ZoomOn said:Hi,
I just got a set of PrintFix Pro Suite yesterday from CathayPhoto. They only received 2 sets from ColorVision and now is out of stock. Lucky me. Someone reserved the set but didn't turn up to collect it. So, they sold them to me. The price for the set is $1270.
ZoomOn said:Being a first time user on Color Management Kit, I have to say that I'm not entirely happy with the result on calibrated monitor. I might be doing it wrong but it could also be my monitor issue. It is a 17" monitor May which I guess I bought it more than 4 years ago. Not able to remember when I bought the monitor probably explains my monitor is old already.
When I calibrate the monitor, I have to manually tune the monitor contrast and brightness so that I can differentiate the 4 different boxes of White and Black. But I have to tune my monitor brightness up to 80% in order to tell visually those 4 black boxes. I think this is not right. After my monitor is loaded with the calibrated profile, the is a layer of white cast on the photos I viewed. This is probably due to high setting on brightness. I will try to calibrate my monitor today but this time using measured whites and blacks instead of using visual differentiation.
For those who are familiar with Spyder2 calibration software, they will understand what I'm talking about on the Whites & Blacks. ;p
ZoomOn said:Hi guys,
Here is the latest update. Colorvision haven't come back to me but I solved the solfware crash problem. It appears that this software doesn't work if my computer Regional Languague setup --> Input locale is set to any language "Chinese". When I revert back to English, the software is working.
So far I have tried on calibrating on 2 sets of paper with 150 color patches. The result are not fantastic and the output is not spot on. When I have more time again, I will repeat the calibration process just to make sure that I didn't make any mistakes. Following is my first attempt result :
I'm currently using Canon iP4000.
Epson Glossy Photo Paper - calibrated print is not impressive. With color tone shifted more towards yellow. Contrast wise is not good as well.
Konica QP Glossy Photo Paper - result is worst. Black color tone shifted towards red/brown. Contract wise is okay.
I have a question for those who have experience with printer/paper calibrating. I feels that I'm getting a bad result on Konica QP paper is because this paper is a bit thin. Strong light can pass through the paper quite easily. Could it be that when I read the color patches , the colorVision readers LED light is strong enough that it cause the my light brown table (used when calibrating both papers above) color to be bounce through the Konica paper and picked up by the meter?
ZoomOn said:Hi Gamut Labs,
Yes. I'm scanning patch by patch. Based on your experience, which sufface do you think best use for put the color patch print on for color patch reading? BTW, where to get them and what is the price?
Gamut Labs said:Hi ZoomOn,
Actually you can use any opaque non-reflective acrylic sheet from any hardware store. they usually come polished, you can use a matt lamination sheet to cover it up. An A3 size sheet should suffice.
Does CP support after sales service? They are after all the main reseller in SG.
They should have attended post-sales training support for this product.
Cheers,
nic
ZoomOn said:Gamut Labs,
I walked into a couple of hardware shops but unable to find the acrylic sheet you mentioned, I'm about to give up hope already. Can you advise me a shop where I can get this sheet?
megakale said:FYI, Artfriends do sell white acrylic sheet in A4 and A3 sizes.
Gamut Labs said:Ok another thing you can do is go to Bras Basah, art friend or any shop, get 1 piece each of A3 Black and White mounting boards. Should be about $3 per piece. Acrylic lasts longer but mounting boards can save you time from need to laminate.
ZoomOn said:Hi,
I went to Art Friend yesterday and got myself an opague non-reflective acrylic sheet. It is a matt transparent sheet. Wonder if this is the correct sheet to be used to house the color patches print? I will be doing the color patch scan soon and will advise the result soon.
There is a name for that. It's called translucent.Gamut Labs said:Eh ZoomOn my Friend,
Opaque = NOT transparent. but nevermind, just place a white A3 sheet of paper below the acrylic and consistently use the same method for all profiles.
The you have to do 729 patches to be sure of the profile quality and remember to use relative colorimetric for the rendering intent.
Good Luck!
Cheers,
nic
Wah.. quite a task to do all 729 patches... Have you used PrintFix (not the Pro)? If so, how do they compare? PrintFix vs PrintFix Pro?ZoomOn said:Hi,
Sorry that it took so long for me to provide my first personal evaluation on PrintFix Pro. However, it better to be late then none at all. For far I have only able to try 225 color patches then the suggested 729 patches. Overall, I do see some improvement on prints on 3 set of papers I tested on.
Epson photo paper - This are an old papers I picked up accidentally when I move office. Overall improvement in contrast and smoother color tone shift. Color are more natural as compared to default prints from my Canon IP4000, which means some reduction on color saturation.
Konica photo glossy (175gsm) - Improvement on color tone, contrast and looks more natural as well. Better then Epson photo papers.
Konica professional photo glossy (>300gsm) - Gave me some impressive prints. Good color tone shift, good contrast, a little more colors saturation then other 2 papers.
In future, when my original inks runs out. I will try 3rd party inks (from Inkstation) and perform another round of calibration. BTW, anybody has any comments on inks from Inkstation?