Using Vuescan to create printer profile

[william.c.burkett]

I followed the Vuescan instructions to create a scanner profile, and
then the instructions for creating a printer profile. When I used
Vuescan to create an IT8 target, the colors on the target - both
on-screen and printed - were significantly different from the (Wolf
Faust) IT8 target I am using.

At first I thought this would be okay and continued the calibration
process. But then I thought: if this IT8 target is a *standard* thing,
shouldn't the colors be the same as the target I just purchased? (Or
significantly closer than they were?)

When I completed the creation of the printer profile, I connected the
profile to my printer and selected "ICM Color Management" color space
(I've got a HP Photosmart 7960). I printed the Vuescan target again,
which looked exactly the same. When I printed a scan of the WF IT8
target (from a tif file of the scanned hardcopy target) with this
profile, the colors were horrible. When I reconnected the printer to
the original profile and color space selection (sRGB/sYCC) the target
printed almost perfectly. (Which tells me to forget this whole printer
profiling idea.)

Can anyone tell me (1) should the target produced by Vuesan look like
the WF target color-wise? and (2) Am I missing something wrt profiling
my printer?

 

[Ralf R. Radermacher]

Can anyone tell me (1) should the target produced by Vuesan look like
the WF target color-wise?

Not necessarily as long as the system creating and interpreting the
profile (i.e.Vuescan) knows how it should look.

and (2) Am I missing something wrt profiling my printer?

I've tried it with Vuescan and didn't get very far either. Just bought
Colorvision's PrintFix but haven't been able to do much testing since it
arrived.

Ralf

 

[Jeff Randall]

I followed the Vuescan instructions to create a scanner profile, and
then the instructions for creating a printer profile. When I used
Vuescan to create an IT8 target, the colors on the target - both
on-screen and printed - were significantly different from the (Wolf
Faust) IT8 target I am using.

1) Are you using a CRT or LCD monitor? Brand?

2) Is your monitor calibrated and profiled (using software and
colorimeter) so that the screen colors are the best they can be?

3) The scanner profiles VueScan creates are significantly different
than those produced by standard profiling software. They are matrix
profiles in that they only specify the primary RGB values, RGB gammas,
and White point (just like monitor profiles such as sRGB). This matrix
profile is the same profile as the VueScan "built-in" profile that Ed
created using his purchased or borrowed scanner, but is based on your
scanner and its quirks. The advantage to these profiles is that they
are largely unaffected by scanner exposure etc. I find that these
profiles work well for me and my scanned materials (note they will only
work with VueScan because they are internally identified as monitor
profiles not scanner profiles that other software looks for). Regular
scanner profiles typically also include color lookup tables (CLUTs)
that tweak all the colors. Regular scanner profiles will score better
on "color tests", but given all the printer limitations (more limited
gamuts than contained in film, negative, or digital) and almost ANY
image editing you may do that the advantage is quickly erased (my
experience--yours may be different)

4) When you first print the IT8 target, it is uncorrected (assumming
you have turned off all color management and correction in you
printer). It should look bad. I think that the printer profile
VueScan creates is also a matrix profile. I've tested them and IMO
they are totally worthless. Printers are very hard to profile well
using software and scanner only. The uncorrected printed IT8 targets
should be read by a colorimeter or spectrophotimeter and then the
results fed into the software to create the profile. If you are happy
with the profile that came with your printer, keep using it. Otherwise
spend your money and have a profile professionally done ($100-200 USD).

 

[Terry]

Not necessarily as long as the system creating and interpreting the
profile (i.e.Vuescan) knows how it should look.


I've tried it with Vuescan and didn't get very far either. Just bought
Colorvision's PrintFix but haven't been able to do much testing since it
arrived.

Ralf

--
Ralf R. Radermacher - DL9KCG - Köln/Cologne, Germany
private homepage: http://www.fotoralf.de
manual cameras and photo galleries - updated Jan. 10, 2005
Contarex - Kiev 60 - Horizon 202 - P6 mount lenses

You can not use a it8 target that you print from a download file. The
IT8 target must be one produced by Kodak or Wolf Faust, these targets
are expensive. I tried the printer calibration in Vuescan and did not
get very good results.

I purchased Profile Prism and have had very good results with this
product. Profile Prism comes with an IT8 target.
http://www.ddisoftware.com/prism/

 

[Dolph]

You can not use a it8 target that you print from a download file. The
IT8 target must be one produced by Kodak or Wolf Faust, these targets
are expensive. I tried the printer calibration in Vuescan and did not
get very good results.

I purchased Profile Prism and have had very good results with this
product. Profile Prism comes with an IT8 target.
http://www.ddisoftware.com/prism/

I used the Wolf Faust target, followed the VUESCAN directions, and had
excellent results. In fact, better than those I obtained using a profile
obtained commercially.

 

[Erik Krause]

I followed the Vuescan instructions to create a scanner profile, and
then the instructions for creating a printer profile.

I fear vuescan is not the right tool for that. May be if your printer
is way off, but this usually is not the case.

Vuescan creates a very coarse profile, it does not consider saturated
patches in the scanned image and so on. Note that for real good printer
profiles a spectrometer is used and that a scanner always is a
compromise.

One of the programs that makes best use of that compromise is
ProfilPrism. Go for someting like that if you want to create a printer
profile that is of any use with help of your scanner. Or simply search
for a profile creation service - there are plenty on the web...

 

[william.c.burkett]

Thanks for the reply, Jeff. I'm using an LCD monitor that came with my
HP machine (the monitor is an hp pavilion f1903). I did calibrate my
monitor with a Pantone Spyder2, though I'm not completely happy with
the results: the colors look fine, but the whites are not white-white -
they're slightly muted with a very slight blue-gray cast.

Why do you ask about the monitor, though? It would seem to be
unrelated to my scanner profiling question.

I've found that I like the scans I've made after profiling my scanner
(an Epson Perfection 2400) with Vuescan to be much better. I gave up
on the printer profiling task for the time being; the default settings
seem to work fine.

 

[Jeff Randall]

I asked about your monitor (type, calibration, profiled) because in
your original message you noted that the IT-8 on-screen colors were
significantly different from the (Wolf Faust) IT8 target you were using
so I thought I'd eliminate some variables.

My experience has been that bundled LCD monitors are not great for
serious color editing even after calibration and profiling. They are
getting better, but still can't match a good calibrated and profiled
CRT.