Calibrated MacBook Pro screen/dark prints

[John Sarsgard]

There might be a better forum for this, but there are more smart people here, so I will give it a try. I have a MacBook Pro whose screen I have calibrated with an eye-one...lots of times! Had an old Epson 2000p and no matter what always got prints darker than the laptop screen. got a custom profile for it and still got dark prints. Tired of the old clunker anyway, and bought a new Epson 3800. Still get prints significantly darker than the laptop screen. I know I need an external monitor, and am going to break down and get one, but I would really like to be able to get close with the laptop screen. Photoshop CS, premium luster with the Epson printer profile 38plpp, photoshop managing the color, all the normal stuff. Could it be some kind of issue with the monitor brightness matching the level at which it was profiled? Many thanks to all.

[Doug Dolde]

For one thing a backlighted monitor always looks brighter than a print. At least it does for me.

[Stephen Best]

Could it be some kind of issue with the monitor brightness matching the level at which it was profiled? Many thanks to all.

If you change the brightness, you've invalidated the profile. Though there's some suggestion that the best way to profile a MacBook Pro is to wind the brightness up, profile it then turn it down:

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-8741-9027

You have to get the screen brightness and print viewing conditions to match to make any assessment of whether it's too light or dark. As a guide, I run my NEC monitor at 90 cd/m2 with low ambient light.

[Kirk Gittings]

Is this the newer Macbook Pro or the first MacBook Pro? There is a fair difference in the monitors between mine which is a year old and the subsequent realease including a brighter screen.

FWIW I had to do some image editing on my calibrated MBP a few months ago in the foeld and deliver from the field. When I got home it was clear that despite the calibration the files were slightly too light when viewed on my best desktop. IE the laptop monitor is dark.

[Henry Ambrose]

How do you have the ambient light feature set? Is it turned on or off in Preferences? I doubt you could ever calibrate the screen with this turned on. Turn it off and leave it off when you want accurate color.

Also if your viewing environment changes your calibration will be off. And when you calibrate and then change the monitor settings you are no longer calibrated.

The new screens are lots better but they are still not the same as a desktop monitor. You need a good monitor if you expect high level results.

[Frank Petronio]

I use a MacBook Pro and Epson and while I will make all kinds of critical judgements using only the laptop monitor, when it comes to printing I always end up with a curves adjustment layer and vaying the gamma to suit. But if it works for the first print of the session, it will work for all the rest... I just don't expect the same curve to work tomorrow night when it is darker or whatever changes...

Black is black, white is white... but it's that middle that you fuss with.

FWIW, the color is remarkably decent for matching using canned profiles and all.

[Ken Lee]

"...all the normal stuff"
It would be helpful if you tell us the options you are selecting. There are so many of them, it's...a miracle.

[John Sarsgard]

Many thanks to so many thoughtful responders! Let's see...it's the original MacBook Pro, not the ones shipping now with the better screens. Ambient light feature is turned off. I last calibrated at 90 cd/m using the rob galbraith procedure mentioned above. It may be a little problematic to get the brightness at that level when using the monitor. I think today I will calibrate again at max brightness and just specify whatever that turns out to be so I can be sure to be working at the calibrated level and see how that works. Options...Ken, what all the books say. I print with preview and specify the epson profile, then turn off printer color management when I print, specify epson premium luster for the paper to the printer, etc. Thanks again. John

[dwhistance]

Are you soft proffing with your profile? If not then that may be your problem. If you are then why not just build a curves layer that adjusts the print to your satisfaction and then add it just before printing? I used to do this when I was using my 2100 with the OEM UC inks and it worked perfectly. Building the curves layer takes a few iterations for each paper you use but one its done your prints will be fine.

David Whistance

[John Sarsgard]

Update....I measured the maximum luminance on the screen of the MacBook and calibrated for that value so I would have something hopefully repeatable. I am closer now to WYSIWYG, so I think matching screen luminance with the calibrated value may be my issue. A little tricky, since it seems to drift a bit, and even after using the keyboard to go to maximum brightness, if you hit it more, still increases a bit. Maybe this is as good as it gets for the original MacBook Pro screens. Thanks to all again. Other ideas still eagerly listened to! John

[pherold]

Yes, if you've done everything else and you're still getting a density difference between your screen and your printer, then you would look at how well your ambient light is matching your monitor's calibration settings.

A good, basic way to start without getting too technical is something we call "the white paper test." Open up a blank, white document in Photoshop, and then hold up a sheet of your printing paper. Does it match? If the white of your paper is a lot darker than the white on your screen, then it stands to reason that your prints will appear darker when printed.

To fix this either the lighting you are using for viewing your prints needs to be increased, or the display calibration needs to be adjusted to have a lower luminosity.

-Pat Herold
CHROMiX Tech Support

[Ken Lee]

Pat - That idea is quite something. So simple !

Does this suggests that as LCD monitors "improve" over time, with ever-increasing "contrast ratios", our monitor calibration tools become useless ? Is there a calibration tool which overcomes these problems ?

Given a profile for my printer/paper/ink combination, shouldn't soft-proofing Photoshop be able to simulate things adequately ?

[Ken Lee]

Never mind. I figured it out.

The EyeOne software - when using the advanced calibration workflow - allows you to adjust the luminance of the monitor, to match the desired range.

In my case, I have set the monitor itself, to 72% Brightness.

Many thanks for this thread !