I have started using an Epson 9880 in work and have created a profile for it with Profilmaker 5. Having created profiles in the past for a Roland FJ-540 I have some experience in this area.
Because of the larger colour gamut of this printer I was expecting the profile to be “spot on”, but I notice that when printing certain greens and browns there can be too much yellow. Images look OK in the Adobe98 colourspace in Photoshop but the yellow is apparent in the printouts and also in Proofing Mode. I should also point out that profiles for this printer downloaded from the paper manufactuers website give identical results.
My question is this - Do I accept that profiles created are never going to be 100% accurate and just make the necessary adjustments in Photoshop prior to printing, or should I expect 100% accuracy after spending 2,200 on the Profilemaker Platinum package?
This is difficult to diagnose from a distance. Could lighting be a factor? How do these prints look under daylight? Are you using the driver or a RIP? Are you familiar with the ColorSync bug and are you sure you’re not experiencing it?
Scott Martin
www.on-sight.com
I’m assuming your monitor is correctly calibrated and lighting conditions are good?
Have you tried a different paper stock too?
We run a 7800 here amongst others, and our GMG software gives excellent results. Saying that, paper stocks go a long long way to giving a good accurate proof and we tried lots before finding some good ones.
Forget using GMG if youre doing fine art prints, GMG is directed toward proofing and used to be the best product for this but now EFI and CGS ORis have caught up.
You can print direct through the epson driver from most apps even the adobe suite ones have a rip built in.
set your driver for no colour management off and use something like profilemaker to create a RGB printer profile (getting the widest gamut possible).
If you wish to do proofing then Id agree with the previous poster and use a decent solution probably EFI XF EXPRESS as its cheapest and very good.
Don’t know why you’d preclude GMG for fine art prints. True, proofing is it’s forte, but calibration for consistency/repeatability is just as important for fine art, and GMG’s photoproof mode allows for the max gamut. Still a good choice.
Mike
Not strictly true GMG does not use the full gamut of the engine and converts to a CMYK. Even photoproof mode still does not use full gamut but a slightly restricted one. You are far better off with a RGB profiled device in my opinion.
Are you saying this from strictly the “max gamut” perspective, or are you including consistency/repeatability, smoothness of gradients, etc. Just curious. I don’t doubt that great results are possible through methods you’ve outlined, likewise GMG can yield very good results, and offers useful gamut mapping options for contrast and neutrality.
Another avenue of discussion is the profile creation package used by the original poster. I’ve found that RGB profiles generated by Monaco Profile have been superior in terms of saturation and gray balance to profiles generated from ProfileMaker…but this is perhaps also subjective.