Help Profiling Imageprograf Pro-1000 w/ i1Profiler/i1Pro2

[jkline]

I’m having some issues profiling paper on my Canon ImageProGraf Pro-1000.  I’ve spent the most time profiling Canson’s Platine Fibre Rag and Rag Photographique (310) papers (which I’ve added as media types in Canon’s MCT).

Rather than dump 10,000 words on you; I’d like to start simple by making sure I am printing test charts correctly and evaluating the results in a meaningful way.

Printing Test Charts
I’m saving 2033 patch charts to disk, opening them in Adobe Color Printer Utility and printing while selecting the correct paper, quality, clear coating option, etc.  I’ve read some posts that getting Canon printer’s to not apply their own color correction is tricky.  Is using Adobe’s Color Printer Utility giving me what is required?

Evaluating Results

• Pick the newly created profile in i1Profiler’s ColorChecker Proof, save it to disk.
• Print Color Checker Proof in Photoshop CC (2017) with Canon’s Print Studio Pro plug-in using the perceptual intent.
• Scan this print with i1Profiler’s Measure Chart using spot measurements and saving the result.
• In BabelColor’s Patch Tool:
  
  • Open X-Rite’s ColorChecker24_After_Nov2014.txt file.
  • Open the measure chart measurements file saved in step 3 and choosing M0 (M0/1/2 are nearly identical as the paper has no OBAs).
  • Select Tools Compare choosing ColorChecker24_After_Nov2014.txt as ref. and the measurements as sample (leaving default 2 degree/D50 settings).

Is this a reasonable way to evaluate the profile?  I don’t actually know if ColorChecker24_After_Nov2014 contains the right l*a*b values for the ColorChecker that i1Profiler constructs, but it seems to be very close (and closer than the before 2014 file).  For those of you measuring DE2000, how are you measuring this?  What are you printing and what are you measuring it against.

Thanks for any help you may be able to provide.

Cheers,
John

More Info that Might Not be Useful at Present if the Above is Not Correct
I’m seeing DE2000s averaging > 1, and the average is not going down as I optimize.  1.22 -> 1.17 -> 1.27.

For example, for Rag Photographique 310 I’m seeing the following for the profiler, a 2033 optimization and another 2033 optimization on top of that.

profile (2033 patches)
STATS-SETTINGS
Delta parameter:    "E*"
Illuminant:    "D50"
Observer:    "2 deg."
Delta-E* formula:    "CIEDE2000"
Absolute values:    "NO"
Separate Neg./Pos. stats:    "NO"
Negative samples:    0
Positive samples:    24
Number of samples:    24

AVERAGE
All samples:    1.22
Best 90%:    1.09
Worst 10%:    2.67

STANDARD-DEVIATION
All samples:    0.62
Best 90%:    0.45
Worst 10%:    0.17

MAXIMUM-ERROR
10th percentile:    ±    0.54
Median (50th perc.):    ±    1.17
90th percentile:    ±    2.08
95th percentile:    ±    2.51
Of all samples:    ±    2.84

optimized profile (additional 2033 patches)
STATS-SETTINGS
Delta parameter:    "E*"
Illuminant:    "D50"
Observer:    "2 deg."
Delta-E* formula:    "CIEDE2000"
Absolute values:    "NO"
Separate Neg./Pos. stats:    "NO"
Negative samples:    0
Positive samples:    24
Number of samples:    24

AVERAGE
All samples:    1.17
Best 90%:    1.07
Worst 10%:    2.31

STANDARD-DEVIATION
All samples:    0.51
Best 90%:    0.40
Worst 10%:    0.05

MAXIMUM-ERROR
10th percentile:    ±    0.65
Median (50th perc.):    ±    1.05
90th percentile:    ±    1.93
95th percentile:    ±    2.26
Of all samples:    ±    2.36

optimization of optimized profile (yet another 2033 patches)
STATS-SETTINGS
Delta parameter:    "E*"
Illuminant:    "D50"
Observer:    "2 deg."
Delta-E* formula:    "CIEDE2000"
Absolute values:    "NO"
Separate Neg./Pos. stats:    "NO"
Negative samples:    0
Positive samples:    24
Number of samples:    24

AVERAGE
All samples:    1.27
Best 90%:    1.19
Worst 10%:    2.13

STANDARD-DEVIATION
All samples:    0.49
Best 90%:    0.44
Worst 10%:    0.18

MAXIMUM-ERROR
10th percentile:    ±    0.61
Median (50th perc.):    ±    1.36
90th percentile:    ±    1.93
95th percentile:    ±    1.94
Of all samples:    ±    2.31

[Doug Gray]

You are comparing different types of apples. At least they aren't apples and oranges!

You need to compare patches defined in an image to the measured print values from printing the same image.

1. Print a babelcolor colorchecker image using Abs. Col. intent.
2. Then read that print's patch colors.
3. Compare the two sets.

Patchtool will also generate a setable, large number of colors that you can use to get a broader set of comparisons but the 24 Colorchecker set is good enough for most purposes.

[jkline]

Thanks for the quick reply Doug!

I exported X-Rite's ColorChecker24_After_Nov2014.txt file in lab with PatchTool and printed the files in absolute colormetric.  The stats look a whole lot better now.  This will allow be to make progress.  Again, thank you.

For those who looked at the stats in my original post, below are the new numbers  I measured as soon as the sheets came out of the printer, so I'll likely remeasure tomorrow.

profile (2033 patches)
STATS-SETTINGS
Delta parameter:    "E*"
Illuminant:    "D50"
Observer:    "2 deg."
Delta-E* formula:    "CIEDE2000"
Absolute values:    "NO"
Separate Neg./Pos. stats:    "NO"
Negative samples:    0
Positive samples:    24
Number of samples:    24

AVERAGE
All samples:    0.99
Best 90%:    0.94
Worst 10%:    1.58

STANDARD-DEVIATION
All samples:    0.33
Best 90%:    0.29
Worst 10%:    0.07

MAXIMUM-ERROR
10th percentile:    ±    0.58
Median (50th perc.):    ±    1.05
90th percentile:    ±    1.44
95th percentile:    ±    1.51
Of all samples:    ±    1.65

optimized profile (additional 2033 patches)
STATS-SETTINGS
Delta parameter:    "E*"
Illuminant:    "D50"
Observer:    "2 deg."
Delta-E* formula:    "CIEDE2000"
Absolute values:    "NO"
Separate Neg./Pos. stats:    "NO"
Negative samples:    0
Positive samples:    24
Number of samples:    24

AVERAGE
All samples:    0.96
Best 90%:    0.91
Worst 10%:    1.52

STANDARD-DEVIATION
All samples:    0.31
Best 90%:    0.27
Worst 10%:    0.05

MAXIMUM-ERROR
10th percentile:    ±    0.60
Median (50th perc.):    ±    0.92
90th percentile:    ±    1.28
95th percentile:    ±    1.47
Of all samples:    ±    1.57

optimization of optimized profile (yet another 2033 patches)
STATS-SETTINGS
Delta parameter:    "E*"
Illuminant:    "D50"
Observer:    "2 deg."
Delta-E* formula:    "CIEDE2000"
Absolute values:    "NO"
Separate Neg./Pos. stats:    "NO"
Negative samples:    0
Positive samples:    24
Number of samples:    24

AVERAGE
All samples:    0.88
Best 90%:    0.84
Worst 10%:    1.32

STANDARD-DEVIATION
All samples:    0.27
Best 90%:    0.25
Worst 10%:    0.03

MAXIMUM-ERROR
10th percentile:    ±    0.51
Median (50th perc.):    ±    0.83
90th percentile:    ±    1.23
95th percentile:    ±    1.28
Of all samples:    ±    1.35