ColorVision v. Monaco color management softwersI'm

Hi,

Can you please elaborate on the problems you had with WiziWYG? I have it and was contemplating on switching to EZColor.

Thanks.

Fred Bopp said:

JaroslawP said:

I want to buy Color Management software from ColorVision or Monaco.
Has anyone used these, and have any feedback that may help make my
decision?

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My experience is that ColorVision is better Monaco, but this may vary with the scanner one is using (since ColorVision doesn't profile the scanner).

A colleague & I experimented with calibrating & profiling his monitor/printer with both EZColor & ColorVision. Overall, it seemed that Monaco offered a brighter screen image and accurate gamma/brightness in the print, but not-so-accurate color. ColorVision has you work with a screen that's not so bright. It misses on the gamma of the print, but is closer in color to target images (we used the one with the babies at the bottom - is it called PhotoDisc? - & Barry Haynes' Photoshop Artistry test print). Among these trade-offs, it seemed better to accept ColorVision, because it's easy to tweak the brightness of the image & more complicated to adjust the color.

After you've completed your calibration & profiling, you can print the original 256 color chart using your new printer profile. This shows you what crude instruments these inexpensive calibration & profiling systems are: instead of the smooth transition of tones that you see in the test chart on the screen, the squares of your profiled print move in jumps, as if the software program said to "correct errors of 10% or more in HSB, but skip all lesser errors."

Nevertheless the major anomalies of your first print of the color chart are indeed corrected. This is what you get for your money: nothing compared to a pro-level photospectrometer (or is it spectrophotometer?), but much, much better than canned profiles.

I should add that my own ColorVision results were fine with my Epson 1270, are not quite as good with my 2200. I have what looks like pretty accurate printer profiling until I try to print BW - and get slightly green shadows & slightly magenta highlights.

(This, however, leads off to some other thread: like so many 2200 buyers, I thought I would be able to print BW with just the two black cartridges. I was disappointed to find that you can't do this, & you don't get the gray balancer, either. You have to give up or find a friend who uses Piezo inks.)

Kirk

Hi Dominic,

About 2 years ago I upgraded to ME and WisiWyg crapped out. Numerous phone calls and emails failed to produce any help or promise of an upgrade. I thought "the hell with that" and after readin a rewiew on Digital Darkroom about Monaco I bought version EZ Color 2.0.I had a Chroma 4 colorimeter which worked with EZ Color and got immediate good results with very little tweaking. I had Colorblind's ProveIt but it only does monitors but quite well. The new OPTIX colorimeter does both CRT and LCD and what a pleasure to use. Digital Darkroom also has a review on this.
http://www.ian.lyons.btinternet.co.uk/

I am so satisfied with the EZ Color 2.5 & OPTIX performance I would not screw around with anything else.
Regards, Fred

Dominic.Chan said:

Can you please elaborate on the problems you had with WiziWYG? I
have it and was contemplating on switching to EZColor.

Thanks.

Fred Bopp said:

JaroslawP said:

I want to buy Color Management software from ColorVision or Monaco.
Has anyone used these, and have any feedback that may help make my
decision?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Hi Fred,

Thanks for the info. The current version of WiziWYG actually runs quite reliably on my system (and you download it form http://www.praxisoft.com ). The only problem I have is that the profiled prints seem to have a slight greenish tint which I need to "tune out" but manipulating the scanned target and creating a new profile.

At $299, EZColor is quite a bit more expensive. I may wait for the Epson Perfect Scanner 3200 which comes "bundled" with EZColor.

Regards,
Dominic

Fred Bopp said:

Hi Dominic,
About 2 years ago I upgraded to ME and WisiWyg crapped out.
Numerous phone calls and emails failed to produce any help or
promise of an upgrade. I thought "the hell with that" and after
readin a rewiew on Digital Darkroom about Monaco I bought version
EZ Color 2.0.I had a Chroma 4 colorimeter which worked with EZ
Color and got immediate good results with very little tweaking. I
had Colorblind's ProveIt but it only does monitors but quite well.
The new OPTIX colorimeter does both CRT and LCD and what a
pleasure to use. Digital Darkroom also has a review on this.
http://www.ian.lyons.btinternet.co.uk/
I am so satisfied with the EZ Color 2.5 & OPTIX performance I would
not screw around with anything else.
Regards, Fred

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A further note: Owners of the Perfection 2450 are supposed to qualify for a rebate on EZColor.

Dominic.Chan said:

Thanks for the info. The current version of WiziWYG actually runs
quite reliably on my system (and you download it form
http://www.praxisoft.com ). The only problem I have is that the profiled
prints seem to have a slight greenish tint which I need to "tune
out" but manipulating the scanned target and creating a new profile.

At $299, EZColor is quite a bit more expensive. I may wait for the
Epson Perfect Scanner 3200 which comes "bundled" with EZColor.

Regards,
Dominic

Fred Bopp said:

Hi Dominic,
About 2 years ago I upgraded to ME and WisiWyg crapped out.
Numerous phone calls and emails failed to produce any help or
promise of an upgrade. I thought "the hell with that" and after
readin a rewiew on Digital Darkroom about Monaco I bought version
EZ Color 2.0.I had a Chroma 4 colorimeter which worked with EZ
Color and got immediate good results with very little tweaking. I
had Colorblind's ProveIt but it only does monitors but quite well.
The new OPTIX colorimeter does both CRT and LCD and what a
pleasure to use. Digital Darkroom also has a review on this.
http://www.ian.lyons.btinternet.co.uk/
I am so satisfied with the EZ Color 2.5 & OPTIX performance I would
not screw around with anything else.
Regards, Fred

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Eric Chi said:

Art Rosch said:

I'm a very happy Monaco user. I know, it's toy-like. I know, it
doesn't
have graphs, a zillion patches, infinite grades of calibration.
It's simple,
it works for me, for my 1280, for my S9000, with Epson 2450 scanner.
Editable, yet I generate a new profile rather than go through the
trouble. There's at least one staunch enemy of Monaco lurking in this
forum who's called it garbage,
but it has worked consistently trouble free for me, and my standards,
are, well....realistic.
--
Art

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HI Art,

Per your calibration with Monaco on 1280, 2450, and S9000, does the
monitor scanner printer all match up? What you see on screen is
what you get printed out? What's the paper you use?

Eric.

Eric Chi said:

see the astrophotos at http://www.artsdigitalphoto.com

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Eric, sorry i didn't get back to you sooner. Yes, I have a Viewsonic
GS790 monitor. I have excellent visual matches throughout my system.
I reliably get out of printers what I see on the screen. My favorite papers
are Epson Premium Glossy, Epson HW matte, Canon PP Pro and Canon
Premium Matte. I sold the 1280 and the S9000 is my main printer
for the foreseeable future.

Art