Direct Comparison between the Color Munki Photo, the i1PRO2 and OEM Profiles in print

[@kashyusaf9260]

Hey Mr Rodriguez, great vid. I think your video proves one thing: OEM profiles offer excellent tonal and colour quality with negligible difference over a freshly made profile. Using a manufacturer's profile for your specific printer will yield near perfect results. I personally would have no issue using an OEM profile if all factors fit the criteria for printing. A suggestion if I may. Profiling papers is best served if no profiles exist for the printer/ink/paper combination. The best test would be either to profile an Epson paper for a Canon and compare against an OEM Epson print and perhaps vice versa; a Canon paper profiled for an Epson printer compared against a Canon print. This surely must be a better experiment to do and actually shows everyone why profiling is important.

[@dunnymonster]

Outstanding Jose and thank you so much for taking the time to do this profile comparison. Overall I've been very happy with my X rite i1 Studio results but of course that didn't stop me wondering just how much better my profiles would be if I ponied up for the more advanced i1Pro2. Seems you answered my question here 😊 That said I don't think I could justify or even afford to pay that much for the i1Pro2 anyway. 👍

[@GTIspeeder]

Great video. Would like to see how Agyll CMS performs also against these.

[@tyurek]

I bought the Colormunki when it first came out to make profiles for my Canon iPF6100. I quickly noticed that compared to some OEM profiles, the prints using Colormunki profiles had blocked up shadows. It was quite noticable and annoying for me. Wondering if Xrite purposefully crippled the software, I tried Argyll and was excited to see that there was no limit on the number of patches you could select. I quickly generated targets with 2000+ patches and was delighted to see that those shadows opened up beautifully after the first try. There seemed to be nothing wrong with the Colormunki hardware, it was the software with only 100 patches which was the bottleneck. Of course depending on how discerning the user is and the images that are being printed, it can be more than adequate in many cases. But there is potential for more using different software and Argyll is free although the user interface at the time was not very ... user friendly. I used the command line interface on my Windows PC.

[@DixonMarshall]

Great info. I was unfamiliar with the i1 pro 2, until now. I have an i1 studio device, and as far as I'm concerned, it performed a miracle on my old Designjet 500 42 inch in roll printer. I could always get the colors somewhat close, but not close enough to satisfy me using textured fine art paper. I had relegated it to use as a poster printer, because color matching was such a pain. It only uses CYMK inks. After profiling with the i1 studio, I can make some amazing large fine art prints on that machine and on that paper. I sold my first 20 x 30 print from it right after first profiling it a few of years ago, and the client was stunned by the quality. It still produces amazing images on any paper that I profile for it. The original RIP that came with it won't run on anything past Windows XP SP3, so I had just about given up on it. Then I got the i1 studio. Now, thanks to you, I also have Qimage Ultimate. Together, they work better than the original RIP ever did.

[@jimlad01]

3 years later and the Colormunki Photo device appears not to work (will not calibrate) with either i1Studio or ccStudio (the new owner) on the Mac.The device works fine with say Palette Master Ultimate monitor calibration app, so I suspect it's the device drivers but not sure. Any clues welcome. Thanks for the video.

[@pharmacist5884]

Try a Windows machine or virtual machine inside MacOS. I don't understand why people keep on strugglin with MacOS: problems with drivers and messed up color management with printers and so on after each update. The clue is MacOS. I am running my Colormunki Photo that works perfectly with ccStudio....under Windows 11.

[@andremartinst]

You always have excellent explanations

[@gbee8888]

Great review... except at 12:10 a lot of the patches still seem way off?

[@ceedelosreyes6357]

beginner here, so after you create the print profile for your printer how do you select it next time you come to print on say a Mac, or does it load automatically?

[@manfredchan4331]

Hi Jose thx for all the great tips. However i am confused can i use resetter and pc link in the pro-10s just like the pro-10? They should be the same right may i ask?

[@cheo1949]

Yes you can!

[@jeg569]

Great information Jose, thanks for the video, loved the fly moment 🙅🏼‍♂️🤣

[@robertminnicks1136]

please explain the two color photo profile . to me they both show big color differences. what did i miss? Color Munki

[@cheo1949]

Are you referring to the ones I just made on the video? The results including OEM one are visually identical.

[@kanedafx1]

Aloha all, what monitor for a non-pro you guys recommend for around 500$, thank you, 4k better?

[@MyJuancho2010]

mr Jose..If the laboratory that I use does not have the color profiles ... It is possible to send that color sheet to print in an external laboratory. I say how to give it a save and then send that file to print online.

[@cheo1949]

Wait... you want them to produce a profile for you? Commercial labs only print on a few papers and they would very likely already have custom profiles for the papers and printers they use.

[@lukepo9535]

Hi Jose, Thanks for this test comparing two very different in prices devices. This test was long awaited 1- How frequently would you redo paper calibration on your printer-ink combination ? (when refilling ??, new batch of the same paper brand or else) 2- Would you recommend every printing session too perform a nozzle check, prior to printing ? 3- Epson 3880 printer has an option to print B&W (enhanced), colors are controlled by the printer, what is your thought on this ?, am I better to use Qimage Ultimate for this , and use the the color profile of my colormunki pro? regards Luke

[@Old00Farth]

Why the Color Munki and not the X-Rite i1Studio..?

[@cheo1949]

Because I don't have an i1 Studio. Besides they are the same.

[@drouskog]

Excellent video Jose, waited for this video comparison long time now. Did not know that the i1Pro2 can only produce V4 profiles and no V2 profiles. It is possible to compare all kinds of profiles with a paid software called Color Think Pro.

[@borez321]

I believe it's still possible to generate v2 profiles in i1Profiler (the settings are in the "Advanced" section under the Profile Settings tab). Also you might want to consider downloading Gamutvision - it's a free (deprecated & now open sourced) profile viewing software.

[@drouskog]

@@borez321 Thanks for the very useful reply.

[@DakCuh]

Have you ever replaced the excess ink pad on the pro 100? Will you ever make a video on that

[@Old00Farth]

But thanks a million (once again) - so exiting that bot units performs equal despite the difference in price/procedure - beyond wild!

[@cheo1949]

Thanks!

[@Old00Farth]

Procedurevise the two are very different - especially the Color Munki - where you have to wait 24 hours between first and second reading. Pricing is also very different - surprised that the more inexpensive Color Munki create almost same result/ICC profile than the i1pro2 - why pay more if you can get same result for less?

[@cheo1949]

Well they give you 10 minute drying time and 24 hour drying is if you want to wait that long. I have found zero difference between the one hour wait I did and 24 hours.

[@eygloaradottir4044]

would there be similar results with OEM inks?

[@hautehussey]

Larger gamut volume doesn’t necessarily mean better. You are, after all, profiling the same ink! If you find one profile significantly larger then you probably have a profile that isn’t accurate!

[@cheo1949]

Yes there is a limit. But often an OEM profile will yield about 15% lower gamut volume than one you create yourself on your own machine. At least that is my experience.