how do I calibrate my monitor to my printer?

[brezthefez]

please can some one help?

looking at the pictures on my monitor the colours are rich and vibrant, I have an Epson RX425 printer which when I print out pictures from my canon 400D seems to be a very poor comparison to the monitor (greens are particlularly poor although all colours in no way resemble the monitor).

would the problem be resolved if I change to a 6 cartridge printer say the R360, as you can appreciate hours spent using CS2 is fine vewing them on screen but i would like to print out some pictures for gifts.

thanks for your help
Brezthefez

 

[brezthefez]

yeah thanks for ignoring me!

 

[jamn]

please can some one help?

looking at the pictures on my monitor the colours are rich and
vibrant,

That could be the problem. To get things started what brand and model monitor are you using? Are you using it at factory settings? Without any visual or hardware calibration?

I have an Epson RX425 printer which when I print out

pictures from my canon 400D seems to be a very poor comparison to
the monitor (greens are particlularly poor although all colours in
no way resemble the monitor).

I have a pigment ink Epson that prints beautiful photos, but I wouldn't want my dinosaur HP 2000 (4 cartridge) to do anything less than good just because it has fewer cartridges.

Depending on your answers to the above questions will determine if you need to spend lots of money or more than lots of money (sorry, I just couldn't resist). But certainly an element of truth in that. Color management costs both $ and time / energy. If your need is for an occasional gift print you might want to see about sending out for your prints while you look into the color management. Get the printer you have tamed and then decide what you want to do.

Just some thoughts from someone who has pulled a few hairs over the kind of issues you are starting to deal with.

would the problem be resolved if I change to a 6 cartridge printer
say the R360,

I don't know anything about the printers you mention here, but think I stated above - and worth repeating - a better quality printer will most likely result in better quality off color images until the entire color management issue is resolved.
as you can appreciate hours spent using CS2 is fine

vewing them on screen but i would like to print out some pictures
for gifts.

thanks for your help
Brezthefez

caveat - I am perhaps only one step of you on this issue - that things are working to my satisfaction in regards to color management I owe to advice from the folks of this forum and I am sure - a certain amount of good luck.

 

[ppage]

yeah thanks for ignoring me!

Geez - it was only 61 minutes. Not everyone who reads the forum has an answer to your problem, and of those who might, most aren't glued to their computers every minute of the day just waiting to help you!

You can spend a fortune on a great printer with no way of knowing if it will resolve your problem or not unless you know for sure what your problem is. The first step is to start learning about colour management. DON'T think that you can get around this by spending money on a printer or anything else. If you want your prints to match your monitor you're going to have to learn about colour management.

Do you use hardware or software to calibrate your monitor? A hardware solution is much more reliable but expensive. The Eye-One Display 2 unit from GretagMacbeth is just one example of such a piece of hardware.

Have you profiled your printer or have you had someone do it? Your printer may have come with some profiles but they tend to be generic. You can have a profile made specifically for your own printer from someone who provides such a service, such as Dry Creek Photo (or Google "printer profile service").

Finally, you also have to understand how to configure your photo editing software to use the monitor and printer profiles you've created or purchased.

If you want to get serious about this, pick up a copy of Bruce Fraser's Real World Color Management. Otherwise, just read the sections on colour management in whatever books you can find on digital photography.

 

[NewsyL]

A word of advice... 2 hours is not much time to wait on forums. Time zones, researching the data you posted in order to respond with something worthwhile, waiting to respond until after the awe or giggling has died down, will all delay the response.

Your expectations of your current system are not realistic. Your printer is simply not adequate. I doubt you'll ever get it to match whatever monitor you have.

To match prints to monitor you have to synchronize three entity's:

1. Monitor
2. Printer
3. Paper

If you stick to the same paper all the time you'll eventually be able to print match to about 90+ percentile. Switch paper and you have to pretty much start from scratch in terms of tweaking the printer or ICM profiles. I'm talking about paper in terms of both manufacturers and type. Glossy Photo from Epson is not the same as Glossy Photo from Kodak. The settings for Glossy do not print well on Semi-gloss or Matte.

You need to get to a place where in CS2 you are using the correct ICC profile for your monitor and you can use an ICM profile for matching the paper to your printer.

Newsy FZ20 user
http://newsy.smugmug.com

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[NewsyL]

Oh look! A response came in while I was typing my response.... that means it took me more than 34 minutes to formulate mine.

61 minutes....


Newsy FZ20 user
http://newsy.smugmug.com

.

 

[brezthefez]

yeah you are right I appologise, just a little frustated - should learn to be more patient.

thanks for your replies
Brezthefez