Colour Calibration woes

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PeteStewardson

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Pete
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OK so I decided I needed to calibrate my screen as I'm going to be using Loxley for my prints.

So I bought an EyeOne Display2 and calibrated my Macbook Pro 17" screen ( or so I thought )

After getting prints back from Loxley they all looked quite yellow/orange compared to my screen. I called them up and they said no problem we will re-print and send you another set (y)

But they came back almost the same, I say almost a couple of them are slightly less orange but not too much.

So I read up and decide that I need an external monitor as the panels in the MBP are only 6 bit and don't calibrate properly.

I have on my desk at work 2 Dell 2007FP monitors, and both are the latest revision and according to the serial number have the S-IPS panels in them.

So this morning I come in early and plug my MBP into one of them and re-calibrate with the EyeOne...

Still not like the prints :( The prints still seem a lot warmer/orangey compared to my screen output. And the screen colours don't look natural.

I even calibrated my other monitor off my work Dell laptop ( running XP ) and that looks different to the monitor on the MBP, but still not like the prints.

HELP! Does anyone have any experience of colour calibration?

Pete
 
Are you using the auto or manual setup
I know when I done mine there was quite a bit of difference between the 2 end results, and manual setup was far better.
 
I'm using the advanced option, and on the dell monitors I was correcting the colour for white point before calibrating.
 
It may seem like an obvious question but when ordering from Loxley did you tick the "Colour Correct" box? I had a similar issue a few months ago (although not as severe as yours) and they recommended this option.

Hope this helps.
 
Yeah I did tick the box. I think that's the issue, my screen isn't right so the corrected images don't match :(
 
I have a new Mac Book Pro and I can understand what you are seeing. There are no colour controls for the mac screen and I see a difference between the Mac screen and my 24" desktop monitor.

First thing first though what white point are you setting the monitor to. I use 6500K which is typical UK daylight. Check with Loxley what CT they recommend. I think they use 6500K as a standard. But check.

Also if you look at the cal curves at the end of the procedure, you'll probably see that the Dell curves are fairly tight, yet the Mac has some separation of the curves. My MBP is warmer than the Desktop monitor. I cheated and set the MBP to 7000K and I get a better match.

If it helps try setting the following as a starting point

White point 6500K
Brightness 130 Cd/M
Contrast 2.2
 
THe problem I have is that the Dell monitor calibrated doesn't look like the prints either. I'm resigned to the fact that the screen on the MBP won't look like the prints, but I thought an IPS screen would be easy to bring close to the prints :(
 
What happens if you get Loxley to make the prints without the Colour Correct box ticked
 
icecavern said:
THe problem I have is that the Dell monitor calibrated doesn't look like the prints either. I'm resigned to the fact that the screen on the MBP won't look like the prints, but I thought an IPS screen would be easy to bring close to the prints :(
Click to expand...

Have you tried to use native white point when calibrating? The LCDs generally don't have an adjustable white point - it is techically the colour of backlight. So in almost all the colour calibration books you will have it advised to use native white point if your calibration software has this option.

Then as well as this - do you know the type of the profile this software is generating (matrix or LUT)? On the less precise monitors (like laptops with less bits per pixel) the LUT profile may give you a better option of allocating each colour mapping precisely. Matrix just calculates a transformation matrix which is easier to build but is less precise. However this again is down to the software - yours amy not support LUT profiles (most by default build matrix ones).

And the last - what do your images (in sRGB colour space) look like on uncalibrated monitors? Do they have the same colour shifts you are seeing on prints (at least to some degree)?
 
@Chappers - This is the next option, to try a few non-corrected and see how they come out.

@dalex - I can't remember if I tried native white point, I have on the MBP screen but that didn't help much on there, don't think I did on the Dell screen though. Problem is, as the screen is at work, I don't get much time to play around with it.

All I want is to get images from the printer that match ( as near as sensibly possible ) my screen, I don't care how I do it :LOL:

Pete
 
icecavern said:
All I want is to get images from the printer that match ( as near as sensibly possible ) my screen, I don't care how I do it :LOL:
Click to expand...

This is where you get it wrong - if your screen is miscalibrated then your edit the photo to make it look right but in reality it isn't. Especially since the printer is not calibrated by you. If you make your monitor calibrated properly so you know your edits are colour correct then you prints will look much better.
 
dalex_257 said:
This is where you get it wrong - if your screen is miscalibrated then your edit the photo to make it look right but in reality it isn't. Especially since the printer is not calibrated by you. If you make your monitor calibrated properly so you know your edits are colour correct then you prints will look much better.
Click to expand...

Isn't that what I'm trying to do and the reason behind me starting this thread? :thinking:
 
Yes, but by letting Loxley correct they have taken the image away from what you wanted in the first place. So no correction is the first thing to try, if the images are still out then you need to check your workflow, etc to see what might be causing the problem.
 
pxl8 said:
Yes, but by letting Loxley correct they have taken the image away from what you wanted in the first place. So no correction is the first thing to try, if the images are still out then you need to check your workflow, etc to see what might be causing the problem.
Click to expand...


This is pretty essential...you need to control ALL your workflow otherwise you'll never be quite sure where the problem exists. If you edit your own shots and have a calibrated monitor don't allow the print company to do any editing.

Best to give them another go I see how you get on then

simon
 
pxl8 said:
Yes, but by letting Loxley correct they have taken the image away from what you wanted in the first place. So no correction is the first thing to try, if the images are still out then you need to check your workflow, etc to see what might be causing the problem.
Click to expand...

Yes I will be trying this. The reason I let Loxley colour correct my images is that I've had people say they always check that box and never have any problems.

I'm worried about ordering any albums until I get this right which is why I thought I'd ask for advice.
 
Update... I've cracked it!

OK so I got some prints from Loxley ( without them colour correcting them ) and they're a very close match to the prints from my Epson R285, and a really close match to the same shots displayed on the Dell 2007fp monitor. Whooopppeeeeeeee :)

I had a conversation over email with Loxley and they recommend you do a test run of prints without colour correction, and then ensure your screen is calibrated correctly, and then don't use their colour correction.

Lessons learnt:

1. First off don't try and calibrate a laptop screen, and use an IPS panel based external monitor. ( Order for a Dell 2007fp for home hopefully going sorted this week )

2. Calibrate the monitor and trust the calibration on a decent monitor.

3. Use a decent lab and don't let them colour correct when you know you've got the calibration on your monitor right LOL

Now the only thing that bugs me is how different the prints look under different lighting. The latest prints look perfect under natural light, but under the florescent lights here in the office they look very orange. I guess that's life.

Pete
 
stupid question, it doesn't look orange on your screen or does it o_O

I am good at asking stupid questions!
 
ricky1980 said:
stupid question, it doesn't look orange on your screen or does it o_O

I am good at asking stupid questions!
Click to expand...

Nothing has ever looked orange on screen, only in prints. I don't know if thats the answer to your question though.
 
Different lighting condition will make prints look different. It's called Metamerism. Differnet light sources emit light at different wavelengths and energy levels. Daylight is rich in blue, green and red parts of the spectrum. Tungsten light is low in blue and green but high in red. This will affect the way the dyes in the print react. So it's not surprising that under non daylight illumination they look different.

If you want standard illumination you could spen a shed load of money on a viewing booth. However get a couple of daylight "hobby" bulbs from Tesco ( whilst you can). These may not be exact but probably close enough.
 
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