Using the X-Rite i1Studio to profile a printer

[@leahdax]

Very thorough. After watching this video I feel confident that I can calibrate my printer with the X-Rite i1Studio. It would have been nice to see what the photo printout looked like before calibration and to see how closely both photos came to what was displayed on the monitor.

[@RatkoAsanovic]

Common mistake people are making when profiling a printer is doing measurements on single sheet of paper that they are profiling. Depending on the desk color in this case black in the video device will pickup some of that and it will affect the profile accuracy. As a good rule of thumb it is good to put few same blank sheets of paper that are used for printer-ink-paper combo underneath the one you are profiling. That way you are ensuring that nothing bellow the single sheet of paper will be picked up by measurement device. Back in the days when Gretag Macbeth and later X-Rite first iteration of i1Pro spectrophotometers they were including that plastic "holder" with the rail and it was neutral white color of the plastic so measurements of single sheet of paper placed on that made the measurement accurate. They still do the same for newer generations of i1Pro devices... And yes, nice video though! Cheers!

[@UNLouise]

This is one of those things that are obvious once articulated but are easily overlooked. Thank you so much!

[@robertocarrillo1751]

Your recommendation is not necessary when printing on photo paper, it is thick enough to avoid false readings when using the calibration device.

[@gregscarcella519]

Excellent tutorial! Thanks for making.

[@radeklukas]

It is quite crutial to mention that you have to (at least) pay attention to the printer's driver settings - meaning the "Advanced settings" / "More settings" etc button in the print dialog. Most printers have further color settings there and often include some sort of "smart color enhance" feature that might possibly mess up the calibration result. Unless intended othewise, you should turn any color manipulation off in there and save those driver settings and use them when printing with the profile you will create.

[@grahambrown5874]

You said at the start of the video you can use the device to calibrate a range of devices and 'finally you calibrate your monitor'. Surely, you start by calibrating the monitor so it best represents the image and you can then use it to compare changes to the print after you create a new ICC profile for the printer, ink and paper combination. I note the title of the video is about calibrating a printer. Very useful video for someone like me is new to calibrating and looking for the right device to use. Thanks for sharing.

[@stevekingswell9143]

Calibrating your monitor & printer are 2 different independent exercises. You have to do both for your overall workflow integrity but you can do either first as they don't rely on each other.

[@Castlelanestudios]

How do these compare (for printer profiling) to the older x-rite eye-one/i1 and x-rite i1iSis 2 ? Ive just opened a studio need to create profiles for both photo papers and sublimation setups.

[@ScottymanPhoto]

Nice work! Thank you!

[@SrinivasanDurairaj]

Nice Video..... Explanation and Demo are excellent.

[@terencedavis4141]

Excellent video, thank you.

[@lschiz-photography1765]

Thank you. Question, Im assuming when printing the test charts, the printer drive needs to be set so it does not manage color, ie "None" on Canon? Is this true? Thank you Scott

[@hellooohowareudoing]

I set it to "none", using a Canon printer. I assume this is correct but I'd like to be sure...

[@stevekingswell9143]

Yes, you must turn them off

[@hellooohowareudoing]

@@stevekingswell9143 Thank you!

[@hugh4gilbert]

excellent simple video, though the output looks green compared to the screen image. Also, should you choose the print without profile when printing the colour charts? Best, Hugh

[@infocusphotographyandvideo]

Thank you MIke. Most helpful. Awesome photography you have. Question for you. I already have a hardware in-bulit calibrated Ezio monitor. Can I just use the X-Rite i1studio software to just handle the printer profiling icc's. Whilst allowing my built calbrated monitor do its own thing without using the XRite calibration software setting? Does the X-Rrite software calibration let me bypass that part of its monitor setup? Thank you... Rob

[@stevekingswell9143]

Ummm... you didn't turn off colour management in the print settings !!!

[@pharmacist5884]

It is possible to make a BW-optimized profile (50 + 2 x 50 patch method) on a single sheet of paper by shrinking down the patch size to only a quarter of the paper size using the printer driver setting to print 4 pages on 1 sheet. This prints the patches on a give quadrant of your paper. Use a ruler to guide the Colormunki/i1Studio over these tiny patches. Turn around the paper and print the second patch series on the other half of the paper and you will have last quadrant left, where you can print a test image to see if the profile is properly generated. If you use the normal method like above it would take 4 sheets of paper. The 4-in-1 method saves you 3 pages of paper without quality loss.

[@thomasb1337]

It may not be possible, due to the bars in-between the patches being also shrunk. The software kinda expects it to be the way it is. It could be technically done though via Argyll-CMS and via guides and or spot measuring.

[@pharmacist5884]

@@thomasb1337 It can be done very easily and reliably: I have done it dozens of time. The bars in between are only to give the Colormunki a signal there is another colour patch to come. I have compared it with full page version: no difference at all, but you will have to move the Colormunki slowly over the patches (twice as slow as you would normally do with the full page method).

[@eggimage]

Thanks for the tutorial. Is there somewhere to download the 50-patch test chart file? or is it only available inside their application? I see that it's printing a PDF, and the PDF dropdown menu inside the dialogue box should give you an option to save PDF right?

[@NeilSnapePhotography]

Nice clear well done video. A little suggestion : when reading place the printed targets on a white surface or better a few extra sheets of the same paper. That helps the brightness and paper base white tags in the profile created.

[@jordanlotus188]

Hi! very nice job. I need your help in profiling the dtf printer for Epson L805 A4 size with CMYK and WW (for LM and LC colors). printing on PET film, please tell the process (specially white colors for LM and LC colors) using rip for printing finally . Thanks in advance. is the process will be same?

[@LinhTran-yx6wb]

Thanks for Video, so I have to calibrate for every kind of paper (glossy, semi-glossy….)

[@amikivan]

Hi, thanks for the video, does this work for large format printers? For example an HP Latex 360? Thanks!

[@dorothykloss5303]

this is an excellent video and so well narrated! I can actually understand you! anyway, I'm wondering if there is a list of compatible monitors somewhere or if myDell S2440L 24" is compatible or if there's a way to tell. I will also check with Dell and see if they can answer. I'm seriously thinking of doing this.

[@garylester55]

Hi Mike, I’ve had my i1 studio for about 3 weeks now. One thing you should have mentioned, the calibration prints need to dry for at least 10 minutes before scanning them. Anyway, that should be in the instructions on the screen in the software. I went through the same process for my Epson XP-960 when the print was printed with the profile I created, the print was totally wrong, I’m trying to work out what is wrong. Thank you for your video, regards Gary.

[@playoflightphotographicsllc]

A complete nightmare. Have been following the directions to a T and my prints are coming out very yellow. Does this only work on high-end, expensive printers? And I'm also putting blank sheets of paper under the color swatch when reading.

[@theaguilas571]

Hello, Mike. I have a question for you. I took a photo in sRGB. Then I calibrated my screen and generated my camera profile using ColorChecker, and I also calibrated my printer. Even so, the printout colors are a bit different. Do I have to transform my RGB photo into CMYK mode before sending it to print? Do you think I am omitting anything? Thank you very much.

[@folerx]

Good video. Explain what intent mean, perceptual vs relative colorimetric. In this video you can printed paper put close to monitor to viewer can see the difference.

[@gd4465]

I don't use Lightroom where can I do this in photoshop?

[@MaM44341]

In the print dialog (5:04 time) you do not select any additional printer settings. When I printed using these default settings, the output was spilled and the letters were unreadable because the printer driver uses the plain paper settings by default. Shouldn't you set the correct Media Type in Printer Settings first?

[@stevekingswell9143]

Absolutely he missed that - you need to turn off the colour mgt in the print settings.

[@dbemproductions]

How do you print from Photoshop using the profile ?

[@anthonyjuan6726]

Can someone please show me how to do linearization after profiling? Im going to try and profile my dtg (direct to garment) printer, thank you very much!

[@tombouie]

Thks Well Done

[@esd251]

Why can’t you answer all these questions here? It’s not like there’s a thousand people ask you questions!

[@lexmachina8961]

To bad you didn't show the result against your calibrated screen...

[@peterbrunphotography5021]

I calibrated both monitors and my Pro-100. My prints are still coming too dark.

[@NoDude]

You color calibrated your devices, but your monitor is probably too bright, and you're more than likely looking at your photos under dim indoor lighting. Try turning it down to 100-160 nits to start, from then on out you can measure the light intensity in the room you're viewing your photos and match your monitor brightness to that.

[@MilanRegec]

My monitor is at 80 and the brightness matches the most common glossy and semi gloss papers

[@MilanRegec]

Funny as it is, the print looks way off. Also, so many steps are omitted or not mentioned (drying before scanning, paper settings in the printer). For anybody using windows, this tutorial will lead do very bad results.

[@grzegorzkrajewski1095]

You forgot to say prints should dry for couple of minutes.

[@cdmikelis]

It is really poor design of this "studio". 1st turning knob (to calibrating position and back) is utterly stiff and awkward. Fingers slip and it is easy possible to press middle button at the wrong time. They could not design more cumbersome awkward device. Than it dangles in neoprene sleeve, on a zipper, cumbersome again, than Micro USB cable reveal how old it is and is VERY sensitive to cable length, often provided cable not long enough and not working with extension, so it needs powered usb hub ... software is really basic, too. Device itself could done much more, but no options. Like reading colors from material to make sure identical colors are used in drawings.