On Saturday 24 April 2004 10:27 pm, DChristensen@theimg.net wrote:

Hi,

To add to this discussion, I use an XP based PC with Photoshop to print pictures all the time on an Epson Stylus 2200 which does a great job. I adjust my monitor using the Pantone Spyder which does a great job building color profiles for the monitor that also work with Photoshop. It would be really nice to have a LINUX based tool that would do the same thing for use with programs like GIMP.

That's what I'm looking for! Here I "sit" with about $6,000 worth of Canon hardware and get very frustrated trying to get what I see on paper!! 'Takes a lot of extra time and money to produce quality images for clients that don't have a hint of green on high contrast pics....for example. I just can't stomach the thought of having to pay for any MickySoft software nor PS, but if things don't change soon, I may have to!

IMHO, I really like the SyncMaster line of Samsung monitors (I have several of the 955DF models) that have extremely tight resolution and appear to have pretty nice color reproduction.

But, how do I "match" one to the 2200 in Linux?

I really like the Epson 2200 printer, but I have also owned/used the Canon 9000 series ink jets and they do a remarkable job. My only complaint about the Canon is that it 1) didn't offer inks with the archival qualities of the Epson inks and 2) didn't have available a bulk ink system as is available for the Epson printer.

True......haven't gone to the bulk ink system yet, as I'm FORCED to use outside services for printing often, because software for Linux just isn't good enough. [snip]

Vince, I must disagree with you. Magazines and books with color are put together with computers (mostly Macs) and for those computers there _is_ adjustable software, which will make the monitor reproduce the source material accurately, and will cause the print engine (whatever it is) to print the same colors, all within some reasonable tolerance. (You probably have to work in a room with invariable lighting.) Such software is far from free--the last time I looked (around 10 years ago) it was in the $500 and up range. I don't know whether it has come down since, or not. Since I am not in the printing business, I never pursued this at all, but there is surely s/w now for Windows which will do essentially the same thing, since so many people are using digital cameras now. I have seen some rather good digital photos reproduced on color printers. Epson seems to have the edge in that regard. However, if you jam up the ink nozzles on an Epson, you may have to throw it out. Whereas, the HP ink-jets replace the nozzles with the ink.

IF you don't use any 3rd party ink, Epsons are normally fine.

BTW, there will always be some error, especially in the monitor, since the monitor runs on an RGB (red/green/blue) system, at least if it's a CRT, and a good modern printing system, such as a print shop or an advanced ink-jet would use, uses CMYK, (cyan/magenta/yellow/black) which doesn't map exactly to RGB, and of course, the monitor has no true black at all. AFAIK, LCD displays also use RGB, but may have a better black due to the nature of the screen.

DO NOT try and adjust color with the monitor. Use the software. However, in spite of the objections above, almost all monitors have a "factory default" position, as, I believe Windows does, to get back to square 1 if you goof it up too badly.

I have an Eizo FX-C6, I haven't been able to make any adjustments that will solve my problem(s). Fred -- "The only secure Microsoft software is what's still shrink-wrapped in their warehouse..." (Forno)