Why Use A Profile?
Aren't there free profiles that I can just download and use?
So, hopefully we've convinced you that if you want the best out of your printer,
then a paper profile is the way to go. However you've probably noticed that for
some of the most popular papers, you can often get pre-made profiles off the internet.
Some printer drivers such as Epson even install profiles for their own brand of
paper. Why not use them, instead of paying for a profile? They will certainly be
an improvement on the standard printer driver, but they are based on profiling one
or more printers, and that means that they are a compromise.
You might expect that the printer that you buy would print exactly like another
printer of the same make and model - if you print a colour with an exact mix of
inks, you would expect it to look the same for every printer of the same type. However,
that rarely happens. Printers are built to certain printing tolerance standards
- you will expect a mix of inks to print roughly the same colour, but it will not
always be exactly the same. Take into account all the colours that your printer
can print, and all those subtle changes can make quite a difference.
The pre-made profile can be created from one printer, or averaged out from a
number of printers. If the profile is from one printer, then the gamut and the colour
shifts are based for that one printer.
Maybe that one printer is very typical in its printing tolerances. However, you
will be very lucky if your printer is an exact match for the one that created the
profile. It will look reasonably accurate, but it will rarely be an exact match.
If the profile is created using a number of printers, then you've got a better
chance of a more accurate match (providing your printer is not at the extremes of
the printing tolerances). But there will still be compromises. Colour shifts are
averaged, and the gamut of colours that your printer can print will be restricted.
This can make all the difference at the extremes of the gamut.
So that leads us to custom made printer profiles. This is the ultimate step for
getting the best out of your printer, and will result in the best looking prints
that you can achieve. The advantages are :
- Profiles YOUR printer with the paper you want to use. Variations in colour
shifts and the gamut with pre-made profiles based on a different printer is no longer
a problem. Your prints will be accurate - you know the colours of the finished
image will match what you originally captured.
- Your prints will match a correctly colour calibrated screen (where the gamuts
of the monitor and printer/paper combination match). This eliminates the guesswork
out of editing images.
- Neutral black and white prints. No more colour tinting within the different
shades of grey.
- You can profile any paper that you want. Need to get a good print on card
for a greeting card, or want to use some fine art paper for a gallery quality print?
Then our profiles will help. However please note that some card and paper is not
very good with inkjet printers. If you print the charts and the colours look dull
and subdued, a profile will not help. Paper and card that has been coated for inkjets
will give you the best results.
- You can use any third party ink. Want to use some cheap third party ink,
or do you want to use some third party archival ink for long life prints? A custom
profile will get you accurate prints with any combination of ink and paper.
After reading this, I hope you will have seen how a custom printer profile will
help get the best quality print out of your printer. So how do you go about getting
a custom profile? Well, you've got three choices :
- Buy some software which creates custom profiles. There is some software out
there which can create custom profiles based on charts that you print. Some need
you to use a scanner to read in the charts, whilst others rely on you to visually
compare the charts. It's better than nothing, but it's not all that precise, and
for the cost of the software, you could get a number of your papers accurately profiled.
- Buy a hardware package which creates custom profiles. There's a number of
hardware packages out there that use a device called a spectrophotometer to read
in the printed charts.
Software processes the chart data and creates the profiles. It is these systems
that will create the most accurate profiles for you. The drawback is that the starting
level for these packages such as the GretagMacbeth Eye-One Photo is the price -
they're over £1000 before you even start thinking about buying extra software.
- Get us to do it for you!! For a small fee we can provide you with one of
the most accurate profiles that you will be able to get for your printer. We use
the hardware and software from the industry leaders of colour management - GretagMacbeth
- to create our profiles, and we think you will be very happy with the results.
There are a few other companies out there who provide the same service with the
same equipment, but we think you will find us to be one of the best value companies
on the web. We hope to make your profiling process as easy as possible with our
online guides on both printing the charts and using the profiles, and you can feel
free to email us if you have any problems at any stage. If you want the best from
your printer, and would like to order a profile, please click on Order a Profile.
Information on ordering, and instructions on printing out the charts can be found
on How to Order.