Profile for V750 with color checker passport

[jsch]

Hi,

I scan with an Epson V750 and Silverfast (reflective) a so called HDR file. This gives me a tiff file. I scanned the gretag color checker and tried to convert this EpsonV750-Silverfast-HDR-tiff file with the Adobe DNG converter to a dng file to use color checker passport to make me a profile for the scanner. But I can't. The dng converter doesn't convert tiff to dng. Any solutions?

Thank you,
Best,
Johannes

[kingscurate]

When i use colourchecker, the image is imported into LR(converts raw to dng), then i goto colourchecker software and create a profile using the said image. Then back to LR to use the created profile. Hope that makes sense. so perhaps initially you need to convert the tiff file to dng in LR(if it will)

[Ellis Vener]

Have you tried opening the SilverFast generated TIFF in Photoshop and saving it again as a Ps generated TIFF or PSD and running that through The DNG converter?

Also why are you not using the target included with SilverFast and profiling inside of SilverFast?

[janster]

Hi,
I'm curious. Why do you want to go the "DNG-route" ? Why not just use the TIFF directly for the profile (I'm guessing ICC input profile scanner) creation process ? Do you expect any advantages in regards to profile quality ? A DNG is structured according to TIFF and other than better metadata support DNG doesn't really offer any advantages over the regular TIFF (for creating profiles).

I'm not excactly sure but I'm guessing that the ACR isn't supposed to convert TIFFs to DNG because the process of DNG conversion usually involves extracting raw image data from a digital camera and assembling it according to the DNG specification into the required TIFF format. -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Negative

I'm guessing there is just no sense in converting a Tiff into a Tiff?!

Best,
JAN

[digitaldog]

I'm curious. Why do you want to go the "DNG-route" ?

Exactly! There is really no reason to do this, it is not a raw data file. It is a TIFF embedded in a DNG container (which itself is a variant of TIFF). Just stick with TIFF.

[fdisilvestro]

The recommended way to profile a scanner is through an IT8 target. You'll need the Silverfast version that has that functionality enabled and get a reflective IT8 target.


If you still want to go the DNG route, you should then change to Vuescan,  which can output a DNG file.

[Mark D Segal]

No EZColor in SilverFast - SilverFast has an Auto IT8 calibration/profiling tool that does it all with a one button click, using their barcoded IT8 targets. It makes a good profile for your scanner if you use the scanner for digitizing the media. If you are not using the scanner for digitizing the media, but instead are using a camera, make raw captures with your camera and use the camera's raw format, or convert the camera's raw file to a DNG file format as you please. Then you would colour balance in the same way you make photographs. There's no point trying to commingle a scanner profiling process with a digital camera colour balancing process.

[Ellis Vener]

I tried saving in Photoshop. It doesn't work.

You are talking about that EZ Color thing that is included? I scan not too often in Color with the V750 usually I copy it with a digital camera and there I go the dng–>color checker passport route. So I would like to have the same workflow with all my color files.

If there is no other way, I'll start to think about EZ color.

Thank you.
Best,
Johannes

Years ago Epson packaged  Monaco's EZ Color and a very old version of SilverFast with their scanners (this was 2005 or 2006). "EZ Color" was a terrible system.  What version of SilverFast are you using? Recent versions include a real IT8 print target in the SilverFast package.

[Ellis Vener]

These things are really annoying with scanning and printing. You buy an expensive system and it doesn't work right out of the box and you can't easily make it working without investing in a thousand bits and pieces and learn your way around. And, that is the most annoying thing, if you have bought everything and learned everything, the company stops producing the stuff and you have to buy their new stuff.
Couldn't agree with you more!

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

My suggestion is that you either use canned profiles or go the Q60/IT8 route. A Color Checker test target has far to few patches for proper calibration, but could be useful for properly tuning an image, once calibration has been achieved.

I guess that an IT8 test target has been included with your SilverFast, I have used two versions of it and both had an IT8 enclosed.

My experience with Silverfast was not really a positive one so I started using Vuescan instead (still using the IT8 coming with Silverfast calibration).

Sorry for not being more helpful...

Best regards
Erik

I have SF 6.6.2r3a

These things are really annoying with scanning and printing. You buy an expensive system and it doesn't work right out of the box and you can't easily make it working without investing in a thousand bits and pieces and learn your way around. And, that is the most annoying thing, if you have bought everything and learned everything, the company stops producing the stuff and you have to buy their new stuff. I'm a eyeOne Pro owner with all the Gretag software, you know what happened. I used to know a lot about FrameMaker...

If I scan bw with my V750 I'm happy to scan a HDR tiff file and do the rest in LR/ACR/Photoshop. It works easy. Now I thought with color I use my usual workflow. Man was I wrong.

Best,
Johannes

[Mark D Segal]

These things are really annoying with scanning and printing. You buy an expensive system and it doesn't work right out of the box and you can't easily make it working without investing in a thousand bits and pieces and learn your way around. And, that is the most annoying thing, if you have bought everything and learned everything, the company stops producing the stuff and you have to buy their new stuff.
Couldn't agree with you more!

Do you have the version of SilverFast 6.6 that includes the Auto IT8 profiling feature? I expect you do, if you also have SilverFast HDR and the reflective target. If so, this is really a no-brainer. Create a scanner profile using the SilverFast Auto-IT8 process and scan your reflective media with that profile loaded. If you wish to scan transparent media, you need to either make a bespoke profile (same kind of one-button Auto IT8 procedure) using a SilverFast transparent IT8 target, or their canned profile for that scanner and media type (Kodachrome or non-Kodachrome slide). If you photograph the media with a digital camera, forget all that and just colour balance the raw images the way you would colour balance any other raw images. You don't need a thousand bits and pieces for any of this and the learning curve - at least for the scanner - is close to zilch.

[Ernst Dinkla]

No it was not included with my V750 package. I need it only for 8 color scans I made last monday.

I use the scanner only for scans of 8x10 inch black and white negative scans, with the exception of these 8 color scans.

Best,
Johannes

Color scans of photos or originals? The first you better use an IT8 CMY dye target or Epson/Silverfast/Vuescan default profiles. The second you might experience that the PP CC target is too limited in its pigments number and the scanner light + sensor too specific for that target. I have gone that route with Vuescan PNG "RAW" and PP CC through Photoshop ACR. It worked for the job then but when I put a target made with 7 inkjet pigment hues on the scannner to check whether they were represented correctly, 3 of them were totally off. I use that "RAW" ACR route sometimes for the tools in the RAW converter but with a scanner the color control is not better if not worse.


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst

330+ paper white spectral plots:

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm

[RFPhotography]

jsch, check your private messages.