Expert advice required regarding Eye One

D

Dan1502

Messages
331
Name
Dan
Edit My Images
Yes
I'm hoping someone who really knows their stuff when it comes to calibration and related hardware and software will be able to help me.

Basically, I want to be able to calibrate monitors (including laptop screens) and printers but only for home use and basic use at work i.e. amateur use.

I was about to buy a Colormunki when a Gregtagmacbeth Eye One came up on ebay, advertised at the I1 Basic package, new but out of warranty. It also came with a Creo dongle which I have since discovered is probably for a Xerox print server and the package I have now received was probably an upgrade for said server (Creo Spire I think to be likely).

Anyway the hardware was all in sealed packaging so brand new. The only thing missing was the ambient light head which is in the basic package (that it was advertised as) but may not have been part of the upgrade kit I think it is.

I have tried the I1 Match software and there is no licence and have also tried the profilemaker software on the offchance that the dongle cotained a licence for that but it didn't. So I am left with good hardware but no software.

The seller has offered me a refund but before I accept I would fist like to look into getting appropriate and decent software - either a licence for I1 Match or alternative free software and also find out if the ambient light head is cheap to replace and/or really necessary.

So can anyone give me any guidance? If I do wish to keep the hardware I also need to consider how much discount I should ask for due to the software licence not being included as stated.

Thanks

Dan
 
Thanks but it's not that hardware it's the Spectrophotmeter and unfortunately if the licence isn't present on the hardware you have to unlock it via a separate program which I have also downloaded into which you have to enter a password.
 
I have Color Munkie Photo and easy to use. It can profile Computer and Monitor
Printer relationship whereas some only do the monitor.

There is an on screen instruction taking you through the process step by step or an advanced choice of setting it up.
On the downside its not cheap but what is in the photographic world anyway.

Now the big question would I recommend it? Yes and no is the honest answer,

On the No side

At around £300 its a lot of bucks to lay out for something profiling which doesn't need to be done that often in my opinion. If you have a poor quality monitor then the Munkie won't be of any help anyway. There also is a difference between seeing on a backlite computer screen and a hard copy of a photo whatever profiler one uses.

On the yes side

The amount of control and adjustments the Munkie allows is in effect unending to produce the correct print, even down to paper selection.

In conclusion I am pleased I have bought one, but reality I would say its for the really professional photographer whose living is made through this medium.

I am a mug for gadgets anyway.
Realspeed
 
realspeed said:
I have Color Munkie Photo and easy to use. It can profile Computer and Monitor
Printer relationship whereas some only do the monitor.

There is an on screen instruction taking you through the process step by step or an advanced choice of setting it up.
On the downside its not cheap but what is in the photographic world anyway.

Now the big question would I recommend it? Yes and no is the honest answer,

On the No side

At around £300 its a lot of bucks to lay out for something profiling which doesn't need to be done that often in my opinion. If you have a poor quality monitor then the Munkie won't be of any help anyway. There also is a difference between seeing on a backlite computer screen and a hard copy of a photo whatever profiler one uses.

On the yes side

The amount of control and adjustments the Munkie allows is in effect unending to produce the correct print, even down to paper selection.

In conclusion I am pleased I have bought one, but reality I would say its for the really professional photographer whose living is made through this medium.

I am a mug for gadgets anyway.
Realspeed
Click to expand...

I'm not sure you understood my question. The I1 basic package isn't really basic, it sells for between £580 and £680 and I think only does monitors out of the box with the printer calibrating software unlock code being about £140 more. I thought I was buying the package but it turned out there was no software licence with it.

Ideally I would like to keep the hardware and source the software licence cheaply or alternative cheap or free but good software. I have wondered if the Creo dongle I have has a value to offset agains the software needed but wouldn't no if it has, what it is or where to sell it.

Like I say, I really need and expert to help.
 
I have used an i1. I downloaded the software to work with the hardware. I didn't need a license. I don't think your downloading the right software!
 
I think this is the right software download page for your purchase :)
 
Freester said:
I think this is the right software download page for your purchase :)
Click to expand...

Sorry but I probably haven't made it clear. I have downloaded the right software. The licence is held on the unit (hardware) and is updated by using i1diagnostics - this is how you upgrade functionality. X-rite (or Gregtagmacbeth) supply units as OEM for use with print servers etc which do not have the imatch software licence on them. This must be what I have. So in order to use the software I have downloaded (which is what you linked to) I need a licence. Normally the minimum would be the monitor calibration with other modules available at a price.
 
Have you given Gretag/X-Rite tech support a call to see what they say?

X-Rite said:
So we can serve you quickly, please have the following information ready when you call:

1. Product Number

2. Serial Number

3. Problem Description


X-Rite — United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (0) 1625 871100
Click to expand...
 
Yes but they haven't got back to me yet. I'm pretty sure the answer will be a monitor calibration licence at about £85 plus an RGB output device licence at about £145 which takes the total up to about £230 plus about £300 I paid which is too much really. I backed out of bidding on a seemingly similar new but unsured package a few days earlier which although a year or so older, actually had software licences (albeit older) for profiling everything - monitor, camera, scanner, printer... which went for £400 and in hidsight was well worth it.

I'll see where I get tomorrow then decide what to do but if I can get an affordable solution and arrange something with the seller it would be nice to keep it. I'm just fed up with the deal going bad and want to salvage something from it if possible I guess. I was hoping that by using this system I would then have the utmost confidence in the monitor and print calibrations which seemed worth the price. I can't afford to be forking out much more though and believe there may be cheaper or free options.

This should at least serve as a warning to others buying the i1 device second hand regarding how the licencing works. There seem to be a lot around that were part of professional print process packages but not licenced for i1match etc.
 
Ouch, yeah, it can definitely get pricey. I ended up just going for the Eye One Display 2 myself from Native Digital. Cost about £150, and came with 2 free remote printer profiles (you print off their sheet with the settings they instruct, mail it to them and they email you back an icc profile).

2 free profiles was good for me, because I only use Harman Crystaljet Luster RC and Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl papers with the same Epson ink, and the dye-subs come with ICC profiles (as you can only use their own brand media and ink anyway they're accurate).

A mate of mine spent about a grand on the whole deal for printer/monitor/scanner, but it's far far more than I need.

Hope you can manage to get it sorted out mate, good luck. :)
 
Kaouthia said:
Ouch, yeah, it can definitely get pricey. I ended up just going for the Eye One Display 2 myself from Native Digital. Cost about £150, and came with 2 free remote printer profiles (you print off their sheet with the settings they instruct, mail it to them and they email you back an icc profile).

2 free profiles was good for me, because I only use Harman Crystaljet Luster RC and Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl papers with the same Epson ink, and the dye-subs come with ICC profiles (as you can only use their own brand media and ink anyway they're accurate).

A mate of mine spent about a grand on the whole deal for printer/monitor/scanner, but it's far far more than I need.

Hope you can manage to get it sorted out mate, good luck. :)
Click to expand...

It's far more than I need really too. It's just that we've been having problems with a work printer and I want to be able to produce presentations and other promotional documentation that's a good match to what's on screen and matched to our corporate colours. I therefore thought that it would be good if I could get something capable of calibrating the monitors and printer. I also thought if I could get the spectro thingy rather than the colourimeter at a good price then it would give me peace of mind too. I always try and hunt out better kit a good price - I can't help myself.

Anyway unless I can get the licence or alternative software really cheap I think it will have to go back for a refund.
 
Get a refund. A colormunki is £350 or thereabouts and is soooo easy to use. None of the hassle your having with this thing.
 
I suspect that as the unit was initially used with the Creo software that there is some modification to the unit that requires a password. I seem to remember that this was the case with some units that were sold as packages.

It may be a difficult and involved process to get the i_One unlocked. It may be easier (and cheaper in the long run ) to get a refund and look at a conventional i-One .
 
I did find some information somewhere that referred to EFI versions (ie OEM linked with EFI RIPS) and said you just need the unlock codes which you input via I1diagnostics so I suspect this is the same. I've now left a phone message and email to X-rite and will probably phone one more supplier to check the cost of sorting it but it's looking like it'll have to go. The only reason I'm keen to keep it really is for that peace of mind that when calibrating with it the results will be to a professional standard whereas there are always some negative experiences with the other units.
 
I just bought the Spyder3Studio SR from Park Cameras for £344.18

They matched the price with here for me

http://www.smartimages.com/spyder-3-studio-sr.html

Price includes free update to the latest Monitor Calibration software and also updated Print calibration as well.
Only calibrated a small standby monitor at the moment waiting for a 2209WA to arrive as well.
 
Try contacting Colour Confidence in Birmingham, they may be able to help as Colour Management and the associated equipment is their stock in trade. Not sure what they will charge, but it's got to be worth a phone call
 
I received a call from X-Rite this morning and have been chatting with the (very helpful) guys at Native Digital. Apparently there are certain OEM units that have completely locked out firmware so won't accept the licence updates. X-Rite know the serial numbers of the units to which this applies and I have given the serial number to Native Digital to check this out for me. If my unit can be updated I will probably keep it and update it at least with the monitor calibration licence and probably the RGB licence too. The seller has agreed to reduce to price to take account of the cost of the monitor calibration licence so if all works out ok the deal should be reasonable.

Let this be a warning to anyone else thinking of buying secondhand hardware though as apparently there's a lot of OEM stuff knocking about so there is a risk that you might buy something that is useless for what you want.
 
Aye, they're good fellas at Native Digital. Hopefully they'll come back with a positive result. :)
 
Kaouthia said:
Aye, they're good fellas at Native Digital. Hopefully they'll come back with a positive result. :)
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure it was you that recommended them to me a few weeks back at which time I was considering a Spyder 3!

Thanks

Dan
 
Just a quick update. I received the licence upgrades today. Apparently you get different answers depending who you speak to at Xrite and the official line is that they don't add software licences to OEM hardware. Apparently it's a bit of a lottery. There's no guarantee that they will allow the licence to be purchased but they might do so bear this in mind if buying second hand or new OEM stock. The only way to check is to get the serial number and contact Xrite. I got lucky but have since learned that one printer is RGB and the other CMYK so am a bit stuck. The monitor calibration has been very successful though.
 
These links to free software might be of use to someone. I have considered using argyll but it all looks a bit complicated from the perspective of getting the program to work to me.


Adobe Color Management Module
http://www.adobe.com/downloads/#cmm

Argyll Color Management System
http://www.argyllcms.com/

ArgyllCMS GUIs
- ArgyllCMSGUI: http://colorhacks.blogspot.com/2008/08/g...msgui.html
- dispcalGUI: http://colorhacks.blogspot.com/2008/08/g...lguoi.html
- Javascript GUI: http://colorhacks.blogspot.com/2008/08/g...cript.html

Little cms
http://www.littlecms.com/
 
the very same thing has just happened to me.
advertised on ebay - eye one basic kit
recieved eye one basic bag and match cd etc - but the spectro is the EF1000.

im really miffed with the seller.
i have been trying to follow what you did as basically i am shafted, can you please PM me with more details of who you spoke to at xrite or other alternate software.
 
pip boogaloo said:
the very same thing has just happened to me.
advertised on ebay - eye one basic kit
recieved eye one basic bag and match cd etc - but the spectro is the EF1000.

im really miffed with the seller.
i have been trying to follow what you did as basically i am shafted, can you please PM me with more details of who you spoke to at xrite or other alternate software.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I only just noticed this. By way of an update, I ended up buying the Monitor and RGB module for the unit via Native Digital. I then found out that for the work printers I need the CMYK module which is twice the price of the RGB module. I did negotiate a partial refund from the ebay seller though.

You are probably best enquiring through Native Digital or another dealer as they have contacts at X-rite and will give you a straight answer. I take it you have tested the hardware unit to check it has no licence on it? If not, do this first as you might be lucky.

I'm still in the process of sorting the CMYK module. In my case overall I will have got everything at a reasonable price compared to brand new but with no warranty and much greater total cost than I had planned. Maybe I should sell calibration services to get some money back!

If you need to know more, please ask.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top