Matching colour on a monitor without a spectrometer

[Tristan.M.B]

Hi, I am new to the digital press world and I am learning so much.
But I am currently having problems adjusting the output colour to match colour of the monitors our designers use. I am working with a Xerox 700 with a Fiery RIP on a MAC. I don't have a spectrometer. I am changing the input and output curves with CWS, as well as changing the density of the toner. I am having some success but surely this cant be the best way to colour match. Can it? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Tristan

Xerox 700
HP DSZ2100

[Stephen Marsh]

I can see a problem here... Generally the press/printer should not attempt to match the monitor (which can be impossible) - the monitor should "match" (preview or softproof) the press. When the monitor can preview the press/printer, then the designers can have a little more confidence.

Colour on a copier can be a hit and miss affair, with great variation from day to day, calibration to calibration etc.

The basic approach that I used to use was to calibrate the copier to a repeatable state, you would hope that the test print done after day 1's calibration would look similar to the test print done after day 2's calibration etc. Once the copier is in a known state, then the CWS or other RIP settings would be used to mimic a known standard. In house designers or customers would then prepare files with softproofing set for the known print standard and convert to the known print standard.

Stephen Marsh

[Tristan.M.B]

Thanks for the information.

[Correct Color]

If you're serious about getting control of color and seeing something on your screen reasonably close to what your printer is going to print, the first thing you have do to is get a spectrophtometer or at least a good colorimeter.

But otherwise and as Stephen said, profiled or not, the last thing you want to do is chase your printer around trying to get it to "match" your monitor.

First thing you need is to profile the monitor, then profile the printing device, then set up whatever application(s) you use to soft proof your images through the printer profile.

If you can't/won't take those steps, then just accept that your monitor and prints will not match, and concentrate on keeping your printer as calibrated and stable as you can so that at least you have somewhat consistent discrepancies.


Mike Adams
Correct Color

[Tristan.M.B]

Thanks for the quick responses. I didn't think I was in the best position, trying to match a monitor.

Tristan