Edmund Ronald's Color News

PatchTool Review PART I: From Target Image to CGATS file and vice versa.

2011-09-16T18:31:00.000-07:00

Danny Pascale's PatchTool Nutshell Review: If you need to hand-measure profiling targets or generate custom target grids, or wish to convert the patch layout output by one program to that needed by another, then you might do well to get a copy of PatchTool . But in addition to its invaluable patch conversion functions, this utility now also provides a sophisticated quality assurance

i1DisplayPro - will Xrite move from proofing to viewing ?

2011-06-21T23:02:00.000-07:00

Regarding hardware, the instrument is a strong followup to i1Display 2, Xrite says it is designed to be future-proofed for wide-gamut displays. I like the sexy design, and the fact that clipping it on a laptop screen really works. A carry pouch is just about the only improvement I could suggest for the hardware :) Regarding software, i1Display Pro offers a hodgepodge of new features, which

Cute, tiny Xrite Colorimeter released

2011-06-21T14:24:00.000-07:00

Xrite has released the cute, tiny Xrite ColorMunki Display and i1 Display Pro; both are display profiling solutions that center around a very nice colorimeter that looks like a toy searchlight: In the above image, the ambient diffuser cover which can fit over the lens has been rotated down to act as a tabletop support for the unit, which can be aimed at a screen for projector profiling. Fear not

Calibrating the MacBook Pro display

2011-05-26T15:18:00.000-07:00

I have been using the Rob Galbraith method of profiling lately on my LED-backlight MacBook Pro: 1. Manually set the display brightness to maximum 2. Profile to 6500, 2.2, with native brightness and contrast. 3. Dial the brightness down manually to around 50% - Voilà! Try this recipe - it may sound amateurish, but you too may like the results.

How White LED display backlights work.

2011-05-26T15:03:00.000-07:00

All the new Apple laptops are now using screens backlit by LEDs, I believe. These backlights do not involve red, green and blue diodes, but rather blue diodes encapsulated in a phosphor coated epoxy. This coating absorbs the diode's light and fluoresces, and reemits some of the blue light frequency-shifted to longer wavelengths by way of a physical phenomenon named the Stokes shift. Result, white

Bug of the day: Epson Premium Luster and Premium Glossy profiles

2011-05-20T19:42:00.000-07:00

Every day brings its bug report. Today I noticed that the two Epson profiles "Epson Stylus Pro 3880_3885_3890 PremiumGlossyPhotoPaper.icc" and "Epson Stylus Pro 3880_3885_3890 PremiumLusterPhotoPaper.icc" installed by my Epson 3880 driver appear to be identical. I don't think those inkjet papers are anywhere identical, do you? I think this bug may be biting professional inkjet users, as I

i1Profiler - Xrite pimps new software with innovative interface

2011-05-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

I received the i1Profiler upgrade for my purple PMP dongle a few weeks ago, and have now played around a bit with the product. Xite support helped me quickly and effectively with some minor installation woes, when i1Profiler had a conflict with the installed ColorMunki software. I then ran a single-page target on the iSis to create a profile for my Epson 3880, on some old experimental Canon

Tandem Workflow in Photoshop

2007-06-02T16:41:00.000-07:00

I guess I need to spell things out in detail for the Adobe crowd. In Photoshop ACR, the tandem Raw profile workflow could be implemented with the DNG matrix transformations as the faithful calibration profile, and something akin to a "Raw adjustment layer" as the digital emulsion.The essential feature is that the effect of both the camera calibration and the emulsion be previewed when the user

Photography is NOT reprography: Raw workflow needs tandem profiles.

2007-06-02T14:27:00.000-07:00

Photography is not Reprography.Dual ICC profiles as faithful and creative enablers for the Raw camera workflow.I believe dual ICC profiles, working in tandem, are required for a creative Raw conversion workflow. The first profile is needed to define the colorimetric properties of the camera, the second to describe the operator's chosen exposure curve compression, color adjustments and other

Canon 5D Portrait Profiles for Capture One Available

2007-04-16T17:37:00.001-07:00

Canon 5D Portrait Profiles for Capture One Available My 5D Portrait Profiles for Capture One are now available. Send me an email and I will send them out to you.edmundronald at gmail dot comEdmund

5 Ways to mess up profiling testcharts

2007-04-15T01:55:00.000-07:00

5 Ways to mess up profiling testcharts - sung to the tune of "Mission Accomplished".1. Client has a color un-manageable PS/Mac-OS/Epson system. Yes, Adobe, Apple and Epson finger-point at each other, it's always the other guy who implemented wrong. Let's hope your client is lucky enough to have a system which works. Yeah, right.2. Client prints with some color management still enabled in the

Camera Profiles as Raw Emulsions

2007-04-12T05:45:00.000-07:00

Camera Profiles are the film emulsions of the new Raw Workflow. As a photographer, I have a set of "signature looks", which I choose to stamp on my work. These looks define my own way of rendering the world of color. Also, in this new digital world, can package my "color vision" in a profile and share my "look" with other users. This is like cooking up an emulsion and selling film boxes. My

iSis review coming.

2007-04-07T16:34:00.000-07:00

I now have a new Xrite iSis XL, and preliminary tests indicate that it's working great ! My previous sample of this instrument was transport damaged, which is why I didn't talk about it a lot.The iSis is a very modern scanning spectro, based on an EyeOne diffraction grid head, which is replacing the Xrite DTP70.Amongst the new iSis features: Solid-state illuminant, chart readings with and without

iSis - Release transport catch before use

2007-04-03T15:33:00.000-07:00

I visited Regensdorf today and the nice people at Xrite ex Gretag swapped my transport-damaged iSis for a new one. And warned me to look at the QuickStart Guide:There's now a head-lock catch on the under-side the iSis, which should be moved to the unlocked position before use. This catch is much nicer than the slip-in plastic head-guard which was included with the first iSis unit I was

Eizo CG - almost self-calibrating !

2007-03-18T21:46:00.000-07:00