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Author Topic: V2 vs V4 Printer Profiles (and ColorThink)  (Read 3838 times)

lbdina

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V2 vs V4 Printer Profiles (and ColorThink)
« on: September 18, 2014, 03:13:30 pm »

Maybe this is old news to everyone else, but I recently discovered that V4 RGB printer profiles (i1Profiler on OSX 10.8.5) can cause some very weird behavior and screwy color transformations in ColorThink Pro. For example, converting ProPhoto RGB to my printer profile with Relative Colorimetric turned bright red to green! It took me a few days to figure out what was happening, but going from v4 to V2 profiles solved the issue completely.

That made me wonder whether v4 RGB printer profiles are worth using at all. ColorThink sometimes chokes on them, and probably other applications as well. i1Profiler defaults to v4 profiles, so all the custom RGB inkjet profiles I have built with it are currently v4.

What, if any, advantages do v4 profiles provide? If the answer is 'none', or they are 'indistinguishable', then I will probably regenerate v2 profiles and send the v4 profiles to bit-heaven.

I'd appreciate hearing feedback and experience on the subject.

Thanks,

Lou
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Schewe

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Re: V2 vs V4 Printer Profiles (and ColorThink)
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2014, 05:24:09 pm »

What, if any, advantages do v4 profiles provide? If the answer is 'none', or they are 'indistinguishable', then I will probably regenerate v2 profiles and send the v4 profiles to bit-heaven.

At this point "none"...V4 profiles cause more problems than they solve...and V4 has simply not progressed with the possible exception og V4 color space profiles that can contain Perceptual rendering intents and eve those profiles are still "beta".
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Simon Garrett

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Re: V2 vs V4 Printer Profiles (and ColorThink)
« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2014, 05:28:12 pm »

I understand for v4 profiles is still rather patchy. 

If something isn't working with colour management, a good first step seems to be check if there are any v4 profiles being used, and if so try with v2. 
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lbdina

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Re: V2 vs V4 Printer Profiles (and ColorThink)
« Reply #3 on: September 18, 2014, 07:07:06 pm »

Jeff and Simon,

Thanks for your responses. I will rebuild V2 profiles for my printer based on your responses. Given what you said, I wonder why Xrite sets the default for i1Profiler to v4 profiles? I appreciate the help.

Lou
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samueljohnchia

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Re: V2 vs V4 Printer Profiles (and ColorThink)
« Reply #4 on: September 18, 2014, 08:37:22 pm »

Given what you said, I wonder why Xrite sets the default for i1Profiler to v4 profiles? I appreciate the help.

Because they do not care enough about their software.
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darlingm

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Re: V2 vs V4 Printer Profiles (and ColorThink)
« Reply #5 on: September 18, 2014, 10:47:01 pm »

Because they do not care enough about their software.

This.  They make great hardware, not great software.
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Simon Garrett

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Re: V2 vs V4 Printer Profiles (and ColorThink)
« Reply #6 on: September 19, 2014, 04:32:41 am »

This.  They make great hardware, not great software.
Very true.  My recent experience of poor xrite software includes:
  • Colormunki display: faults in the installer not properly checking folder permissions and failing on some machines
  • Colorchecker passport: fails with large raw files (e.g. Nikon D800) without sensible error messages

It is often the case that companies that need to create both hardware and software concentrate on one and neglect the other.  Nikon is another example: great cameras, abysmal software. 

Apple is one of the few exceptions. 
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Jalok

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Re: V2 vs V4 Printer Profiles (and ColorThink)
« Reply #7 on: September 19, 2014, 05:04:59 pm »

V4 profiles aren't even recognized by Epson printer drivers.
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lbdina

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Re: V2 vs V4 Printer Profiles (and ColorThink)
« Reply #8 on: September 19, 2014, 05:15:23 pm »

V4 printer profiles work fine with my Epson 3880. Never had a problem at all getting them to print and I can't really see any difference in my prints with either version. But, with all the other v4 issues, I have now changed over to v2.
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digitaldog

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Re: V2 vs V4 Printer Profiles (and ColorThink)
« Reply #9 on: September 20, 2014, 07:28:42 am »

As other's have said, V4 profiles are by and large just V2 in sheep's clothing and can in some cases case issues with other software products.

Who knows what X-rite software engineering folks are thinking (or smoking <g>). They don't support the PRMG which would make them useful as V4 profiles so it's just a sham. Stick with V2.
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Paul2660

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Re: V2 vs V4 Printer Profiles (and ColorThink)
« Reply #10 on: September 22, 2014, 09:06:14 am »

My biggest issues with v4 created profiles, is that they worked fine on the PC they were created on, however if I tried to use the same profile on a different PC, same print, software etc. (CC or LR), when softproofing, the effect is like a color negative.  Gave me fits for a while, until I realized that if I just used v2, the profiles were fine.

Paul
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Jalok

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Re: V2 vs V4 Printer Profiles (and ColorThink)
« Reply #11 on: September 22, 2014, 09:35:08 am »

V4 printer profiles work fine with my Epson 3880. Never had a problem at all getting them to print and I can't really see any difference in my prints with either version. But, with all the other v4 issues, I have now changed over to v2.

Which software is managing the color profile? The driver or the printing software? Here, the Epson R2000 driver's profile list isn't even populated by V4 profiles.
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lbdina

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Re: V2 vs V4 Printer Profiles (and ColorThink)
« Reply #12 on: September 22, 2014, 09:57:51 am »

Jalok,

Ahhhh...I misunderstood your previous comment. I always let Photoshop, LightRoom or InDesign handle the color management and have my Epson printer set to no color adjustment. It's rare to never that I let the printer handle color management. So my Epson is just receiving the converted RGB numbers from the host application. My old (now deleted) v4 profiles worked fine in that context, but I wasn't using them inside the driver. I'm now back to v2 profiles for everything.

Lou
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