Choosing The Right Display Calibration Device (Updated 2/9/2012)

The X-Rite i1Display Pro, ColorMunki Display, NEC SpectraSensor Pro and Eizo (DataColor) EX1 are all current wide gamut colorimeters NOT spectrophotometers. The purpose of this article is to demystify a lot of confusion about display calibration devices on the market and educate you on some new models to let you know which display calibration device is right for you.

WARNING: I go super geeky at first to help clear up terminology and massive confusion, so if you know what you want and can’t deal with the geeky stuff then page down until you see a picture of the product you want to buy or research.

Profile vs Hardware LUT Calibration

What this means is that they are designed to calibrate your display against a series of colors swatches for which the display calibration software used knows exactly what value the sensor should read for each swatch.

The results of this data obtained by the sensor is used by the display calibration software in one of two ways:

1. To create a display profile (most common) – this is where the display calibration software does what it can to adjust your display to show colors accurately and it creates a lookup table of differences in a file a profile. In simple terms it’s like having yellow paint that is supposed to look green so you keep a measurement of how many drops of blue you mix into the yellow paint until it is the shade of green that you want. The profile is that sheet of paper where you jotted down the information about how much blue is needed. Your computer operating system uses these profiles to work with your display card and monitor to make color adjustments to the red, green and blue channels to render color more accurately. This method works well, but it is system dependent and can’t be dynamic.
   
2. To perform a display LUT Adjustment (a.k.a., programming the LUT) – Expensive and advanced displays improve upon the model above to actually write this data into the monitor hardware itself so that the monitor can do a better job than your OS at rendering accurate color. The method has the advantage of allowing you to use the same display with different computers without the need to calibrate because your operating system is bypassed for color rendition. This is less common on inexpensive displays, but very common on high end displays best suited for photography.  The downside to this design is that you usually need to the proprietary software by the display maker (i.e., NEC SpectraView II, Eizo Color Navigator or EasyPIX, etc…) as other third party software (i.e., the software included by X-Rite or DataColor) is sometimes not able to program the display LUT directly and will resort to creating a display profile (very bad when using a LUT based display). X-Rite has partnered with Eizo so that its latest software can program Eizo displays that are compatible with ColorNavigator can be programmed with i1Publish, but NEC still requires SpectraView II.

A Word About NEC & Eizo (proprietary) Display Colorimeters

The NEC SpectraSensor Pro is a colorimeter built by X-Rite specifically for NEC to calibrate wide gamut displays built by NEC using its proprietary SpectraView II software. The Eizo EX1 is a colorimeter built by DataColor specifically to calibrate Eizo displays using its EasyPIX software. They both can be used with their corresponding software to program the LUT of supported displays and therefore are offered as bundle when buying Eizo and NEC displays.

These colorimeters are just fine as they have been developed and tested under the supervision of the display maker to ensure they are able to program the monitors LUT using their proprietary software.

NEC SpectraView (i1 Display) Colorimeter

NEC used to also offer a special version of the i1 Display as shown below that supported wide gamut display calibration (the X-Rite i1 Display DOES NOT support wide gamut):

If you are a NEC display owner with one of these devices (or are considering buying one used), you do not need one of the products discussed in this article as it will still calibrate your NEC wide gamut display accurately. NEC and X-Rite will eventually phase out support for this product, so I wouldn’t invest in one at this point. Using today’s software and this hardware you should be able to accurately display any NEC display that supports SpectraView II, so an upgrade is only necessary in the future when you upgrade your operating system and/or SpectraView software to a version that no longer supports this device (won’t happen overnight).

Spectrophotometers – Display and Printer Calibration

Spectrophotometers like the ColorMunki PHOTO
calibrate displays plus create paper profiles

Click here to read an article that does a good job at explaining the difference between a colorimeter and a spectrophotometer.

A spectrophotometer can be used to create paper profiles which is the process where you print out color swatches of known RGB values it and then measure the colors using a spectrophotometer to compare what color actually gets printed. The operating system, the printer, the inks and paper you use all combine to contaminate the color that ultimately ends up on the paper, so a printer paper profile used in conjunction with a display color profile (or calibrated LUT) is critical to get the colors you see on your screen to look the same way on the paper that comes out of your printer.

This is a tricky process due to all of the variables that come into play, which is why X-Rite created a great product called the ColorMunki PHOTO (which is a spectrophotometer, NOT a colorimeter like the ColorMunki Display (discussed later in this article) along with its proprietary software to make this whole process work smoothly. I talk about this in my color management article, but know that currently this is the most easy to use and accurate method for getting your prints to look like what you see on your display (excluding the limitations of your display).

If your goal of reading this article is to match your prints with your display then my advice is to  go get a ColorMunki Photo from Adorama or B&H as that’s a color management workflow issue. Advanced print master (discussed in my printing 101 eBook) will use even more advanced and complex products like these:

B&H sells the i1iSis – an expensive spectrophotometer

i1 Pro shown with a
i1iO Automated Scan Table

X-Rite has replaced the i1XTreme I reviewed with thei1Photo Pro UVcut Professional Color Management for Photographers and offers the i1iO Automated Scan Table (shown above with a i1 Pro attached). It also offers the i1Sis which is only used for fast creation of paper profiles so a separate colorimeter is required.  It should be noted that this device is offered in a non-UVcut version as well.

Now before you go out and get a spectrophotometer besides the ColorMunki PHOTO, be aware that you will invest thousands of dollars and lots of time so mere mortals are going to find their money best spent on a product like ColorByte ImagePrint (new version 9 is awesome) that just has all the profiles you need available on demand so you are back to only needing a colorimeter to calibrate your display.

Colorimeters

Okay if you read the stuff before this then I’m sure your head is spinning. I’m happy to say that I won’t get too geeky from here on in as I’ll simply focus on which “gizmo” you need to make your display to the best job it can at showing colors accurately.

WARNING: If your display sucks, a colorimeter may not help!!!!

Please keep in mind though that colorimeters aren’t miracle workers. If you are using a crappy display you got free with your computer, then it may not be able to display color accurately no matter what you do. I know that on paper many displays seem like they are “just as good” but as the saying goes “there’s lies, damn lies and statistics”.  Statistics do not tell the whole story my engineer friends, so if you are serious about color management then you’ll need to invest a good wide gamut display (and no you can’t get one off eBay for $100). Here are a few models that I’ve used and have witnessed them display color as accurately as possible with todays technology:

1. Eizo ColorEdge CG243W – The best photography display I’ve ever used, but also the most expensive. If you have a Ferrari or Rolls Royce sitting in the garage, then this is what you want to buy. Joking aside, it doesn’t get better than this.
   
2. Eizo FlexScan SX2762W – You insist on Eizo quality but can’t stomach the price? Then this display is a nice alternative.
   
3. NEC PA Series – If you a working middle class grunt who wants near Eizo quality for a fraction of the price, then this will rock your world. I use the PA241W and love it, and only a trained eye will see the difference between this an a Eizo.

I’m told HP has DreamColor displays that are fantastic too, but I’ve had such bad luck with HP products over the last decade that I’d recommend sticking with highly trusted brands like Eizo and NEC.

If you must choose a different brand then you’ll want an IPS display that can display at least 95% of the Adobe RGB color gamut, has a DisplayPort (even on the PC), has a programmable LUT for hardware calibration, and supports a minimum resolution of 1920x1200 (not 1080). 10-bit color is an added plus. If the display you are researching lacks any of these features then I’d advise you to keep shopping.

X-Rite i1Display PRO – (Ron’s Favorite)

i1Display Pro ($269.00 MSRP – Adorama, B&H)
Professional Display Calibration for the Most Demanding Color Perfectionists

In the summer of 2011 X-Rite released two new calibration devices to replace their popular X-Rite i1 Display 2 and Pantone Huey PRO colorimeters – neither of the older units supported wide gamut display. The i1Display Pro and ColorMunki Display have the following in common:

• Wide gamut color calibration
• X-Rite ADC [Advanced Display Control] to control supported hardware to ensure the highest quality results.
• Support profiling projectors (i.e., Canon SX-80 Pro Photography Projector) and includes a tripod mount to assist with calibration in large venues
• Multiple Displays Supported (but more advanced via software for the i1Display Pro)
• Flare Correct™ compensates for flare light falling on the surface of the display (but honestly I hate this feature <g>)
• The ability to measure the ambient light to include that data in your profile when your display is not in an ideal viewing environment with a hood
• and more….

Unique to this model is the bundled software is based on the all new i1Profiler software (which I’ll be reviewing soon). It can run in both a simple mode as well as advanced mode which means this solution can grow with you as your color management skills improve.

This model has advanced multiple displays support that also is useful in workgroups where you need all of the displays in your facility to be viewing colors the same way. Now based on my experience is that you need all of the same series displays built and purchased at the same time for the best result, but that’s not usually possible so this does the best job that I know of at getting you in the right ballpark.

This device will work with the latest version of NEC’s SpectraView II and Eizo ColorNavigator calibration software.

Here’s how to set the preferences for this device in NEC’s SpectraView II:

It should be noted that if you use a NEC display that supports hardware calibration then you must use SpectraView II and therefore can not (and should never) use X-Rite’s included software. Windows 7 will automatically detect and install the “i1Display 3” driver and it will work the next time you start SpectraView II and change your calibration sensor preferences as shown above.

If you have a photography business, then this is the device you need.

X-Rite ColorMunki Display – the photography hobbyist ideal solution

ColorMunki Display ($189.99 MSRP Adorama, B&H)
Advanced Display Calibration Made Easy for Color Perfectionists

Simply put, if photography is your hobby and not your profession then this is a great solution for you at a reasonable price. The software is a little more user friendly with no advanced mode, but the colorimeter device itself is identical so the end result of calibrating your display versus a i1Display Pro will be identical on a single display. The i1Display Pro has advantages for multiple displays, but this device supports multiple displays as well so don’t get too hung up on that point.

I like this device because its easy to use and it typically just works (unless you are like me and you are using 6 different devices without rebooting <g>).

Here’s a video walkthrough of the ColorMunki Display calibration process on a MacBook Pro in Easy Mode:

Click here to play in HD. Viewing in full screen is recommended.

Here’s another video walkthrough showing the Advanced Mode:

Click here to play in HD. Viewing in full screen is recommended.

NEC SpectraSensor Pro (NEC Display Owners Only)

NEC SpectraSensor Pro

If you currently own or will in the future own a NEC display that supports hardware calibration and you don’t have a calibration device already, then this is device you’ll want to buy. In fact, if you haven’t purchased your display yet then I’d advise that you purchase the bundle that includes it with your display (only one per computer needed).

When using SpectraView II it can be a little confusing choosing the sensor type if the Auto-Detect button doesn’t work properly (usually it does) or if you have more than one sensor installed. The reason why is because you must choose “XRite iOne Display Pro (i1D3)” as the sensor type as shown here:

The software actually reads the model information from the device so you can tell that this is really the NEC SpectraSensor Pro device, but it can be confusing so it’s worth mentioning that here.

Eizo EX1 by Datacolor (Eizo FlexScan Owners Only)

For the last month or so I’ve been using a Eizo FlexScan SX2762W for the purpose of doing my review. To my dismay the only way it could be calibrated was using Eizo’s EasyPIX solution which bummed me out as Eizo’s Color Navigator software is much better. However it worked well enough, so if you own (or are buying) an Eizo FlexScan SX2762W (or equivalent) then go for the bundle and get this.

This is just a Datacolor Spyder 3 rebranded so I was actually able to use it with my NEC SpectraView II software to calibrate my NEC PA241W (note you must physically plug it into the display you are calibrating when doing hardware calibration). Here’s how to configure it in the preferences:

NEC SpectraView II Calibration Comparison on a NEC PA241W

To compare the devices in this article I used the NEC SpectraView II software because it does a good job working with a large variety of sensors, it has good reporting info, and the hardware calibration means that no operating system issues will skew the results. With that said, here’s my calibration settings:

The Eizo EX1 (Datacolor Spyder 3) was the sixth device I have used to calibrate this display on this machine so SpectraView is pretty good about letting you most of the popular colorimeter sensors on the market. For as long as I’ve been in the computer industry, I’m honestly shocked I was able to get all but one of working on one machine in harmony without my system crashing – well done X-Rite!

In the sections that follow I’ll discuss how a variety of products performed when calibrating this display. To be fair I had the display turned on for over 6 hours before doing the calibration so the display was fully up to temperature. My methodology for testing on a 64-bit Windows 7 system with was as follows:

1. Making sure that NEC SpectraView II wasn’t running, I’d plug one and only one sensor directly into the same USB port on the NEC PA241W.
   
2. I’d launch the software, go to Edit | Preferences and click Auto Detect to make sure that the sensor type selected was correct. I visually confirmed the model name as well.
   
3. I’d run the calibration and also confirmed that the sensor shown during the placement step was the same as what I was using.
   
4. At the conclusion of the calibration I pasted the results in this article. I ran each test two or three times more to see if it was statistically any different.

Eizo EX1 (Datacolor Spyder 3)

This was by far the worst result and multiple runs didn’t produce significantly better results. When analyzing a calibration the first thing you want to do is look at the Delta E value. Many say that 2.0 or less is acceptable, but closer to 0.50 or less is realistically possible these days. Chromix has the following statement in their definition of Delta E:

A Delta E of 1 or less between two colors that are not touching one another is barely perceptible by the average human observer; a Delta E between 3 and 6 is typically considered an acceptable match in commercial reproduction on printing presses. (Note: Human vision is more sensitive to color differences if two colors actually touch each other.)

The 1.20 Delta E below my expectations because I’m accustomed to looking at a calibrated display that typically has a Delta E of 0.50 or less. The targeted 6506K white point is being calibrated to 6633K which in practical terms meant my display had an unusual blue cast to it and was not calibrated accurately enough for print soft proofing.

The contrast ratio (the larger the first number, the better) was lower than expected as well at 258:1. As a result I have to give this device, on this display using this software (which granted it’s not purposely built for) a UNSATISFACTORY grade. This device plugs in and runs, but I wouldn’t recommend it for accurate color calibration on this display using this software.

Of course I’ll be fair in reminding you that this device is designed for use in calibrating an Eizo FlexScan SX2762W with the EasyPIX software, so I am using it in an unsupported fashion. When using it on the Eizo with the EasyPIX software I got a Display Luminance of 99.7 and a temperature of 6507K. Easy PIX doesn’t report contrast ratio, but overall the results were acceptable on the Eizo. There was still a touch more of a blue cast on the Eizo than the NEC, but I’d say this device does well for what it is designed for, so perhaps there’s some tweak in it for Eizo that doesn’t translate well to NEC and/or SpectraView.

If you are considering a Datacolor device I’d suggest borrowing a friends Datacolor Spyder 3. You can’t return calibration devices so do your own tests to make sure you are happy before purchasing if possible. In fact, the the new Spyder3 Elite might perform better, so try it if you can.

X-Rite ColorMunki PHOTO Spectrophotometer

I was unable to test the ColorMunki Display colorimeter due to the OS not recognizing it for some reason. I plugged it in and tested on my MacBook Pro and Lenovo W510 with no problem so it was an issue specific to my Windows 7 system and this device (perhaps because I had installed the i1Display Pro).

At any rate, I was curious to test its big brother the ColorMunki PHOTO to see how this spectrophotometer would do compared to its big brother, the i1Pro. I ran the test three times and got statistically the same result each time so I was a little disappointed to see that the Delta E was 0.94. Of course this is below 1.0 so in theory this is acceptable.

Ironically with this one the contrast ratio was 615:1 so I’m not sure what to make of that result. The white point was only 14K off its target and the luminance was just 0.4 over 100.0 so to my eyes the result seemed ACCEPTABLE.

NEC SpectraSensor Pro

This device is made by X-Rite for NEC so it should do the best job, right? I must admit that I was shocked when I ran the results and saw that the Delta E was 0.72. At 6543k and a contrast ratio of 513:1, the calibration felt “about right”, but the data proved it was off more than the maximum 0.50 Delta E that I prefer to see for everyday use. Ironically if I used the i1 Pro sensor type in the preferences dialog I was able to get the Delta E to drop to 0.68.

The Delta E was well below 1.0 so I’m going to give this device a GOOD rating.

My only explanation here is that there’s probably some manufacturing tolerance that comes in to play so this is probably considered within specification so it shipped. Your copy might be better than my copy so I wouldn’t consider this to be a wide enough margin for you to refrain from getting this. In fact, I’d let price be your guide because as I said – under 1.0 is going to be impossible for most to notice.

X-Rite i1 Pro

Note, the UVCut version was used in this test, but a non-UV version exists.

This is the most expensive sensor I have on hand, but it is a spectrophotometer so it can do paper profiles too. It did a VERY GOOD job with a 0.32 Delta E and a 469:1 contrast ratio. Of course it cost about 4 to 5 times as much as the other devices so it should do well right?

X-Rite i1Display Pro

Before running these tests my gut feel was that this was the best device, and my testing verified that was correct. In fact I ran this test 3 times just to make sure I wasn’t making a mistake. With a Delta E of 0.23 it performed the best and gave me the result that to my eyes seemed most accurate when soft proofing. Again, there’s probably some variation from unit to unit, but it’s no doubt this one is a dandy.

Conclusion

X-Rite is an industry leader in color management solutions, and a brand I trust. This article simply confirms my belief in their products is valid.

My bottom line advice is that if you aren’t going to be doing your own printing then you don’t need a spectrophotometer. If you are using a monitor that supports hardware calibration then get whatever bundled calibration device is offered with it and the display makers software. If you are going to be doing software calibration then go for the i1Display Pro (Adorama, B&H) if you can afford it, but if not then go for the ColorMunki Display (Adorama, B&H).

Amateur printers should get a ColorMunki PHOTO (Adorama, B&H) as the best cost effective solution. See my color management article to learn why. If you are print master then I’ll have more for you soon in my i1Publish article, so stay tuned to this blog to learn more.

Disclosure

Eizo, NEC, and X-Rite all provided me with calibration devices used in this article. The Eizo EX1 was not intended for this testing, so it was only included because I had it on hand. If you make a purchase using the links in this article I may get a commission, so thanks for supporting my blog by using my links when you are ready to make your purchase.

Counterpoint: Extreme Profiling or ImagePrint?

Photo Courtesy of B&H Photo
ColorChecker Targets Sold Separately

If you read my review of the i1XTreme Color Management Solution then you know that while I loved the results from the product, I really wasn’t a happy camper three hours into scanning 32 rows of patches and only being on row 21. In fact, during that time I started thinking – why the hell am I doing this?

ImagePrint Profiles are easily accessed over the web via Profile Manager
and if they don’t have the profile you need they’ll make it for you!

Well the reason for creating your own profile is so you can have a more accurate profile than you are using today so that you can create a print that makes the most of what your printer is capable of doing. With this in mind, if ColorByte ImagePrint bypasses the driver and controls the printer directly using the profiles it created with a $10k spectrophotometer and thousands of patches, then that theoretically should be the best results you can get right? In my opinion, and many others, the answer is yes!

While ImagePrint user interface leaves a lot to be desired, you can’t argue with the print results I got on the LexJet Sunset Photo Metallic paper. I’ve been unable to generate my own profile that can surpass what ImagePrint can do, so that begs the question – why spend several thousand dollars getting a great calibration system and software and still have to spend days building the perfect profiles, when I can spend a fraction of that and get better results?

I’m as cheap as the next guy so $800+ and up for ImagePrint seemed outrageously expensive to me at first. Now that I can see how much a proper color management system and software costs, I’d say leave profile generation to those who really need it and get ImagePrint instead.

Conclusion

If you still need to calibrate your scanner or camera LCD, then i1Basic seems like a more cost effective option along with ImagePrint and you’ll still end up over a thousand ahead of the game!

Don’t get me wrong that the i1XTreme is the way to go if you are going to go nuts doing paper profiles, but I think it’s probably time to leave those tools to the experts who make or sell those profiles to us rather than being the person who tries to generate them in the first place.

If all of this is too much for you, then you aren’t alone. I’d advise that you just check out my color management article and go with the ColorMunki until you are in a position to consider more advanced options. The ColorMunki is a great product with great simplicity, so I keep mine around so I can always do a quick and headache free calibration.

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I have worked with ColorByte to offer you the first ever discount that has been made available for a blog. ColorByte is offering a 10% off discount to readers of this article when you contact JVH Technical, LLC by phone or email. You can not get this discount through the web or ColorByte directly, so you must contact JVH and you MUST mention this blog in order to get the discount. If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to contact JVH, ColorByte or me directly about this discount program.

Disclosure

I may get a commission if you take advantage of the special offer or purchase products from select partner links in this article. Thanks for your support of this blog by returning here when making your purchases!

Extreme Color Management with the X-Rite i1XTreme and ProfileMaker 5 – Part 2 of 2

This article is a continuation of Part 1 found here.

i1XTreme Continued…

This section resumes my prior discussion of the i1XTreme Color Management Solution….

Match 3 was a snap to use with only one scan error

When working in Eye-One Match 3, I was able to easily scan the patches and only hit one error when scanning  row 5 shown above, but a simple re-scan solved the problem. In no time flat I had the measurement data I needed and a new profile.

Match 3 Measurement Success

Trouble on the way to Paradise

When scanning Bill Atkinson’s targets RGB 800 WIR Eye-One 2 Page targets shown below (see previous article for more info) I had a much more difficult time.

Bill Atkinson’s RGB 800 WIR Eye-One 2 page target

I’ve tried to establish credibility on this blog by calling things like I see them rather than just doing gloried press release reviews like some other reviewers often do. In this case I have to fully disclose that I hit a speed bump during my review that made me want to toss the i1XTreme system out the window and never do another profile again. Let me explain why I hit these problems, assure you that there are solutions to the problems I hit and why I’m glad that I didn’t give up.

When scanning the color patches you simply hold the button down at the beginning of the row while you are on a white spot, wait for a beep, and then glide the i1 across the page until it stops and release. The software will tell you if you failed (which requires you to rescan the row) or if you can continue (by notifying you to scan the next row).  The system seems simple enough and with the limited test patches (which happed to be much larger too) in the Match 3 product I had no problems. In fact, I thought it was rather fun to use!

With my first success behind me, I decided I’d take on Bill’s big chart because 800 should be a heck of a lot better than 288, right? I could just see this amazing print rolling off my Epson with this new and improved profile that I was about to create, so I scanned with much excitement.

Well, I was excited until I got my tenth “Too Many Errors” alert (see below). I became annoyed at the fact that the user-interface never bothered to tell me what I did wrong or how I could do better next time, so I would scan again and get another failure. I’d scan slower, and I’d scan faster, yet both resulted in the same error. I’d adjust the paper and I’d take my time scanning. All of these efforts seemed to work on at least one occasion, but none of them worked reliably. However, when I got the nod from the MeasurementTool to advance to the next line, I was thrilled to move on – and move on I did.

Too many errors. Please read strip again.
You will hate this error message and
wish evil things up those who created it!

In a little over three hours I scanned the 32 rows of these charts (approximately 400 row scans), so to say I had a few errors is an understatement. I was tired and frustrated with a blister on my right index finger – but I was done. I saw the completion page below and thought I had some great data for ProfileMaker to do its magic and create a killer profile for me.

After 3 Hours of scanning, I thought I was done.
I thought wrong!

After I generated my profile, I quickly examined it in a cool tool called ColorThink Pro (review coming in November 2010 which also shows how to generate and use the charts). Upon inspection (see below), I immediately noticed it was @%#ked up!!!!

3D Graph of my first ProfileMaker ICC Profile
Never try to print using a profile that looks this nasty!!!!

I didn’t need to print to know that I would get horrible results, so I scratched my head and went back to the drawing board.

In doing my analysis, I noticed that my scan chart didn’t look as clean as Bill’s charts, but I thought ProfileMaker would use that data and magically make a great profile. However, what I really discovered is that the tool let me advance to the next slide when it got a row of data – not necessarily a correct row of data (see below) – WTF????

Scan success, but ignore the directions
to move on to the next row!

I felt like an idiot, so I did some more research and proceeded to scan again. This time knowing that a row not only had to be successfully scanned, it also had to be the correct pattern, I found myself investing 5 hours more of my life in getting 32 accurate row scans. FIVE HOURS!!!!

Not the birth of my children, nor my first magazine cover, nor anything I could imagine in the future (i.e., winning the lottery) had brought me more joy than to see the dialog below and know that wouldn’t be scanning any more of those @#king patches again that day!!!!!!

All rows scanned successfully.
One of the greatest accomplishments of my life!

Now I understood why the scan table had an advertisement that read “Need Automation? Add an Eye-One iO!” Pardon my language, but no shit!!!! Holy cow, I looked at that ad in disgust as I scanned for hours – once taking a 12 hour break out of frustration with the device.

With my frustration behind me I was ready to get my reward – a great paper profile, so that meant a visit to ProfileMaker 5.0. While there, I chose Bill Atkinson’s source chart (a text file) as the reference data to compare to my new data (also a text file) as shown here:

Generating the profile in ProfileMaker 5.0

The whole Gamut Mapping stuff confused me, but I found this i1 Gamut Mapping information to be very helpful. In the end, I did all three choices and graphed and printed using all three and got what appears to my eyes to be identical results. I’m sure there are differences and maybe eye isn’t trained enough, but the graphs in ColorThink Pro indicate they are very similar if not identical.

The Reward of Perseverance

An excellent profile generated from my 800 patch scan

To demonstrate the value of profiling I’ve printed the same source photo multiple times using various paper profiles – most of which I’ve generated myself. This test will show how one device can differ from another, as well as the importance of the software in this process.

NOTE: The images shown in this section are photos of prints taken using identical camera settings in identical conditions, but photo reproduction this way is quite tricky so they are subject to human error. The photos of the prints do not truly express the quality of the prints for a variety of reasons, so no conclusions about the paper or print should be made by using these photographs. Instead, they should just be used as a tool to demonstrate significant differences in the background gradient and tones on the tires in one image versus another. Sharpness or alignment may vary slightly due to my sample photos error, not the actual prints.

LexJet Sunset Photo Metallic Profile Test

For this example I am LexJet’s Sunset Photo Metallic paper where they do not provide a paper profile for my Epson Stylus® Pro 3880 printer. I started by trying using the Epson 3800 paper profile (which I know doesn’t work, but I did for illustrative purposes) and got horrible results (mouse over below or click here). To improve upon those results, I created my own profile using the ColorMunki and you’ll notice a huge improvement! Score one for the ColorMunki!!!!

Mouse over (or click here) for LexJet 3800 Profile vs.
Mouse out (or click here) for ColorMunki 3880 Custom Profile

Mouse over (or click here) for the Eye-One Match 3 Profile vs.
Mouse out (or click here) for the MeasureTool/ProfileMaker Profile

Now I probably don’t have to tell you but you’ll notice that the image above (mouse out or click here) was the image with the most tonal range and is the print that most closely represents the stellar results I was getting on my Canon iPF6300 printer using LexJet’s phenomenal profile. If you mouse over above (or click here) you’ll the Eye-One Match 3 profile which is a clear improvement over the ColorMunki profile, but still falls short of the MeasureTool/ProfileMaker profile created using Bill Atkinson’s 800 RGP 2P test patches. Now to be fair for the Eye-One Match 3 I only used the i1 RGB Target 1.5 test patches which only had 288 patches – but you have to go to MeasureTool if you want large or custom patch sets.

What’s the net result here? Naturally, the more patches you test – on your specific model printer – the better your prints will be. You’ll extract more tonal contrast out of the image and more accurately represent the colors you are seeing on your calibrated display. In fact, if you create your profile properly the print you create should blow your display image away.

Conclusion

The scanner and display calibration with this product are both simple yet offer the flexibility for advanced calibration as well. This was great because this was more advanced than what is possible with my beloved ColorMunki. However, what really makes this product worth the money is its ability to generate a exceptional printer profiles.

Fine art printing can be expensive and it is the final representation of your work, so if it doesn’t look amazing then you are selling yourself short. For those who care about the details of their final result, an excellent printer profile is a must! Sadly the profiles generated by others (including paper and printer makers) aren’t always the appropriate choice for the best results possible from your specific printer.

For those who wish to control the process of creating the best possible profile, I’d recommend you consider using an X-Rite i1XTreme UV Cut Color Calibration Solution (which includes Eye-One Match 3) or ProfileMaker (until i1Profiler becomes available). I must also HIGHLY RECOMMEND the i1iO Automated Scan Table. Alternatively, you may also consider the i1iSis as an even faster solution for reading your test charts, but either way automation is critical in my opinion.

For Photography, I do not recommend purchasing the non-UV cut version. I questioned a panel of 5 printing experts featured in this series and they all insisted that the UV cut is required for photographers due to the growing use of papers with Optical Brightening Agents (OBA).

Ordering Information

The X-Rite i1XTreme UV Cut Color Calibration Solution is available from Amazon, Adorama, B&H and other resellers.

ProfileMaker (which includes MeasureTool) is currently only available i1iSis bundles which I could only find on Adorama at this time.

Adorama and B&H both carry the i1iSis

i1iO Automated Scan Table

Save yourself from frustration of manual scanning by purchasing an i1iO Automated Scan Table to complement your i1XTreme system from Amazon, Adorama, or B&H. NOTE: You only need an i1iO or an i1iSis for automation, not both. The i1iSis is the fastest solution from X-Rite.

Special Offer

X-Rite does not offer any special offers on its products, but I’m happy to announce that LexJet (maker of the Sunset Photo Metallic paper featured in this article) does! Click here to learn more.

Disclaimer

X-Rite provided a loaner i1XTreme color management solution for me to use so I could write this article, as well a dongle for use with ProfileMaker. If it were not for X-Rite’s generous support, I could not have brought this article to you. I receive no compensation from X-Rite, but if you purchase products using links in this blog to external sites I might get a commission. Thank you for supporting this blog by returning here when you make your purchases.

Extreme Color Management with the X-Rite i1XTreme and ProfileMaker 5 – Part 1 of 2

Earlier this year I introduced you to color management using the X-Rite ColorMunki which I love and use on all my computers. However, if you’ve been following my printing series you’ll notice that when I list out the gear that my featured photographers are using, you don’t see the ColorMunki mentioned anywhere.Instead you’ll often see the X-Rite i1iO Automated Scan Table or X-Rite i1iSis XL Color Calibration System mentioned along with ProfileMaker.

Why aren’t the top pros using the ColorMunki? Well part of it is because the ColorMunki is still fairly new compared to the i1 system, so many have been doing color management since before it came out. However, another important reason involves calibration on the next level – what I call “Extreme Color Management”.

Extreme Color Management

Extreme Color Management is when you use targets with a lot more than 50 (x2) color samples you get with the ColorMunki along with a high precision spectrophotometer and advanced software (ProfileMaker now i1Profiler coming soon) to create a much more accurate precision profile that is more accurate than what can be accomplished with the ColorMunki. Of course, like in all things in Photography, this means it’s going to cost you more money for that extra precision, but is it worth it?  Stay tuned and I’ll try to show you why you should care and who this configuration is intended for.

A good example of an Extreme Color Management Top Photographer is Douglas Dubler (also an X-Rite Coloratti). Douglas demands the best results and is willing to take the time to create the best profiles to get those results. The fruit of his labor are some of the most impressive prints I’ve ever seen, and ones that can stand the scrutiny of wall-size light boxes like the GTI VPI 52. It is for the most critical eye, yet the results are ones that even a novice can appreciate – even if they can’t quantify why Douglas’ prints are so much better than other master printers.

ProfileMaker 5

When using a ColorMunki or i1Basic, it will come with easy to use software to help you generate a custom profile for your display (and projectors and printers for the ColorMunki). ProfileMaker goes beyond the i1Match takes profiling to the extreme by supporting the generation of profiles for scanners, printers, displays, projectors, and even your digital cameras! This is an advanced end-to-end color management system not only for personal and professional printers, but also publishers CYMK printers! In short, if a device can take a profile, this software can be used to create a profile for it.

I will not do an in-depth review of this software at this time as it is due to be replaced in the near future.

i1Profiler

i1Profiler is the name of the current unreleased software which will replace ProfileMaker 5 at a future date. I hope to bring you more on this product as it becomes available.

i1XTreme

Photo Courtesy of B&H Photo
ColorChecker Targets Sold Separately

The X-Rite i1XTReme Color Calibration Solution (Product Overview) is a product designed to give you advanced color consistency between all of the devices in your digital workflow so you can achieve the best color management possible on the market today. It supports not only the obvious like computer displays and printers, but also scanners, projectors, and even digital cameras! The net result is a color managed workflow that goes beyond the basics that a device like the ColorMunki can provide.

This device and supporting software like ProfileMaker/i1Profiler are critical if you wish to generate your own profile for use with RIP software as you need the ability to print and measure outside of i1Match.

UV Cut or Not?

One thing that has always confused the heck out of me is why there are two different versions of the i1 spectrophotometers – one with a “UV Cut” and one without. Well it turns out that the “UV Cut” was introduced when papers with OBA’s came out as they apparently introduced problems. The Built-in UV filter prevents problems when measuring pigments that fluoresce under UV light or papers that incorporate artificial whiteners (source: Adorama).

Because I work with many papers which have OBA’s (like Canon & Epson papers with the word Bright as well as Metallic paper), I chose to get the UV Cut version. In addition, all of but one of my master printers and RIP software companies that I polled as to which version to get said to get the UV Cut version, so that was good enough for me.

The UV Cut has the same MSRP as the regular version, so the decision as to which one to get should really be based on your needs. It seems that if you’ll be doing a lot of measurements off of real life objects for obtaining color matching information, there are cases where the UV Cut would be a disadvantage. This is why both versions are offered, but sadly you have to pick one or the other – there isn’t an adapter that allows one device to do both (do I hear feature request???).

Using the i1XTtreme System

The ColorMunki is simplicity at its best – just plug and play and follow some really simple wizards. However, using the i1XTreme is a big leap from there as you’ll find yourself getting a lot of complex questions for which there isn’t a lot of useful help or instruction to tell you more about what you are being asked or why you should care. From this perspective, I was a bit disappointed in this system as it felt a bit like being thrown into the deep end of the pool before you know how to swim.

The good news is that I’m a fast learner, so I scratch and clawed my way through a bunch of confusing docs, web articles (some of which went back to 2004) and more to find out the information I needed to know. The question is, was it all worth it? More on that later…

Here’s how I use this i1XTreme system in my studio:

• Display Calibration - All good color management begins with a calibrated display, so I use the i1XTreme to calibrate my display. The process isn’t as pretty, but it is very similar to how it is done with the ColorMunki in my Color Management article. You get asked a few more complex questions, but when in doubt just accept the defaults and move on.
• Scanner Calibration – I’ve always been frustrated with the crappy results I’d get out of my scanner, so it was a pleasant surprise to learn that I could simply scan a test target provided in my kit and run a simple wizard and voila – a nice scanner profile was created. Just as with printer profiles, the difference was like night & day and it was very easy to do. It was actually harder figuring out how to get my scanner software to actually use the profile than it was to create it!
• Printer Profiling – Nothing is more important than printer profiling in my book, because without a proper profile your prints will look like crap. I’ve actually seen top tier photographers and print masters get lazy and not calibrate their displays because they could trust their printer profile so much that they simply needed to do a test print and put it next to their monitor to get an idea of how the colors would shift. You couldn’t do that the other way around without wasting a lot of time and paper, so this is why I think most people really buy this product.

In addition to the above features, you can also use this product to calibrate your projector (which I don’t own) and digital camera (which requires ColorChecker SG which I didn’t have included in my test kit).

Profiling to the Extreme

Bill Atkinson’s RGB 800 WIR Eye-One 2 page target

Epson Stylus Pro and Profiling Guru Douglas Dubler recommends using the targets on Bill Atkinson’s download folder along with Profile Maker (currently only available i1iSis bundles) to create profiles.

Eye-One MeasureTool (included in ProfileMaker)

I was having trouble getting my ColorMunki to calibrate LexJet’s Sunset Photo Metallic (review and coupon code coming soon) paper for my Epson Stylus® Pro 3880 printer to get the same great results I was getting with LexJet’s profile for the Canon iPF6300. The ColorMunki got me close, but it was still too dark and the print had a green tint to it.  Using the i1 with the included Eye-One Match 3 software I was able to generate a profile, that when printed with the Perceptual rendering intent, gave me something that was much closer to the Canon print.

As happy as I was with my new profile, I decided to take it a step farther and try Bill Atkinson’s RGB 800 WIR Eye-One 2 page target to scan in 800 patches to create an even more accurate profile (profiles up to 5202 patches are available). This sounded great because the Eye-One Match 3 had only printed out 288 patches using the default settings (but more patches were available) and Douglas had recommended Bill’s patches.

Click here to read part 2.

Disclaimer

X-Rite provided a loaner i1XTreme color management solution for me to use so I could write this article, as well a dongle for use with ProfileMaker. If it were not for X-Rite’s generous support, I could not have brought this article to you.

Color Management 101 - How do I get prints to match what I see on my display? (X-Rite ColorMunki Review)

WARNING: This is a high-level overview of a highly complex subject that ultimately advises several resources for the photographer to help minimize color management nightmares. There are ton of products, concepts, and techniques that are intentionally missing from this article. I’ve tried to break it down to the recommendations I’d give a friend who is struggling with color management nightmares without boring them with weeks of lectures and discussions on this sophisticated topic.

How well do you see color?

Click here to take a test that will test your color IQ. I highly recommend this for those who think they can visually calibrate their display. In case you are wondering, I got a 35 on a calibrated display (without my glasses or contacts on), so you can imagine how that score would probably be much worse if I was on a non-calibrated display.

Color Management

Tim Grey's Color Confidence: The Digital Photographer's Guide to Color Management  and many similar books on the complex subject of Color Management have been written to guide photographers though the hassle of understanding all of the variables involved with how your capture device (your camera), display device (your monitor), your editing software (i.e., Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture, etc…) and your output device (a web browser or printer) all have different ways and limitations on how they display color, and what is required to get all of these devices in sync with each other.

If just one link in the chain is converted improperly, it’s easy to get inaccurate results in your final output, so understanding this topic is essential for photographers to express their artistic representation of color in a way that will allow other calibrated displays to show accurate results. The sad truth though is that many people don’t calibrate their displays so all bets are off and it’s Forrest Gump calibration – you’ll never know what your gonna get! This is why understanding color spaces and working with calibrated profiles is essential to getting accurate output!

Calibrate Your Display - A Beginners Solution

For the past couple of years I’ve been very happy with my Pantone Huey as my monitor calibration device. Since most of my output was for the display, this solution was sufficient for my needs. If you fall into this camp, then I highly recommend this product as a cost effective starting point into monitor calibration. If you have more than one display attached to your computer, you must purchase the huey pro as the non-pro version only supports one display.

You can buy a huey pro from Amazon, Adorama, B&H and other online and local dealers.

The next step up from the Huey, which I highly recommend as your starting point, is the i1 Display2 (available on Amazon, B&H and Adorama). If you are graduating to doing your own printing, regardless of how inexpensive your printer is, I highly recommend you move up to a device that can also profile your printer and papers.

UPDATE: X-Rite now has these new products that replace the products mentioned in this section. They are NOT spectrophotometers, so they can’t do printer profiles, but they are colorimeters so you they can calibrate your display. What’s great about these over the ones mentioned above is that they support wide color gamut display calibration which neither the Huey Pro or i1 Display2 supported. For printing I still recommend the ColorMunki Photo or greater as this article suggests.

ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution – Calibrate Your Display to Your Printer for WYSIWIG results

ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution by X-Rite is more than just a display calibration device, it also allows you to calibrate your printer to the paper you are using to provide an end to end color management solution. What does this really mean? It means you can have your display match your printed image as close as possible (up to the limits of your display and the natural differences between a backlit display and a printed image).

Seeing is believing

A picture really speaks a thousand words here though, so I’ll start with a few examples. First, let’s take a look at what my color management dialog looks like in Photoshop CS4 when I try to print one of my images on an inexpensive Canon PIXMA MP560 Wireless Inkjet All-In-One Photo Printer

Photoshop CS4 Print Settings on a system without a printer profile

I can’t demonstrate what a calibrated display looks like, but if your display isn’t horrifically off then the above photo should look very pleasing from a color perspective with warm (but not red or pale) skin tones and nice vibrant blue water (but not way over saturated).

I did my first print of the photograph above by telling Photoshop to just print this image using the printer driver’s settings as I did not have a custom profile for the Office Depot High Gloss Premium Photo Paper (the worst paper I’ve ever used). Here’s my printer driver settings:

This is what a typical consumer would do and expect to get good results. However, the results I got in this case, and every prior case when printing from this printer without a color profile were horrific. Compare the before (left) and after (right) below, where the accurate print was done AFTER I used the ColorMunki Photo to generate a paper profile for this paper:

Pardon the reflection on this photo of the before and after prints side by side – some fidelity is lost in this photo

This photo of the two prints don’t really do it justice as the before on the left looks worse than you see here and the after one on the right looks significantly better than what is shown. However, I think you can see the most important point – the before is horrific and the after closely represents what is shown on the screen (in fact, in real life it was identical on my machine). WOW, what a difference this made on a printer that cost less than $100!!!! Who says color management is only for expensive pro printers, right?

For those who are interested, here were my settings AFTER creating my paper profile using the ColorMunki (described later in this article):

Photoshop CS4 Soft Proofing and Print dialog settings for the AFTER photo using the ColorMunki generated printer profile

Those paying careful attention will notice that this version lets Photoshop manage the colors and I use the printer profile I created with my ColorMunki, which is why the results are so much better. Now, let’s show you how easy it is to use the ColorMunki Photo to calibrate my display and generate a paper profile.

Buy a ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution now on Adorama and B&H.

ColorMunki Photo Calibration Demo

I’ll skip some steps here, but screen shots of nearly the entire process can be found here for those who are interested.

While you can perform your calibrations for your display and printer separately, here we’ll do them together since we are just getting started. The net result of this process is the creation of a profile which will be used by your Windows or Mac operating system to accurately display the colors on your display and to give your printer driver the info it needs to render those colors accurately to your printer for the paper used in this profiling. Here’s where we begin:

Step 1 - Choose what type of profile you need to create

Next, we’ll choose what type of display we’ll calibrate:

LCD’s, Laptops and Projectors are all supported display devices

You’ll also notice here that I chose the Advanced feature so I could have my display adjust based on ambient light conditions which is important as your results will vary based on the light in the room near your display.

After your ColorMunki calibrates itself and measures the ambient light in the room, you are ready to hang the ColorMunki from your display so it can read some test patterns and make the necessary corrections. Here’s a few pictures to demonstrate this process:

Place ColorMunki against your display

Here’s a photo that shows the ColorMunki in position after being placed its included case:

This design keeps the ColorMunki in place without any hassles

Color patterns are shown as you see here:

A series of colors and grayscale tones are shown and scanned by the ColorMunki for later calibration

and this data is collected and matched against the values they should be to create a difference that is used in your profile to begin displaying everything on your monitor the way it should be displayed without any modifications. After this process is complete a profile is generated and stored in the appropriate location on your computer so that your display will be immediately updated to show accurate color. if your only output target is the display, then you could stop here (and could probably get away with just a Pantone Huey as your only solution).

Printer Profiling

However, if your target is print, it’s now time to get your display and printer in sync with each other by creating a printer profile. It should be noted that printer profiles are only good for one type of paper and that 8x10 or larger paper is required (I use letter size), so I recommend you do this every time you change to a new paper (unless you have generated or acquired an accurate printer profile already).

Be sure to select the correct printer and give the profile a name you’ll remember (printer name not required as it will be pre-pended to the paper name string).

After clicking Next, you will now be prompted to print a test chart. This process is critical to your success so pay close attention the instructions on the screen, in the help file and the related videos included on your setup discs.

ColorMunki knows what these colors should look like when you scan them later on your paper, but the wizard displays them as they should appear. It’s common to have entirely different results on paper from the print, which is why profiling is so important.

When doing your profiling, it’s important to turn off all color management in your printer driver. Turn off ALL color management in the printer driver as shown here for the Canon MP560:

When you are done, be sure to save all of your printer driver settings to a preset (which most printer drivers support now) so that you can recall these values to reproduce the same print results. Here’s the name I chose for my preset (which will be shown in the Commonly used Settings list):

ALWAYS save your dialog settings when profiling

I now know that every time I print from ColorMunki when profiling or when I am using my custom profile that we will create here. For this example I chose the paper name, but if the values aren’t going to change whenever you are using the ColorMunki or its generated profiles you could just call it something like “ColorMunki Settings”. These are the printer driver settings required to get accurate results.

This will cause a sheet of paper to be printed with a test chart. You will use the ColorMunki to scan the test pattern printed on the paper you wish to profile as shown here:

Scan the test pattern which are in most cases not accurate based on what is shown on-screen

The profiling software will now generate a second pattern based on the results it got from the scan to make sure it understands how the colors on the paper appear differently from the way they should be. When this is done, you can scan the second page and the wizard will let you know which line to scan and if the measurement scan was successful:

This 2nd chart will differ from paper to paper based on the results of the first test chart

When this is completed, your profile is generated using the name of your choice:

Profile names can be as descriptive as you like so don’t make cryptic names

Now when you print or soft proof in Photoshop, you can use your newly created paper profile so that your monitor will display the colors similar to the way they will be printed:

It’s also critical for letting the print dialog (shown earlier for Photoshop) know what type of paper you are printing to so it knows how to put the right colors of ink down on that specific paper. Here’s an example of choosing a custom profile in Lightroom (all versions):

Click to view a larger version of Lightroom’s custom profile dialog

Here’s our settings in Lightroom to ensure that we get accurate results from our printer

Other applications such as Aperture, Acrobat, and more will all use these color profiles as well. Fortunately many paper and printer manufactures provide profiles for download on their web site so that you don’t have to do this, but many argue that for the best results it’s always a good idea to generate your own. The validity of that statement is a bit skewed though as generally profiles that are provided by manufactures are done using more expensive spectrophotometers, but ColorMunki does allow for an iterative process where you can get more test patterns using some of your photos as inputs to create highly tuned paper profiles for your workflow.  One of my favorite Fashion Photographers and printing mentors, Douglas Dubler, highly recommends this process for generating the best possible print results. 

It is important to note that paper profiles must be generated for the exact paper AND printer you are using, so if either of those variables change a new paper profile must be created. It is therefore sometimes easier and faster to just generate your own profile than it is to hunt down the profile for your exact printer and the paper you are using (especially if you have an older, inexpensive and/or unpopular printer). While you may use a little ink and paper to do the profiling, you’ll waste far less than if you get horrible results as i did in my before photo (and many other prints using that printer).

This headache of printing is why I had frequently in the past advised people not to do their own printing, but rather leaving it in the hands of third parties who specialize in the process as the cost-effectiveness of doing so made a lot of sense to me. My position on that has changed a bit as I am doing this series, but if you aren’t willing to invest in a product like ColorMunki to calibrate your display and profile your printer, then I still stick to my advice of using third party services for all your printing needs.

Video Demonstration

Click here to see my friend and Canon Explorer of Light Rick Sammon discuss HDR and color calibration. Skip to 7:00 if you want to get to the color display and printer calibration part using the ColorMunki Photo.

NEW: There’s a great resource on the ColorMunki including videos located here.

PowerPoint presentation of my ColorMunki Photo 101 Presentation

On December 15th, I gave a presentation to the Seattle chapter of the Pacific Northwest Color Management Users Group (SCMUG) where I demonstrated the ColorMunki Photo as discussed in this article. For those that attended that session, you may find the PowerPoint slide deck here (directly links prohibited – all links should point to this article).

My review of Chromix ColorThink Pro is also available on this site, and my review of the NEC PA Series displays will be coming soon. You may also enjoy my printing series and discount coupon code page as well as the Read This First topic for a wealth of information on this web site.

Thanks for attending and welcome to RonMartBlog.com!

Conclusion

If you are a photographer, after you purchase your camera and lens your next purchase should always be a display calibration device. A huey is sufficient if you are a beginner doing printing via third parties, but as soon as you switch to doing your own printing (regardless of the cost of the printer) then you really need a device like a ColorMunki Photo to get the best possible results. The other ColorMunki devices mentioned on X-Rite’s web site are not for photographers, so stick with the Photo version. There’s also more expensive i1 based solutions for those who will make a living from their prints, but for most of us the ColorMunki is going to meet our basic needs for accurate printer and display profiling.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: ColorMunki Photo 

Disclaimer

While I purchased my own Pantone Huey, X-Rite did provide me with a ColorMunki for use in this article and in my printing series. I will get a commission if you purchase from the links for Amazon, Adorama, and B&H shown in this article, so show your appreciation of this article by using these links!