Workflow Calibration Systems

In recent years a number of affordable spectrophotometer based colour management systems have appeared on the market. Spectrophotometry, i.e. the accurate measurement of colour by measuring the spectral output of an object, is at the heart of good colour management.

What once required massive investment and substantial training is now relatively affordable and easy to use. It is now possible to buy a system for just a few thousand dollars that can completely calibrate and profile your entire workflow from capture, to display, through to print.

Colour management can seem very complex - please don't hesitate to get in touch for advice if you're feeling overwhelmed by all the options.

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Advice on packages to buy if you're a photographer:

Advice on packages to buy if you're in the printing trade:

Advice on packages to buy - other scenarios :

What is a Spectrophotometer?

Why might I need one?

Spectrophotometers can read the colour from just about anything - both light emitting devices (like monitors) and light reflecting objects (i.e. just about anything else) - as they have their own in built light source (unlike colourimeters that are simply a colour sensitive sensor without a light source).

Spectrophotometers read colour in across the entire visible range of wavelengths - what you get back, in simple terms, is how much light of each wavelength (ie different colour) is coming from that object. They are also capable of denistometric reading (ie how much light, in total, is being returned by an object, irrespective of colour).

This information can be used to create highly accurate profiles of pretty much any colour producing system (eg printers - inkjet, laser & offset, as well as scanners, monitors, sublimators....really almost anything!). Highly accurate profiles are the key to achieving accurate, repeatable colour - that is, profiles put you in control of colour.

If you're seriously into printing, either commercially or simply from a quality perspective, then owning your own sprectrophotometer and profiling system may well make sense. Many people find it cheaper to have profiles made for them (see our own custom profiling services) but once you get up above about 50 profiles, owning your own system may well make sense.

If you have a device (like an offset press) whose colour behaviour varies during an extended print run (due to temperature or humidity, for example), you will definitely want your own profile making solution, and probably an automated one, so that you can make lots of profiles quickly and regularly during the print run (e.g. hourly). These profiles reflect and compensate for the changing behaviour of your device, this bringing consistency to your processes. Further, you press may have built in controls on the press itself, or in the RIP, that will accept input from a spectrophotometer directly (see your documentation for compatible devices but most of the work with the Eye One spectro at least).

The Eye One System from X-Rite/Gretag Macbeth is a fantastic platform for colour management. All based around the excellent, easy to use and accurate Eye One spectrophotometer, there are packages available to suit every need and budget.

Does my printer need RGB profiling or CMYK profiling?

It depends...

If you're doing photographic printing, and you're using an inkjet printer to do it, the driver does automatic RGB to CMYK conversion for you, so you need an RGB profiling solution.

If you're running your printer through ay sort of RIP that gives control over inking on a per channel basis (or even just overall ink limit controls), you need CMYK profiling.

If you're running a laser based device, such as a Xerox Phasertek, we have found these profile best when being treated as RGB devices, although they can in theory be profiled as CMYK devices.

Overview of Available devices

Available spectrophotometers can be divided into two groups - hand held manual devices, and automated solutions. X-Rite/Gretag Macbeth have a particularly flexible device that fits into both categories.

Handheld Devcices

There are two main devices available. With either of these devices you can read a set of targets in about 5 to 10 minutes. This is done by hand, generally using a ruler system for guidance. It's a simple process, but time consuming and can get a bit frustrating if you're doing it very often.

The Datacolor 1005 is a simpler device, compatible with ColorVision's Printfix Pro software only. It is a very affordable option that offers good results - great for people with a keen interest in colour management and looking to experiment for themselves.

A little more expensive, the Eye One Pro device is the industry standard spectrophotometer - compatible with almost every profiling package available and the unit at the heart of Gretag Macbeth's entire profiling system. Over the past 5 years it has proven itself to be an accurate, easy to use, extensible system suitable for a wide variety of colour management tasks. There is even an option to upgrade it into a fast, automatic profile reading solution (the Eye One iO).

Automated Devices

Automated devices include the Eye One iO robotic arm for the Eye One Pro, The Eye One Isis and a number of other options. These devices are intended for users needing to make a significant number of profiles on a regular basis (i.e. several per day).

If you need an automatic profiling option, it is best to get in touch and discuss your needs directly with us.

Do I need a UV cut filter? What about other filters?

UV filters are used to aid the reading of colour off of papers that contain optical brighteners. There is much debate as to whether this is a useful or needed option.

Modern profiling systems are generally able to cope quite well with these papers without a hardware based UV filter in the spectrophotometer, using software based detection and compensation. Most people now seem to advise a UV filter is not required. In our experience the software based detection works very well.

Filters in general...

Older spectrophotometers (namely the venerable Spectroscan/lino) had user replaceable filters. These devcies have been discontinued and there isn't really an equivalent option right now.. Rumour has it that user changeable filtration will be offered in the Eye One line of products in the future (but to date, this is not possible, and it is only a rumour). Most people find they can achieve excellent results without filtration.

Filters are used to try and achieve more 'human-like' reading of colour by the spectrophotometer. There is (again) much debate as to how well this works and whether it is required. Most people don't use them and don't find them necessary.

Spot colours, Pantone Matching, Densitometric Readings

Spot colour measurements (i.e. simply reading the colour of something) can be taken with spectrophotometers. The Eye One systems from Gretag Macbeth / X-Rite all come with an application called Eye One Share. This application lets you take a spot measurement and convert it into all sorts of values - LAB, other RGB colour spaces, and the closest matching Pantone library colour (very handy for graphic designers trying to match packaging etc!).

The Eye One is also capable of taking densitometric readings. Densitometry measures how much light, in total, is being reflected by an object (irrespective of what colour that light is) - these reading are used in all sorts of scenarios such as CMYK linearisaton and paper comparisons (e.g comparing d-max between papers - i.e. just how black are your blacks?). You can take these measurements using the public domain version of MeasureTool from Gretag Macbeth (version 4) which can still be found around the place I believe.

In all, a spectrophotometer is a very useful device with quite a number of uses!

Recommended for Photographers / Graphic Designers (using standard RGB Printer Drivers)

If you're a photographer or graphic designer, doing your own printing/proofing, using one of the many high quality inkjets now available, you will most likely be using the standard printer drivers that came with your printer. These perform automatic RGB to CMYK conversion on your behalf, and so are profiled as RGB systems. You use the print quality and paper type settings to broadly control the amount of ink going down on the page.

This is the situation for most photographers/designers and offers a very high quality approach when you use a high quality profiling solution. The only way to achieve more control, which is not necessary for most people and brings with it significant extra complexity, is to move towards replacing your printer driver with a true RIP driver which offers individual ink channel controls (see the next section). For most people without specialist needs, this will bring with it little to no benefit and much higher complexity and cost, and so we would not recommend it.

Our own custom profiling service (an alternative to buying your own calibration system) is by default an RGB profiling service (of course we do full CMYK profiling as well). Especially with recent printers and drivers, the printers behave very well in terms of linearity and respond very well indeed to an RGB profiling approach, so further control is simply not necessary to achieve excellent results.

There are two main options in this area:

Recommended if you're a Printer or a Photographer (using a full CMYK RIP)

If you're using a full CMYK RIP, you need a CMYK profiling solution - which means the Eye One Proof, or a package with a Spectrophotometer and Profilemaker.

The Eye One Proof offers very good results for reasonable investment. You can later add ProfileMaker if your needs grow in time.

ProfileMaker is the industry standard profile building tool, and while expensive, it unparalleled in its abilities to build colour profiles for all your devices and processes.

The Cheapest Way to get an Eye One Spectrophotometer

If you need a Spectro for use with your RIP and/or press, then the cheapest way to obtain one is the Eye One Design. The Eye One spectro is not sold separately.

The Eye One Design is perhaps too simplictic for really good quality printer calibration. However it is the most affordable option, offers excellent monitor calibration, can easily be upgraded if necessary, and is perfect if you want to simply take accurate spot colour measurements (to match to a Pantone colour, for example). The Eye One Share software (included) is great at this sort of thing.

Recommended for the Printing Industry:

The industry standard heavyweight application for Colour Management across the entire workflow is unquestionably ProfileMaker from GretagMacbeth / X-Rite. It's expensive, complex, and very very powerful.

Recommended for people needing consistency across all their devices:

Eye One XT - Calibrate screens and produce your own RGB and CMYK output profiles. Calibrate scanners, cameras and digital projectors. Measure ambient light sources, and take spot readings of almost any surface. For those wanting to make a greater investment into colour management.

This system is considerably more expensive, as it includes the full Eye One system, allowing you to calibrate and profile pretty much any digital imaging device. Includes extended warranty.

Of course, if you're spending this much, you might want to really bite the bullet and consider a ProfileMaker solution which can do all this and considerably more.