Newbie - Monitor calibration & 3500k or 4700k proofing and viewing area

[Sunshine7]

What monitor calibration hardware/software to best use in this situation so that my iMac screen matches my printouts?

I am totally new to this, and will start printing and stretching large format fine art prints for an artist friend, and once everything is up and running for some other people as well, after which I then hope to expand into a small 'highest quality only' print shop using low profit margins to get started. I'm planning to follow a workshop by a photographer I admire in order to learn how to produce these great best quality prints.

So, I just bought a used 21.5" iMac with 20Gb memory, Photoshop and Lightroom, a perfect shop-floor Canon ipf8400 printer with rebate, and am now looking how to best calibrate my iMac screen so that I will print out exactly what I see on the screen.

For now I will only use the Breathing Color Pura Velvet & Pura Smooth papers and their Lyve canvas to make full size prints from original artwork (from 16x20 to 40x48.) Breathing Color offered to make custom profiles that specifically match my printer etc. and Canon offered to make custom profiles as well, if I send them the paper, for which they will use their top notch spectrophotometer. As far as I understand it, this would take care of the ICC profiles, and i would not need the calibration to create the profiles, which leaves calibrating the iMac screen.

Options I can think of are:

X-rite ColorMunki (new approx $400)
X-rite i1Pro 2  - no idea about the different versions of this one, ie photo, pro, basic etc (second hand - approx $900)
X-rite eye 1 pro (this is the old version, second hand - approx $300)

I like the ColorMunki one because you can send clients a folder with color adjusted files which when they open on their screen display the same colors as on your screen. Not sure if the others do the same. Am not sure if the ColorMunki monitor calibration is the best for what I am trying to achieve, and if the X-rite eye 1 pro (old version) would be a better option - but then again, these are only available second hand, and not sure how long they will last. The X-rite i1 pro 2 seems the best to me, but pricey considering all my other costs, and i am hesitating to spend all this money on something that i simply might not need.  

Any advise from experience is invaluable for me right now - so please let me know your thoughts!

Edit: Thanks for all your answers - I've now posted an additional question re Solux 3500k and 4700k a few posts down,

[PhilipCummins]

What monitor calibration hardware/software to best use in this situation so that my iMac screen matches my printouts?
Options I can think of are:

X-rite ColorMunki (new approx $400)
X-rite i1Pro 2  - no idea about the different versions of this one, ie photo, pro, basic etc (second hand - approx $900)
X-rite eye 1 pro (this is the old version, second hand - approx $300)

If you were just after display calibration I'd recommend the i1 Display Pro (about $200 - $250).

I'd probably stay away from the ColorMunki Photo at this point now as X-Rite have been neglecting the software in favour of i1Profiler, for this reason I'd stay away from the older i1 Pro's as well as they have a ton of configurations and licensing issues. Most will not have licenses for i1Profiler unless you buy it specifically as a newer bundle that specifically states support for i1Profiler. (Also, they may have outdated calibrations which could be out of spec).

When it comes to the i1Pro 2 you only get 3 bundles:

i1 Basic Pro 2: Doesn't support printer profiling, so not much point spending extra over the i1 Display Pro.
i1 Photo Pro 2: Only supports RGB printer profiling (most consumer grade printers).
i1 Publish Pro 2: Supports CMYK printer profiling. I'm not sure if the Canon ipf8400 would be exposed as one, best to try the demo to see if it does. Grab a copy from X-Rite's website to try.

Don't forget the ipf8400 has its own colour management system however it looks like you'd need it in conjunction with a ipf6450, check Northlight Images. In this case probably best to speak to the Canon to use this in conjunction with their profiles for your paper to assist you with this. It may be best to outsource the calibration to Canon to avoid headaches until you are more established and can see where i1Profiler would fit in for you.

I recommend reading Why are my prints too dark? by Andrew Rodney (who frequents this forum) to get a better understanding of monitor calibration to print output as well as figuring out where/how you will view the prints which is also very important.

I like the ColorMunki one because you can send clients a folder with color adjusted files which when they open on their screen display the same colors as on your screen.

Not quite entirely true - it warns you if the person viewing your images has a properly (?) calibrated monitor or not and embeds the profiles for use. If the person's monitor is uncalibrated or out of spec then the colours would be different. Best to work with your clients on correct colour management and calibration techniques and encourage them to buy the hardware as well if they are serious about it.

[D Fosse]

so that I will print out exactly what I see on the screen

I know you're probably on a tight budget for now, but given the above goal you might want to consider a better display system as you go along. There's nothing special about the iMac screens, they're quite ordinary consumer-grade panels.

Already an NEC P232 with Spectraview II, at a little over $800 at B&H, would be an improvement. The Spectraview software communicates directly with the monitor in high bit depth (not through the video card), and gives you a level of control and precision that you simply cannot get with the i1. White point and contrast/black point can be tuned to give you a much better match to the paper you're using. And the panel itself is made to much tighter specifications than the iMac.

Then later you can upgrade the monitor to a wide gamut model like the PA242 or 272, and still use the same calibration software.

If you're somewhere else than the US, corresponding Eizo models could be as good or better value for the money (price policies differ around the world). Then you could go from a CS230 to CX or CG later. These NEC and Eizo monitors are the gold standard and no other manufacturers maintain the same consistently high quality level.

(Note: If you do get an i1 now, the sensor can be used with both Spectraview and Eizo Colornavigator later, so then you'd only need to purchase the software itself at a considerably lower price than a full package).

[digitaldog]

I'd probably stay away from the ColorMunki Photo at this point now as X-Rite have been neglecting the software in favour of i1Profiler, for this reason I'd stay away from the older i1 Pro's as well as they have a ton of configurations and licensing issues.

IMHO, they are doing a pretty good job of neglecting i1P as well but I agree with your points for the OP (I just love to stick to X-rite whenever I can in terms of their pretty awful software development speed and process). Their hardware is superb, their software is the opposite.

As the OP uses the term budget, stay very far away from the entry level X-rite display calibration product line. Again, great hardware, pretty awful software with very limited control. Their ColorMunki Smile software is nothing to smile about. The i1 Display Pro is the way to go.

[Sunshine7]

Great, thank you all for the advise! I'm going to re-read all your advise several times to get the most out of it.

So, what i get from this for now is:

- use the NEC compatible X-rite i1 display pro so that i can use this with the iMac, and with a NEC 242 in the future
- when I can, invest in a NEC 242 or NEC 272 with SpectraView II, which I now perceive to be an essential piece of equipment for what I'm trying to achieve
- set-up a proofing/viewing area for prints (mainly 18x24 & 24x36 and max 30x60 to 40x48.)

From reading about this there are several options. It sounds like the SoLux 3500K or SoLux 4700K or the The Solar Simulator D50 Ten Light Array could work?

This brings up the next question - to use 3500K or 4700K

I could experiment, and buy one or two units, SoLux 3500K as well as the SoLux 4700K and an extra set of lights for each, so that I have one or two of each, until I understand the difference and can make an informed decision. Or....?

What I understand is:
- 3500k gives ideal display conditions, prints/art will look better using 3500k than 4700k
- Monitor nor printer can or should be calibrated to 3500k but to 5000k, 5600k etc. (??) both (monitor and printer) should match up in this (this is just hearsay, I have absolutely no understanding of what I just said and I'll have to work this out)
- Color proofing can be done using 4700k  - which is the standard, or 3500k which some people use since this is how the client will best see and display the print

Any advise on this?

This is super new to me, so trying to get to grips with it and get an ideal situation setup for the future, investing one thing at the time, and am looking for what to prioritize.

By the way, any info on how to learn more about this from someone that has the right experience, or a book to start with would be super-helpful.

Thanks all!

[Tony Jay]

Whether you realise it or not the questions that you are attempting to answer go far beyond merely a hardware choice for monitor calibration.
What you need is a primer for looking at your entire workflow and how colour management is intimately entwined with it.

My suggestion is to buy and watch the Tutorial series: "Camera to Print and Screen" available on this website.
I cannot recommend this resource highly enough - considering the depth that this series touches in places it is immensely accessible, even for total noobs.
Another excellent resource comes from our own DigitalDog - Andrew Rodney's "Color Management for Photographers".
His website also has lots of interesting text and video resources.

Tony Jay

[PhilipCummins]

IMHO, they are doing a pretty good job of neglecting i1P as well but I agree with your points for the OP (I just love to stick to X-rite whenever I can in terms of their pretty awful software development speed and process). Their hardware is superb, their software is the opposite. As the OP uses the term budget, stay very far away from the entry level X-rite display calibration product line. Again, great hardware, pretty awful software with very limited control. Their ColorMunki Smile software is nothing to smile about. The i1 Display Pro is the way to go.

Yes, I've noticed development has slowed down of late, however not a much as the ColorMunki Photo (last updated late 2009!). I forgot to mention that the ColorMunki Photo will not allow setting a custom white point (just D65, 55, 50 and native) which would make matching a print out fairly difficult.

[PhilipCummins]

So, what i get from this for now is:

- use the NEC compatible X-rite i1 display pro so that i can use this with the iMac, and with a NEC 242 in the future
- when I can, invest in a NEC 242 or NEC 272 with SpectraView II, which I now perceive to be an essential piece of equipment for what I'm trying to achieve
- set-up a proofing/viewing area for prints (mainly 18x24 & 24x36 and max 30x60 to 40x48.)

Yes. If you get the full X-Rite i1 Display Pro you can use that immediately with your iMac screen with i1Profiler and then if you get a NEC display you can purchase the SpectraView software to calibrate with it later on. (Eizo has their own ColorNavigator software as well that is similar). The iMac screen should suffice until you get a handle on what you'll need next (NEC, Eizo etc) as you could probably buy a cheaper second hand smaller NEC/Eizo with low hours to use instead for a while. Don't forget Mac OS X doesn't support 10-bit colour yet so you're best sticking with 8-bit for now until you get a system that can really use it (ie Windows & graphics cards).

From reading about this there are several options. It sounds like the SoLux 3500K or SoLux 4700K or the The Solar Simulator D50 Ten Light Array could work?
...
- Color proofing can be done using 4700k  - which is the standard, or 3500k which some people use since this is how the client will best see and display the print

Unfortunately can't really comment on what other people would use, I've used the 4700K Solux bulbs and they generally seem to work OK for viewing prints (similar to D50), however the lack of dimming facilities means it's not as good as a good viewing booth that has that support. They also have a pretty limited area of illumination, and if you don't get black backed bulbs you can get a orange tinge on the outer ring of the illumination. If you can get a fixture & bulb (or set of bulbs) cheap it's worth trying out but a proper viewing booth is better.

This is super new to me, so trying to get to grips with it and get an ideal situation setup for the future, investing one thing at the time, and am looking for what to prioritize.
By the way, any info on how to learn more about this from someone that has the right experience, or a book to start with would be super-helpful.

As Tony says you should prioritise on learning what you require as well as the workflows using the tutorial series from LuLa and reading up as much as you can. At the minimum you would probably purchase the i1 Display Pro to ensure your monitor is calibrated properly, this would be a good start to get into setting up your workflow.