# High-end spectrophotometer rental



## Jim Saunders (Jan 22, 2016)

So now that I have a photo printer of my own (an Epson P600 which is off to a good start) I'd like to be able to profile different paper and ink combos; does anyone rent one of the scanning meters, or offer a service to scan a submitted test page?

Jim


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jan 22, 2016)

I have a printer profiler (Spyder Studio) and truthfully find it to be a pain to operate and get good results. Most paper comes with a downloadable profile. I haven't even fired it up in the last two years.


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## Jim Saunders (Jan 22, 2016)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> I have a printer profiler (Spyder Studio) and truthfully find it to be a pain to operate and get good results. Most paper comes with a downloadable profile. I haven't even fired it up in the last two years.



I hear you, and this is part of why I'm not in any kind of rush; Keith at Northlight appears to have gotten his automated one working though which is what I'd expect for a device which costs something like $6000.

Anyway if it is a reasonably accessible solution great for me, if not I don't lose any money or sleep.

Jim


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## dadohead (Jan 22, 2016)

I doubt anyone would rent you an i1Pro. They go out of whack in a heartbeat and re-certifying them is expensive. And it's not just the device; it's building the profile. i1Profiler is fairly complicated, and after burning through a pile of ink and paper you can wind up with a profile inferior to the paper manufacturer's canned profile. Most of those profiles are pretty good now; I find the Canson profiles to be really good, and I've profiled some of the Canson papers myself and can only improve on the Canson profiles by about 10% or 15% at most. Other profiles are not so good, or are just old and haven't been updated. The naming can get a little goofball, especially with Epson profiles.

You can also pay someone to profile your paper and ink combos for you; I think they run about $60 a profile. This company has been servicing hard-core color geeks for decades; they are extremely reputable:

http://www.chromix.com/colorvalet


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## tolusina (Jan 22, 2016)

I have a Datacolor SpyderPRINT 
from B&H
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/838847-REG/Datacolor_S4SR100_Spyder4_Print_SR.html

I do not consider it's use a pain at all.
It is time consuming to create a profile, but each paper/printer/ink combination only needs to be profiled once.
---
A printer can't print true colors.
Profiling software sends a print job of many different colored squares to the printer.
The spectrometer is then used to read the printer's output comparing the actual printed colors with the true colors that were specified in the print job.
The differences between spec'd and produced are then incorporated into the profile with either a .icc or .icm file extension, descriptive file name of your choice.
The most complete profile will result when the maximum number of sample squares are printed, as best I recall, it took 4, maybe 6 sheets to print 729 squares.
There's a guide apparatus included to aid getting the spectrometer on target, I found it useless. 
Use a table and a yardstick or similar. 

In Lightroom's Develop Module, View>Soft Proofing>Show Proof, on the right panel, select the profile of your choice.

I'm also working with a calibrated NEC monitor.

I tweak nothing.
I do select paper size, borders (or not) and such, I leave it to hard and software to work out DPI and such.
Monitor has been set and forget for photo editing, calibrated monthly.

After years of low budget print failures, I'm absolutely giddy with delight when my prints come out exactly as I expected, first time, every time.

I have used some downloaded profiles for sample pack papers. You get only two sheets of each type in a sampler, not enough to 1st profile, then print.
There was one particular, very luxurious Hahnemuhle canvas/rag paper I had high hopes for.
Soft proofing with the downloaded profile left me extremely underwhelmed, I printed anyway. The profile was fine, the print was as underwhelming (identically) as the soft proof.
In retrospect, this canvas/rag was probably better suited to black and white.
---
TLR
Calibrated monitor plus profiled printer/paper/ink results leave me feeling competent.
My standards and expectations may be (probably are) lower than those of others.


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## LDS (Jan 22, 2016)

Jim Saunders said:


> does anyone rent one of the scanning meters, or offer a service to scan a submitted test page?



AFAIK if you're in the USA LensRentals does also rents this kind of equipment - just remember some devices can't profile printers, so get the correct one.

There are also profiling services, but the good ones could be expensive, although they could make very good profiles. 

Anyway, if you're going to print yourself you'll need to calibrate and profile both the monitor(s) and printer/ink/paper. Monitors usually need to be re-calibrated periodically, thereby because you got a capable printer, maybe you should also get a profiling device to ensure your workflow works as expected.


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## rfdesigner (Jan 22, 2016)

Jim Saunders said:


> So now that I have a photo printer of my own (an Epson P600 which is off to a good start) I'd like to be able to profile different paper and ink combos; does anyone rent one of the scanning meters, or offer a service to scan a submitted test page?
> 
> Jim



I went down the line of getting "profile prism" recently when I wanted to use off brand ink so I could stop counting the cost of printing at home.. =more prints =faster learning curve. It uses a scanner and a IT8 calibration card, you print off a test image with all the correction turned off, then scan the result along with the IT8 card.

The software then generates an ICC profile.

Now I'm no pro but I do find it works extremely well for me... the best bits were the usability (very little fiddling around, everything just works) and price: $79 

As this is not a mainstream supplier the response time can be a little longer than most of us are used to, but they do provide support through their forums.

https://www.ddisoftware.com/


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