Use ColorPal for an ICC profile

GordonMcComb

I'm looking to create a custom ICC profile for a color printer, using a ColorPal sensor. No problem getting the values from the ColorPal, but I'm having a tough time finding good resources on how to convert the color chip readings to the format expected in the ICC profile. Most of the tools I see are printer specific -- for example, for all-in-one printers you might print out a sample then rescan it back in. While this happens to be an Epson printer, I need the solution to be generic.

Has anyone experimented with something like this? Basically this is a poor man's ColorMunki.

-- Gordon

GordonMcComb

Answering myself here, this Web site:

http://www.argyllcms.com/

appears to have a good collection of tools for converting optical values from various sensors and creating a standard ICC profile for use with drivers and software. It's a bit convoluted, but at least it's doable.

I realize this is somewhat arcane, but every print shop and professional photographer in the world would be interested in creating their own custom color profiles, if they could -- now they either do it with expensive equipment, send it out to a specialist and pay $35-75 a pop, or just do without and suffer off-coloration. The nearest cheapest solution for reflective colorimetry is about $500. It does use a spectrophotometer, and from what I can tell the ColorPal is a simpler tristimulus colorimeter. But if it works a Prop and ColorPal combo is a whole lot cheaper than five hundred bucks.

(One thing that has to be worked out is any UV brighteners in inks, pigments, or substrate. Without a UV source to add to the mix the colors will be off.)

-- Gordon

Duane Degn

I used to do some aerial photography (with radio controlled airplanes). To help make sure the colors in the photos I was seeing on my monitor were correct, I purchased a Spyder2PRO(many years ago). The Spyder2PRO was only for calibrating computer monitors which appears to be easier than doing the reflective colorimetry. It seems like you really need a way of testing both your computer screen's color and the printer color to be able to reliable work with color images.

I'd think you could still get by with just three colors using reflective colorimetry since a color printer only uses the three sets of dies. Not that I know much about this stuff. I do think it very interesting the way we humans see color. It still amazes me that red and green light mixed in the right combinations looks yellow.

While I don't have color blindness, my wife and I often refer to my shirts as different colors. My brown shirt is green to her (slightly brownish), while I know darn well it brown with slight greenish tint. I've often thought of using a ColorPal to see how the rest of the world defines the colors my wife and I see differently.