Affordable Color Calibration?

[shutterdrone]

Does anyone have any suggestions on an affordable color calibration tool/kit that would allow calibrating: monitor (LCD), printer (Epson), and camera (creating profiles ala iCamera that can be applied to all images in processing)? I'd like to start shooting color, but I'm having a hard time trying to calibrate all of these by hand (shoot, process, print, compare, tweak, process, print, compare, ...) - b&w was easy enough, but I wouldn't imagine going through that process again w/ color.

I'm looking to purchase a kit after my next lens purchase, and would like any suggestions in the $400 or less range.

!c

[jeffkohn]

For printer profiling, the cheapest solution worth seriously considering is Print Fix Pro. It may be a bit beyond your budget though, I don't know the exact price. I wouldn't bother with any of the scanner-based solutions (Profile Prism, etc). The other option is to settle on a few papers, and purchase profiles for them from somebody who has the equipment and offers that service. (Profiles run anywhere from $25-100 depending on who you use).

I don't think ICC profiles are the way to go for camera calibration, except maybe in a highly controlled studio environment. If you use PHotoshop or LIghtroom a better option would be to purchase a GMB Color Checker chart and use the calibration facilities withing Adobe Camera RAW.

[David_3]

What Jeff said.

Probably the cheapest way to go would be to calibrate your monitor, and then purchase a custom printer profile from someone like Cathy's Profiles. I think they run $40. I don't print my own, but a friend of mine used her service, and the results are stunning. You can also find several reviews about her profile service online.

Good luck.

[Joe A.]

www.inkjetart.com also sells profiles. Haven't used them but heard they were good.

[johnastovall]

Get a good monitor and hardware calibrator for it. As to Camera Calibration, I've looked at it and as other's have said it's only good for controlled studio lighting. A good discussion of this can be found in Andrew Rodney's Color Management for Photographers.

I second what other's have said about ICC paper profiles find some papers you like and if the vendor profiles don't work have a custom one made. Also remember, profiles and print colors are standardized to be viewed under a D50 light source so having the correct light for evaluation a print and your color management can be very important.

If you've haven't read them read both Rodney's book and Fraser and Bunting's, Real World Color Manegement.

[shutterdrone]

Thanks for the info! I'll definitely follow the path of getting custom profiles, but I'm convinced after reading around, that I will need the monitor calibration as well - since some packages allow to tune both monitor and printer, it may well be worth the extra $$s.

!c

[hhscr]

I don't know about others but I have seen a demo of the Eye One System. It is not cheap at around $1200.00. Maybe if we can get enough members in the same area interested we could come up with a group purchase and share the costs.

[AndrewCCM]

Originally Posted by hhscr

I don't know about others but I have seen a demo of the Eye One System. It is not cheap at around $1200.00. Maybe if we can get enough members in the same area interested we could come up with a group purchase and share the costs.

There are various versions of the EyeOne system. I believe the one I use cost around $300...Works fine.

[hhscr]

Does the $300.00 version also do printer calibration? I was under the impression that it only did monitors.

[jeffkohn]

Originally Posted by hhscr

Does the $300.00 version also do printer calibration? I was under the impression that it only did monitors.

You impression is correct. The Eye One Display includes a colorimeter, which can only be used for profling monitors, not printers. You need the spectrophotometer for printer profiling, which is only included in the more expensive Eye One packages.

The Print Fix Pro package uses a device that's kind of a cross between a spectrophotometer and a colorimeter, which is why it's not as expensive as the Eye One Photo.