RE: Colorvision RGB Profiler; good or bad???

["Barry Kelsall" <bktimes@yuppiegeek.net>]

<x-charset iso-8859-1>I use Profiler RGB 2.1 at my day job and my side work with Photoshop 5.5. I
have used four different scanners, each requiring different slider
adjustments to achieve acceptable profiles. The Umax Astra 1200S introduced
a green cast, the Canon (?) introduced a red cast, The Microtek ScanMaker 4
created a neutral but desaturated cast, and my latest side work partner, an
Epson 1640 SU Photo, created the worst nightmares of all until...

I broke the rules.

Instead of using ColorVision's recommended scanner settings, I checked
"ICM/sRGB" in the Epson Twain 5 Configuration. Then in Photoshop 5.5 I
applied a profile-to-profile conversion on the scan from sRGB to Adobe RGB.
This was as close to the bullseye as I have come on the first attempt making
a profile.

Please note that I have also found it makes a  * h u g e *  difference which
ink setting you use in the Epson print driver. For both my 1200 & 1160s, I
am using Backlight Film. For example, using Photo Quality Glossy Film in my
Generations 4 1160 was just impossible to profile. Also note that this
method is still not perfect. For example my MIS dye 1160 profiles don't open
the shadow detail as well as my Gen 4 1160 profiles, although the dye prints
still look good with the overall denser black.

Thinking that this method supports the need to profile the scanner, I wrote
ColorVision. Brian Levey, ColorVision Vice President answered that they are
working on an update that will improve the "first try" performance of
Profiler RGB, available within 3 to 4 months. They will still not profile
the scanner, though.

As an aside, at my day job we recently competed with 12 other companies to
print "Authorized Distributor Certificates" for a local high-tech company.
They provided a sample that looked like a dye-sub print & purchased one
print from us for the competition for the contract - over 300 prints. I
recreated the art in Illustrator 9 & PS 5.5 then printed to a Gen 3 1160 on
Glacier Matte using the Microtek ScanMaker 4 profile. We got the contract, &
the company said it wasn't even close. They were very curious what type of
printer we used, & mentioned one of the competitors was - Epson!

To answer the question posed by this subject line: Profiler RGB can be quite
good. The time spent making the profiles can be bad, depending on your
scanner, Twain software, & Epson print driver ink setting.  -BK


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