Thought I would compare various aspects of the profiles generated by PM5 and I1P. In particular two attributes are the most important to me. Print color accuracy and color reporting accuracy. I did not look at the way the two handle Perceptual Intent printing as that is both a matter of taste and both programs have various, ill described settings that influence Perceptual Intent.
Actual print color accuracy is simply the ability to request printing a Lab color and get reasonably close. For reproduction work such as duplicating old documents or images, maintaining color control close enough that the documents and print visually match is the basic requirement. In my experience getting most dE's below 2 is sufficient in most cases. Also, getting the image wide average dE, below 1 is as important so the two don't differ noticeably from each other. This is a function of the B2A1 interpolation accuracy, instrument and printer error and noise.
The other factor important to me is the accuracy of the reverse color lookup, or the A2B1 interpolation process. This should be as quite good as it only involves interpolation errors. Interpolation error is influenced by the lumpiness of the printer RGB space. The more 3D grid points, the closer the programmers can get the A2B1 table to accurately invert the B2A1 table. While the A2B1 tables are not used for printing they are used for proofing and cross rendering.
The test used the following setup:
The printer used is a Canon 9500 II which I've found provides reasonably consistent results and its RGB response is smooth enough that it doesn't benefit significantly from very high patch counts.
Profiles for both the I1Profiler and Profile Maker 5 were created using a standard 918 chart with 25 stepped neutrals added to enhance B&W uses. The charts were scanned twice with an I1Pro 2 and averaged. The spectral results imported to PM5.
I1Profiler's settings were default except that the large profile table was selected. This produces a 37x37x37x3 Lut. Profile Maker 5's settings were "large" and Logo Chromo Plus. These settings produce a 33x33x33x3 Lut.
Then I randomly selected points in the printer's RGB space. 150 were reversed using the PM5 profile and the other half with the I1Profiler profile. These Lab values were printed to make a I1Pro 2 scan formatted image.
I was expecting I1Profiler to slightly outperform Profile Maker 5 because of the higher number of Lut grid points. This turned out to be the case but the surprising thing is how little the the Lab colors changed during round tripping from Lab to printer to Lab. For the I1Profiler the average change was dE2k .21 and for ProfileMaker the change average was .56.
The I1 Profiler also proved to provide slightly better physical print accuracy coming in at an average dE2k of .60 v .83 for ProfileMaker 5.
The formatting is irregular because the BB fonts aren't monospace.
I1Profiler Reports:
ICC Profile Reported Worst 2% Colors
Req: 34.76 -3.30 -57.26 Act: 35.24 -5.35 -57.61 dE2k: 1.33
Req: 27.77 8.40 -56.29 Act: 27.74 6.84 -56.26 dE2k: 1.02
Req: 31.74 -24.57 -37.74 Act: 32.32 -26.22 -37.30 dE2k: 0.94
Req: 76.01 3.27 9.51 Act: 75.78 2.73 10.06 dE2k: 0.89
Req: 10.19 9.53 -9.85 Act: 11.56 9.38 -9.80 dE2k: 0.87
Req: 31.79 -17.49 -41.51 Act: 32.10 -19.13 -41.79 dE2k: 0.87
Requested v Reported Labs: Max:1.33, Ave:0.21, Best 90%: Max:0.48, Ave:0.16 Shift:[-0.05 0.09 -0.02]
Printed Worst 2% Colors
Req: 51.42 -23.68 52.68 Act: 54.31 -24.27 54.73 dE2k: 2.88
Req: 48.29 4.64 49.89 Act: 50.36 3.41 51.88 dE2k: 2.35
Req: 75.93 16.07 86.31 Act: 77.64 12.93 86.52 dE2k: 2.16
Req: 19.59 -8.05 -17.45 Act: 19.77 -10.57 -17.34 dE2k: 2.08
Req: 55.82 2.20 58.43 Act: 57.70 0.82 59.61 dE2k: 1.99
Req: 69.18 27.11 81.05 Act: 70.93 24.33 80.24 dE2k: 1.96
Requested v Printed Labs: Max:2.88, Ave:0.60, Best 90%: Max:1.03, Ave:0.50 Shift:[-0.07 -0.07 0.19]
ProfMaker 5 Reports:
ICC Profile Reported Worst 2% Colors
Req: 32.49 40.14 27.61 Act: 32.13 39.93 19.91 dE2k: 4.39
Req: 35.37 21.30 35.32 Act: 35.19 22.43 27.82 dE2k: 4.33
Req: 45.13 56.89 52.23 Act: 45.42 59.05 45.53 dE2k: 3.67
Req: 43.48 66.48 54.40 Act: 43.93 69.04 47.93 dE2k: 3.51
Req: 16.44 8.71 5.17 Act: 16.36 5.41 4.17 dE2k: 3.37
Req: 31.31 -6.16 20.65 Act: 31.08 -6.29 16.38 dE2k: 2.49
Requested v Reported Labs: Max:0.08, Ave:0.56, Best 90%: Max:1.13, Ave:0.40 Shift:[-0.04 0.19 0.31]
Printed Worst 2% Colors
Req: 16.44 8.71 5.17 Act: 16.01 5.56 4.33 dE2k: 3.21
Req: 75.93 16.07 86.31 Act: 78.33 11.22 86.27 dE2k: 3.21
Req: 19.59 -8.05 -17.45 Act: 19.64 -11.43 -16.10 dE2k: 3.03
Req: 43.48 66.48 54.40 Act: 44.31 68.72 49.67 dE2k: 2.77
Req: 15.98 10.51 -23.40 Act: 15.53 8.85 -25.62 dE2k: 2.58
Req: 69.18 27.11 81.05 Act: 70.91 23.34 80.79 dE2k: 2.44
Requested v Printed Labs: Max:3.21, Ave:0.83, Best 90%: Max:1.57, Ave:0.68 Shift:[-0.05 0.51 0.19]