You are probably going to get a different answer from most of the folks who reply, but I do not think a hardware calibrator is necessary unless you are doing pre-press work. If you are doing your own printing then all you really need is to be able to match your printer output, and general photography wise all we need is to be pretty close.
With Adobe Gamma I have found recently that I get better results if after going through all the steps I turn my monitor contrast down a couple of clicks. That seems to eliminate false blown highlights on the monitor. Then you can run a print and tweak the monitor so it matchs. That will allow you to work pretty well with that particular monitor/printer setup. Of course if you can afford it get the hardware calibration thingy, it will most likely make life easier (although you need the very expensive transmission/reflection version if you want to calibrate your printer as well). If you are only going to use one or two ink/paper combinations, there are some companies on the Internet that will do a printer profile for $65US or so. They send you a color patch image that you print out and send back. They then use one of those very expensive gizmos to make up a custom printer profile for you. Oh yes, most serious digital cameras do use at least sRGB color space (after all the s stands for "standard"), even my Epson P&S. It has an embedded daylight color profile (I guess that I am on my own in anything but daylight). I convert that to Pro-Photo workspace (apparently it is best to use a wider gamut workspace for editing so you do not lose anything in translation and Adobe98 is somewhat narrower than the latest and best photo printers) in the Adobe RAW converter. You might want to check Nikon's website to see if they have more color profiles for your cameras available for download. Anyway the method in the first couple of paragraphs pretty much is all I use. graywolf http://www.graywolfphoto.com "Idiot Proof" <==> "Expert Proof" ----------------------------------- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Hi gang. I know quite a few are up on colour profiles on this list so i thought i would ask here first. I'm still haveing problems getting my print to look like the monitor. I have only used Adobe Gammato adjust my monitor and have not used the Spyder type of devices.First off, should i be using that type of device if i'm going to do this at least semi seriously. Second, when i shoot my D1 it does not have a real rgb or srgb colour space persay. I forget what it is but PS seems to call it srgb. My D2H is usually shot in Nikon RGB. When i print with my Canons(S800 or BJC8200) i have many options for colour space. I usually choose working space,but sometimes try the working srgb etc. Do i need to convert the file from say the Nikon RGB to srgb in PS, then select that otiopn in the drop down menu,or am i wasting my time until i trruly profile my monitor. In PS 6 if i load up a D2H file it asks what colour space to use. In PSEL3 it does not. Or are there profiles for these Canons out there that should be loaded and used. Any help is appreciated. Right now i need to up the curves past what looks good on my monitor then it prints out the way it should look in real life. Dave(getting back to home printing more)Brooks
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