Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

Hi Kevin et al.

Since I got my Epson R 1800 which was years ago, I frankly, have not had a need to profile any paper, because Ilford, Epson and a few others offered free profiles commercially made for my printer.
I had occasion to take advantage of a sale on paper from HP. HP ADVANCED PHOTO PAPER. It's a nice glossy paper and not too thick so I can use it for anything.

I decided to profile the paper. It had been so long that I had to download profile Prism 7.0 into W7.
Mainly, I was lazy to get my scanner to run in W7, and that was always the item that made me postpone and postpone....
Scanner is an old LIDE 30...
I got Vuescan to run in W7 and I was off to the races.
I used Qimage and the PRINT TARGET JOB set up, set my driver to No Color Adjustment, (Color Management Off), and printed my target.
I found my IT-8 target hidden away but in great condition, and made my scan (RAW 48 bit).

Make a long story short, I got a perfect profile.... but the richness of color was so good, almost too good, that I decided to make a backup/Edited profile slightly less saturated.
That having been done, after letting my test prints dry, and looking at then out in the daylight, Mr. Almost too good (the original profile I made) was the one!!

I could tell the difference between the two profiles by the filename I gave them. One was HPADV_GL, and the second was HPADV_GL_TWEAKED.
The Descriptor name I gave the first one was HPTEST and forgot to change it for the second one.
OH OH! The  descriptor is what shows in the little window at Prtr ICC in Qimage.
Just for the record, if you are a Photo Shop user, *only* the descriptor shows in their profile list when you go to select your profile, so you will only see one.

So I remembered that I had a little tiny program called ICC TOOL KIT. This allowed me to change the name of the Descriptor.
I Google searched for it.... can't find it.

It was freeware... and is only a 265K file, if anyone would like it, just email me.  wathree.ssz@verizon.net
Simple to use: FILE OPEN, select the profile.
The Descriptor appears in the little window. Type your change, and SAVE.

( Just between us chickens, my profile came out so good, that I am going to have a shot at besting Ilford and Epson's Profiles)

Fred

I think this may be it:

     http://tlbtlb.com/links (http://tlbtlb.com/links)

There's also some discussion of renaming profiles here:

     http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1003&message=39930321 (http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1003&message=39930321)

You got it!
I could not find it. I knew it was Shepard because that's what it said in HELP ABOUT, but I found nothing.

Good Job!
Now anyone that wants that little tool can get it easily!

Thanks,
Fred

Fred, I haven't use PP for a while and also decided to profile my R1800 with OEM inks and Epson Premium Luster in NCA mode.  I used Vuescan in raw mode with an Epson V600.  The profiling gave near-perfect numbers and curves, but I'm finding the resulting profile tends to be yellowish.  Black and white test strips have a very warm-toned look, not the relatively neutral I get using stock Epson driver settings.  If you get a chance, could you print something like the Outback test print (http://www.outbackprint.com/printinginsights/pi049/essay.html (http://www.outbackprint.com/printinginsights/pi049/essay.html)) to see if you get clean, neutral greys?  Thanks!

Certainly, be happy to oblige.  (If you would email your email address to me (wathree.ssz@verizon.net) I could send you the gray test image that I use.)

I would just like to make one observation from experience.
It is so very important that you view your prints in a neutral light. I used to make a lot of profiles years ago and drive myself crazy. I would stare at a print and stare trying to determine if it had a cast. Then I would take it outside, and the cast was gone. Sometimes, I would make two profiles and two prints. I'd stare at the one that looked greenish, and then look at the other, which looked magenta all because I was switching back and forth and my eye had to reset.

At Terry's suggestion a couple of years ago, I purchased an OTT LIGHT. Neutral temperature, like being outdoors. Excellent investment.
I'll make a profile for the Epson Ultra Prem Luster also. I'll make a print on my HP paper with my new profile, and later, make it on the Luster with the profile that I WILL make.

Fred

PS I just printed the target on Epson Ultra premium Luster and reset the driver to Epson Ultra premium Luster.
I almost forgot.
Did you perhaps almost forget like I did?  Double checking NCA setting and Best Photo Setting?
Fred

.... I know it's not couth to reply to one's self, but I just downloaded your "Gray" test image from your link.
It's too tiny. 28 ppi at 8 x 10,  43 ppi at 5 x 7, and 56 ppi at 4 x 6

I know Qimage Ultimate is good, but ...................
Send me your email address please.

Fred

Sorry, I should have given the direct link to the image.  You probably got the thumbnail at the top of the article which describes the intent and evaluation of each subpicture. 

The full image is a 40MB, 16-bit, ProPhoto space TIF file:

    http://www.jirvana.com/printer_tests/PrinterEvaluationImage_V002.zip (http://www.jirvana.com/printer_tests/PrinterEvaluationImage_V002.zip)

I made another profile, this time for Ultra Prem Luster paper, and it is super good. Actually better than the Epson Profile. They grays are gray and tone centered.
I would be happy to send it to you if I had your email address  :D :'(

Fred

Yes, normal target (not bright), NCA and best photo.  Thanks, Fred, I've sent you an email with my address.  It would be good to pin down what's different on my end.  I've heard the Canon LiDE scanners were good for PP, but the Epson V600 is a pretty good scanner also.  For Vuescan, I'm using the settings that Terry recommended about two years ago (http://ddisoftware.com/tech/profile-prism/r1800-setting-recommendations/ (http://ddisoftware.com/tech/profile-prism/r1800-setting-recommendations/)).  The printed target does come out a bit dark and gives me usable ranges around 26-255, 26-255, 26-255 (even with multipass=4) instead of the 0-255 I can get with the bright target.