Re: The Profile conundrum

[CDTobie@aol.com]

In a message dated 7/1/00 1:16:11 AM, denis@minamora.com writes:

>But here goes ...What do you consider to be the best 
>software/hardware combination for profiling my Mac/Epson 
>3000/Coolscan LS-2000 that would be under $500?

>I appreciate sarcasm in your replies as long as they contain kernels of 
wisdom.

Sarcasm: gee, might as well ask what really fast, sexy sports car with good 
gas milage and excellent storage space you can get for under $500...

Straight answer: Its  a tight squeeze; there is only one product that will 
profile your whole system, including monitor, printer and a slide/film 
scanner for this price:  Monaco's EZ Color... but you need a flatbed scanner 
to use it to profile your printers, and no system will profile for negatives, 
so you still need good conversion tables for them, such as you get with 
SilverFast. Or you could buy a monitor only calibration system like 
PhotoCal/MC7, and use DoctorPro to edit your way to good  printer profiles 
without profile building software, though that would be a less common method 
to use. I would lean towards this scheme, because it would allow you to 
upgrade from PhotoCal to OptiCal affordably if you later find the need; and 
to add a profile creation utility later, maybe with a spectrophotometer 
instead of a flatbed to run it. Many users simply calibrate their monitors, 
and bring scans into line by brute force. Some kind of profile creation or 
editing capability for the printer is still needed, however, and the choice 
of stand alones, from my point of view, is between Horses MatchLock Profiler 
(I or II) and Horses MatchLock Doctor Pro,  though both would serve a purpose 
in the long run. I'd still suggest starting with Doctor Pro, which is an 
amazing piece of software, and perhaps by the time you have money for further 
pruchases, Horses will have their spectro based profile creation program on 
the market.

C. David Tobie
Design Cooperative
CDTobie@designcoop.com
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