I tested the trial version of Qimage recently and bought it the day before yesterday. Most of yesterday I spent trying it out. Very happy with the results. But I have a question about best procedures in colour management. Just before getting Qimage I profiled my display and printer/paper combination using DataColor Spyder3 devices. I produce images from my camera either directly (as JPEGs) in Adobe RGB colour space or indirectly from RAW to TIFF via DXO, and convert them to sRGB for upload to the web. Until now I have always printed from PhotoShop, but from now on I intend to use Qimage.

My question is, when working in PS should I convert my image files to my monitor colour space or leave them in Adobe RGB? And is there anything I need to be careful about in switching over to Qimage? I am quite new to colour management and am still feeling my way. I can't see any great differences in the prints working in either colour space, but already I am beginning to be aware of various subtle differences, so obviously some kind of learning process is going on. Would be grateful for any pointers to issues I need to be aware of particularly any "gotchas." Suggestions for a standard workflow would also be helpful.

Hi Roger, and a double welcome.
If I may, Terry did a great job, and I can add a few items that will ease your transition to Qimage Ultimate.
If you were to let QU read your card and download to a folder that you name, (Example: I make C:\Pics\Terry Smiling. (There were only a few shots on the card))
Qimage would go directly to the new folder, and the thumbs would appear before your eyes.

If you have the EDIT OPTIONS RAW set correctly, Qimage Ultimate has processed the images for you, but allowing you to open refine and tweak the raws.
We can cover the Raw tweaks and the Edit options by advising you to get familiar with some of the videos at http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage-u/learn.htm

But your focus is color management, so you see in the Job Properties box, lower right, some blue balls.
Click on the one for Prtr ICC and you can click Browse, and find "YOUR" profile.
OK yourself back out, and you now see your correct profile for your paper  in the box next to the Blue Ball.
(Same goes for MNTR ICC)
Next open Page setup, upper right corner, left button, and set your paper, quality, and Printer to No Color Management.
After all is set correctly, make a print.... if it's OK, Now go to FILE, top left, and click SAVE.
When the box opens, Click The "P" button for Printer, and give your setup a name.  
EPSON R 1800 Prem Luster A3
Save.

Now anytime you want to use Luster paper, no more fiddling. Click File, RECALL, click the "P" button, select the EPSON R 1800 Prem Luster A3 from the list, and OPEN!
Bingo! Everything is set, ready to print!
You can make another for 8 x 10 or 5 x 7. Others for Glossy paper, Others for Roll paper with various sizes that you like.
If you have two printers, Double Bingo!!
Save setups for your Canon 9000 Pro M II.
QU will switch back and forth in the blink of an eye.

Hope some of this helps!!
Which printer do you use?

Enjoy!!

Fred

Thanks, Terry, Ray and Fred, both for the warm welcome and for the helpful answers. I find colour management (and most other things) to be simpler and clearer in Qimage than in PhotoShop. The Northlight site appears to be a very useful resource, although the topic is a great deal broader and more complicated than I realized.

I was interested to see that Qimage can process RAW files, but I have got used to DXO for developing my RAW files to TIFFs and will probably stick with that. It gets pretty close to what I want automatically, and there are many subtle tweaks that are easily applied if it isn't quite right. I suppose that Qimage uses DCRAW or similar program under the hood? I will be sticking to Adobe RGB throughout and just preparing sRGB versions for the web.

I am already getting prints that are really close to what I see on the screen... subject to the kind of inherent difference there is between subtractive and additive images, of course!

I didn't realise that a separate profile might be advisable for each different size of paper... For now, I just keep the same paper profile and change the print size with the pull-down. I mostly print A4, though our local camera club has us submit 2L prints for mutual review, and I just print two of those on one A4 page as there's virtually no difference in cost.

I had no idea that Qimage could read images from my camera straight to folders, but I have a system that is working pretty well right now so will leave that on one side  for the time being.

My printer is an Epson PM-4000PX, one of the very first pigment-based printers. That is the name in Japan, not sure what they call it outside (I live in Japan and have done for over 40 years).

Thanks again, everyone!

Ah yes, I see. Printer setup not printer profile. That makes sense, as it is easy to forget something when there are so many parameters to set.

Paper profiles for Epson papers may not be so helpful in my case as I don't recognize the product codes. The papers may indeed be different of course, but the codes certainly appear to be. Will check thoroughly, as it is certainly worth saving the time and effort it takes to create one. Ilford papers are nice with my pigment printer as the glossy paper suffers less of that funny bronzing you can get. But it is very expensive here.

Thanks for the suggestions, Terry.

By the way, newby question: how do you quote just bits of a message? I'd like to do that but get all or nothing.

OK, I see how to quote--simple when you know how, like so many things. Thanks. Now how do you cancel out of a mail without completing it? For instance, I started this mail with a quote code lifted from the list, as you explained, but in this mode mails aren't accessible for cut-and-paste, so I couldn't insert what I wanted to quote! Argh! Looks as if you have to pick and copy the quoted text before you use the quote code. OK, but then what happens if you want to insert a second quote later on? Excuse my ignorance!

That explains it. I was working on my iPad and I couldn't select and copy text because the iPad is anything but "normal windows." <grin>

Thank you, Fred, but I was not looking at those. The actual names and serial numbers, etc., of Epson papers, clearly identified as such, are not the same as the ones I am used to in Japan. That was on a brief search. I've been busy since then, but will visit and look again but I suspect it is like printers: Epson uses different names/codes in different markets outside Japan from those inside Japan. But I have calibrated my own usual glossy grade of Epson paper, and plan to calibrate the matte paper tomorrow. Since I use nothing else that will see me home and dry.