Printer Calibration Issue

[jazzman161]

Hey all! I'm working on calibrating my printer so that on the rare occasion I decided to print at home, my prints matching LR. So....how do I do this? :lol:

I see people talking about downloading paper/printer profiles for their respective setups but I cannot find anything to download regarding my equipment (HP C728').

I have some options under the Print module in LR. If I select the "sRGB profile" (sorry I can't remember the exact name as I'm not on that computer right now) the prints come out fairly close to LR (but still need work). If I select "let printer manage" the print comes out horrible.

Any tips?

(I'm also assuming I would follow this same procedure to install my local Costco's profiles so when I decide to use Costco, my prints would match, correct?)

 

[jazzman161]

Bumpity Bump?

Is the c728' just not have profiles? I know it's not a stellar photo printer but I figured w. photo capabilities it'd have some profiles somewhere.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

The theory would be that you'd have a profile for each printer/paper/ink combination, and using the correct profile would give you an exact match to a properly calibrated monitor.

That said, you may not find ready-built profiles for HP - they're not quite as popular for imaging as Canon and Epson. You could build your own using calibration hardware - I have a recollection that ColorMunki will allow you to profile printers.

 

[ernie]

Hi Joshua. You get the profiles usually from the paper manufacturers. Go to their websites and there will be a place to download them. As VB says, you may not find one for your specific printer, but often another HP printer profile will work. If it's a pigment ink printer then try one for the 918'.
That may not be an ideal solution, but it sometimes works. Although if you use HP paper there should be a profile for it on the HP site I would think.

 

[jazzman161]

Thanks Victoria. I got a hold of HP and they told me those profiles don't exist. So assuming that I don't buy my own calibration hardware, what options do I have to get decent color matching between my monitor and printer? Can I use the profile created by my monitor calibration hardware? (X-rite display LT)

 

[reidthaler]

Can I use the profile created by my monitor calibration hardware? (X-rite display LT)

NO! You can never use your monitor profile for printing. The monitor profile describes your monitor, not your printer.

Without printing a test patch and having a spectro read it, I think it'll be very hard to get a matching print.

You can buy a profile for $35 at http://www.cathysprofiles.com/index.html

Reid

 

[Denis Pagé]

I have a recollection that ColorMunki will allow you to profile printers.

Quite right Victoria! And it works beautifully! I tried the same extreme image on different papers from matte to glossy with almost just the shining changing from one to the other. The thread about the ColorMunki is here in the Equipment Talk Forum.

You can buy a profile for $35 at http://www.cathysprofiles.com/index.html

Thanks for the link Reid. Now Jazzman have to think about how many different papers he will use as it will be 35$ for each for same printer. The ColorMunki is 5''$ + shipping + customs. For me it was 845$ CAN. My estimated savings for a first print run was around 5'$ not having to make test prints and adjust.

EDIT: Just checked for the value of this (Do it all) printer... Just not worth paying many times the printer's value to make it work as expected...

 

[sizzlingbadger]

jazzman, it may be cheaper to buy a low spec Epson / Canon. I use a cheap Multi Function Epson with their default profile and it's quite close to my calibrated screen. I don't print much at home to be honest so I'm not too critical of my prints. I'm thinking about investing in a good printer eventually but funds won't allow at present

 

[Brad Snyder]

Jazzman, I have a ColorMunki, and I've yet to obtain satisfactory profile results with my low-spec HP printer. That is, I can create the profiles, and they seem to work (softproofing in CS3/4 gives the same result as the printer), but the results are nowhere near as good as sending AdobeRGB to the printer, and letting the printer manage/optimize.

 

[jazzman161]

Thanks for the replies all! I think I'm going to hold off on the upgrade. Also, that 918' uses a different type of ink than my 728' but I'll give it a shot.

It seems, for now, my printing will come from Costco. How would I apply the profile I downloaded for my local Costco's printer considering I wouldn't be using the Print module in LR? When I export do I select "Other..." under color space and select the Costco profile? Am I missing anything else?

edit: Brad, I've selected the "let printer manage" option in LR before and the results have been horrible. All pictures come out uber dark. I've run out of photo paper so I can't do any testing for now but it's left such a sour taste in my mouth I feel like just forgoing printing at home. lol. This printer is good for throwing in a mem card and picking a few quick pics and printing out. If I spend time in LR editing, it's all for naut (sp?) as the printer does it's own thing.

 

[ernie]

One more thing. This may have been mentioned before and I missed it, but is your MONITOR calibrated? That is the first step to any color management system. If not, and you're not ready to invest in a calibration system yet, you might try just turning down the brightness on your monitor, if it has the ability for that-some don't. Most come with a default setting that is way too bright-hence dark prints. Of course there's more to it that that (many a book has been written), but it might help as a stop-gap measure.

 

[jazzman161]

Thanks egd5. I've actually ordered and X-rite Display LT calibrator. Hopefully that'll come in next week and I can get working on that.

 

[hassiman]

Try Eric Chan... his profiles are $20-$25

Search MadMan Chan and go to his profile page. He is one of the Adobe wizards behind Adobe Camera RAW and really knows his stuff. Profiles are great.