IMac 27" screen calibration for printing

[TAZZY9899]

I am thinking on getting an I7 Imac 27" but have read of some problems calibrating the screen brightness and restricted color gamut for printing. I am currently using a PC but need an update on my hardware and was thinking of a Mac. I currently run a Spyder 3 elite with an Epson 2880. Any advice would be appreciated. TAzz

[K.C.]

I calibrated my brand new 27" iMac with the Xrite I1 Display Pro and the profile is very good. Absolutely no issues and easy to do.

[Ellis Vener]

I am thinking on getting an I7 Imac 27" but have read of some problems calibrating the screen brightness and restricted color gamut for printing.  TAzz

I use a 27" iMAc a lot and calibrate and profile it with an i1 Display Pro and i1 Profiler software (I also have other calibration and profiling instruments and software, including a Spyder 3 kit but this is the one I making the most use of currently for display profiling.) I make my own printer profiles using an i1 Pro photospectrometer and the i1 Profiler software. I've also successfully used the ColorMunki Profiler and before that the older i1 Pro and Profiler Maker Pro 5 software (with Bill Atkinson targets). I print on a variety of papers with a Canon iPF6300 imagePROGRAF. I check my prints with a a Graflite D5000 Soft-View viewer. I am pretty sure I know what I am doing with profiling on my displays and printing process.

I have zero ,zip, nada problems calibrating and profiling  my 27" iMac down as low as  80 cfm2 which makes for a very match between display and print.  Older fluorescent backlit 24" iMacs had problems  with low illumination settigns but that is not the case with the white LED backlit LCD displays like the one in the 27" iMAcs (and probably the other new but smaller screen iMacs.  The volume  of the display's profile gamut also contains more of certain colors than Adobe RGB(1998) holds but there are some very saturated greens and blues which fall outside its ability to hold. the big iMac's gamut is certainly larger than  sRGB in almost all colors other than extremely saturated cyans and a few very pure blues.

[Ellis Vener]

Let me know if you are having trouble understanding what the screen shots are about.

[TAZZY9899]

Ellis thank you for the in depth and informative reply. From your information it looks like I would not be fully covered in the dark greens and blues with An Imac 27 screen. I do almost all nature and landscape work including macro. Do you feel this would be limiting. I used Capture nx2.6 in prophoto for all my post processing and printing but might look at apature and PS5.

[Tim Lookingbill]

Do you lose colors in the greens and dark blues (a shift in the preview) in your landscapes and nature shots when you convert to sRGB for the web? If not, then you needn't worry about them editing your images on the 27" iMac.

Viewing the color relationships in question in a photo is much different than viewing them as flat color patches which may technically fall outside of the iMac and/or sRGB gamut but be barely noticeable viewed by the eyes in a digital capture on a calibrated display.

[TAZZY9899]

I would like to thank everyone for their help. TAzz