I updated to PP 8.0 soon after it was announced so having the new version and hearing how Fred is over the moon with results results for his new R2000, prompted me to get my “hand in” again with printer profiles. This is for my aging R800 (I wish it would break!) and although I have a couple of “pro” custom profiles for Ilford Smooth papers, I wanted to see if PP could match them – wow!   Read on.

I went out and bought the really cheap Canon Lide 110 because Lide scanners are particularly recommended for use with PP. I do have Vuescan too but the latest Canon Twain driver does now have the option to completely turn off any colour adjustments, essential for profiling.

I did a few experiments with Vuescan and with the Canon Twain driver.
I soon realised about not to be too paranoid about the “numbers” reported by PP, and especially gamut diagrams, what matters are the resulting prints produced using profile prism.
I did edit the initial profiles, a really nice and easy to use feature in PP and got very pleasing results in both prints of test images and some of my own images.
I would say that the PP Smooth Pearl profile matches the pro custom profile I have and the Premium Gloss profile is better than the Epson supplied one. All checked under an Ott Light.
Amazing for a $79 program!    
Test images used:
http://www.chromix.com/downloadarea/testimages/frontier_color57s.jpg
http://digitaldog.net/files/Printer%20Test%20file.jpg (supplied with PP)
http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/printers/images/Test.jpg
and for B&W enthusiasts
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/articleImages/Ilford_Papers_Review/9_Northlight_BW_Test_Page.jpg

Terry