calibrated my monitor (basic Dell) with a friend's Lacie BlueEye.
    My question is twofold:
    First, is this software good at calibrating scanner, printer, etc?
    Or is this another trick to make me think my various components will magically start talking to each other, and finally behave?
    And:
    Should I leave my monitor calibrated as is, with the LaCie software, and proceed with the other calibrations, or should I use Monaco for all calibrations, including the monitor?

    Thanks in advance.

  2. #2
    http://www.spiritsofsilver.com tgtaylor's Avatar
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    Re: Monaco EZ Colour useful?

    My feeling is that the scanner, monitor, and printer should all be on the same page. Using two different products to calibrate your system may not balance with one another: The monitor may be on the LaCie page and the scanner and printer on the Monaco page.

    Monaco is a dated product (it was absorbed a few years back by X-rite) but it works provided that you correctly profile your system. The software alone version has a monitor profiling application but it really shines when you use the optional Optix colormeter that was available. To profile the scanner and printer with Monaco you need the Monaco reflective and transparency IT8's that shipped with it.

    Thomas

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    Re: Monaco EZ Colour useful?

    With the IT8, you are calibrating both the scanner and a specific printer. It worked well for me to create better profiles than early ones that shipped with an Epson R1800 printer-- better even than subsequent canned Epson profiles.

  4. #4
    Unwitting Thread Killer Ari's Avatar
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    Re: Monaco EZ Colour useful?

    Quote Originally Posted by tgtaylor View Post
    My feeling is that the scanner, monitor, and printer should all be on the same page. Using two different products to calibrate your system may not balance with one another: The monitor may be on the LaCie page and the scanner and printer on the Monaco page.

    Monaco is a dated product (it was absorbed a few years back by X-rite) but it works provided that you correctly profile your system. The software alone version has a monitor profiling application but it really shines when you use the optional Optix colormeter that was available. To profile the scanner and printer with Monaco you need the Monaco reflective and transparency IT8's that shipped with it.

    Thomas
    Quote Originally Posted by Ivan J. Eberle View Post
    With the IT8, you are calibrating both the scanner and a specific printer. It worked well for me to create better profiles than early ones that shipped with an Epson R1800 printer-- better even than subsequent canned Epson profiles.
    Thanks, Thomas and Ivan; I do have the IT8s, but I don't have the Optix colormeter.

  5. #5
    Tech Support, Chromix, Inc.
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    Re: Monaco EZ Colour useful?

    I would recommend against using this for printer profiles. When you think about it, if you use the scanner to measure a profiling target, you'll be making a printer profile that is limited by the scanner itself. Also, even if you get the colors in the profile somewhat accurate, most people find that the shadows block up, and you don't get much detail in the shadows, compared to normal printer profiles.
    Pat Herold
    CHROMiX Tech Support
    www.chromix.com

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    Re: Monaco EZ Colour useful?

    The complete package (with Optix XR Pro Colorimeter) for sale in the Classifieds, I bought from Chromix

    I thought it did a good job- too late schmart?

  7. #7
    Tech Support, Chromix, Inc.
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    Re: Monaco EZ Colour useful?

    Oh, the Optix device (DTP94) is an excellent device. It's still being made, years after X-Rite officially discontinued it, because it is so good - and 3rd party software makers still demand it. Internal temperature compensation, noise reduction circuitry to measure blacks very accurately - it's a very good instrument, does a great job on normal, sRGB-type displays. It is not designed for these newer wide-gamut AdobeRGB-type displays, so it's questionable there. The Monaco EZ color does fine for monitor profiling and scanner profiling. I just wouldn't expect too much from the printer-profiling-via-scanner module.
    Pat Herold
    CHROMiX Tech Support
    www.chromix.com

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    Re: Monaco EZ Colour useful?

    Quote Originally Posted by pherold View Post
    I just wouldn't expect too much from the printer-profiling-via-scanner module.
    FWIW, I've made some pretty decent printer profiles with Monaco EZ Color. Try and see what you think after you calibrate your monitor. You have nothing to loose.

  9. #9
    http://www.spiritsofsilver.com tgtaylor's Avatar
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    Re: Monaco EZ Colour useful?

    Here's a print that I just made from a "printer-profiling -via -scanner module. Print matches the monitor view and actual transparency almost perfectly.



    I'm sure glad that I bought all this stuff back then!

    Thomas

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    IanG's Avatar
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    Re: Monaco EZ Colour useful?

    Quote Originally Posted by pherold View Post
    I would recommend against using this for printer profiles. When you think about it, if you use the scanner to measure a profiling target, you'll be making a printer profile that is limited by the scanner itself. Also, even if you get the colors in the profile somewhat accurate, most people find that the shadows block up, and you don't get much detail in the shadows, compared to normal printer profiles.
    What,even if the scanner's already profiled to the Monaco IT-8 targets ?

    Ian

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