... BACK TO PART 1
I prefer to skip the review of the camera calibration, because the review will become too long and I already made a review about the more advanced version - the "Color Checker Passport". So if you want to know more about the calibration of your camera, take a look HERE.
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For the calibration of your printer, I will now take you through every step of the process and give you my personal remarks.
When you open the i1 Profiler software again, you’ll get a screen full of possibilities, similar to the calibration of your screen. If you don’t feel comfortable with this software, first view the instructional videos.
To calibrate my printer, an Epson R2400 A3 + printer, I have the choice between "BASIC" or "Advanced" mode. The selection of the printer can be done from a drop-down list with a "Printer Profiling” button. On the first page, I need to determine how many squares of color "patches" should be printed. The choice is between 400 and 6000 and you can decide yourself how many colors and full color versions will be printed. For calibration of A4 paper, I choose for 1000 patches equivalent to 3 pages and the calibration of A3 paper for almost 2000 small patches. Finally, you have the possibility to scramble all colors, which is what I preferred.
The next page is about your scanning device, your paper size and the size of the patches. The scanning device is the Photo Pro and the format of the paper on which I want to perform the calibration, namely A4 or A3.
CAUTION
For each paper type and each size you need to repeat the calibration!
The default of the size of the patches is 10x9mm, but in my opinion this is too small and therefore, I manually adapted the size to 11x11mm, which permits you to have more space when scanning.
The third page is the page where finally the calibration starts, but also here you will have another choice to make.
Calibrate your i1 spectrometer with the special support and click the "Calibrate" button. Normally, it takes about ten seconds. If the i1 is calibrated, the software will show “Calibrated” sign on this page in the yellow / green window. Then it is time to choose "strip mode”, to select the printer in the list "Printer information" and the paper type in "Paper information".
Now you are ready to start the calibration itself! Open the calibration plate with the black strip facing up and place your first page (the pages are numbered at the top) on the plate. Put the transparent part on the printed-paper with the patches and place the black piece in the auxiliary row. Now you can place the back of your i1 spectrometer on the little black support. The front will nicely fit on the front of the transparent plate. The idea about scanning these patches is that every color line will be scanned. So you start at the beginning of each line, push the button on your i1 spectrometer and then make a smooth motion till the end of the line. Repeat this for each line! Remember if you choose for 6000 patches, this could take a few hours!
When everything is completed, you should now see a page where you should get some choices regarding naming your profile and validity.
As the naming process for the printer calibration is the same as for the screen calibration, please see process above for naming your profile.
Don’t forget now to "create and save profile”! This is very important!
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To use this profile in programs like Adobe Photoshop, select the profile in your printer settings (in the Color Management section). The option will only be available when you choose for the option “Let Photoshop determine the colors”.
The X-Rite Photo Pro also offers you the possibility to calibrate a beamer, but I haven’t tested this for the simple reason that I do not dispose of such a device. Please feel free to send me your remarks when you were able to test this option.
Graphic design agencies often work with Pantone colors and for them there’s also extra software included. As a photographer, I have no experience with this and therefore, I do wisely not comment on the results or methods.
Conclusion
The X-Rite Photo Pro is a professional tool for the calibration of your screen, your printer and even your beamer. The I1 spectrometer in combination with the software really delivers very good results
For ordinary consumers, the price of 1259 Euros is of course a little bit too ambitious. For those people, I would rather recommend a ColorMunki or in case you would just want to calibrate your screen, the i1 Display 2. For the professionals among you, the Photo Pro is worth every penny!
Best regards,
Sven Michiels
