There are two primary “calibrations” that need to be done to assure a print will match what you see on your monitor. First, your monitor needs to be calibrated whether you print yourself or send images to a Photo Lab. Secondly, if you print yourself and the manufacture ICC profile is inadequate you need an accurate ICC Color Profile for the printer and paper being used.
Monitor Calibration
The only accurate way to do this is with a Colorimeter or Spectrometer. We use X-Rite’s professional spectrometers and software as we can use the same device to calibrate the monitor as well as generate an ICC Printer Profile.
We charge $300 for a two hour session, at your location in the SF South Bay Service Area, to calibrate your Monitor and generate a few ICC Printer Profiles. If required, additional time is billed at $150/hr. Alternatively, we can use that time to show you how to use your calibration device if you prefer. If your location is outside the Service Area we will have to charge round trip travel time at a reduced $75/hr. rate.
Because there is drift even in LCD Monitors, they should be calibrated about once a month. That is why we recommend your purchase a monitor calibration device. We will recommend products and can make a service call to show you how to use it,
Custom Printer ICC Profiles
If you are using popular Epson or Canon Professional Printers, most of the time you can download acceptable ICC Profiles from your paper supplier. If these profiles are generating prints that match your monitor. You don’t need to generate your own ICC Profiles. However, if you can’t get a profile for the paper you want to use on your printer or you don’t like the results you are getting with the manufacturer downloaded profile; you need to generate a Custom ICC Profile for your printer-paper combination.
We provide that service. It takes at least 30 minutes to generate one custom printer-paper ICC Profile because of the drying time required before an accurate spectrometer reading can be made.
We use the same pricing model as we do for Monitor calibration, see above, and most times we can do both a monitor Calibration and profile a few papers in the allocated two hour time slot. In addition, during the time we are at your location and while we are waiting for the “Ink to dry”, we can perform other computer and printer related services. In the past we have loaded the latest printer drivers, upgraded the photo editing software, cleaned and aligned the print heads, provided Lightroom and Photoshop tutoring, etc.
We are proficient on PCs and MACs.