PANTONE hueyPRO

Submitted by ireid on Tue, 2007-10-30 14:01.

Member's Forum

Monitor Calibrator. Anyone know if this is worth buying and deploying in an art department? We are buying a few Apple 23 inch monitor and we want to have accurate color. Is this any good?

Thanks for the help!

I've never ever used one,

Submitted by natobasso on Tue, 2007-10-30 14:19.

I've never ever used one, mainly because monitor color and print color will always be different.

Get a pantone swatch book and save your money on the calibrator. I do recommend setting all your monitors the same so once you do a few jobs you can tell how your colors change when they print.

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Powerpoint is not a design application

Questionable

Submitted by Creative_NRG on Tue, 2007-10-30 20:45.

This is very questionable advice for a print designer.

Monitor calibration is critical to matching print color onscreen and if you've ever seen ICC profiles in action you'd fall off your chair at how accurate it is. (scanner, monitor, proofing device, press)

http://www.idealliance.org/dal/resources/presentations/HutchNYC021005.pdf

My advice is not

Submitted by natobasso on Tue, 2007-10-30 22:26.

My advice is not questionable -- it comes from my experience and has served me well.

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Powerpoint is not a design application

Thanks

Submitted by ireid on Tue, 2007-10-30 20:08.

I'll go with my gut and get the office to buy the HueyPRO. Hey its not MY money! lol :)

"Try not, Do! or do not, there is no try."
-Yoda

Monitor Calibration

Submitted by Creative_NRG on Tue, 2007-10-30 20:34.

If you want accurate color you need to implement monitor calibration. After working with a top end spectrophotometer that model seems a little on the cheap end to me.

Pantone lists the HueyPro as an 'advanced' model.

http://www.pantone.com/pages/products/product.aspx?ca=2&pid=79

Here's are a couple comparison charts.
http://www.pantone.com/popups/colorcontrol/eyeone_comparison_chart.htm

http://www.xrite.com/documents/company/en/ATaGlanceCreativePrepress_en.pdf

I've personally used the Sypder2Pro and Eye One 2 Display. I've had great success with Gretag Macbeth Eye One 2 Display for calibration within an art department. I used the ProfileMaker 5 Photostudio Pro when working at a commercial printer and it is out of this world for calibrating and creating custom profiles. We even used it to build custom profiles for our presses. But it is a pricey at $2500.

http://usa.gretagmacbethstore.com/

Thanks

Submitted by ireid on Tue, 2007-10-30 21:12.

But NRG, I value everyone's opinion and I think you're a little harsh on Nato. But thanks anyway I did some research and I think besides the Spyder I will go with the hueyPRO, its perfect of our needs at this time, we ust want to make sure that what we see is really what we get.

Thanks for the links.

nato: I have to get a Pantone color matching system ANYWAY, but that's for next year. Its QUITE expensive. :)

"Try not, Do! or do not, there is no try."
-Yoda

Yeah, NRG. Thanks ireid for

Submitted by natobasso on Tue, 2007-10-30 22:27.

Yeah, NRG. Thanks ireid for the support. :)

While calibration is awesome and can get you close, you will NEVER get the same results as print because you're viewing a document on a screen, which is light reaching your eye as compared to a printed document which is ink on paper. Two completely different media.

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Powerpoint is not a design application

I wanted a LaCie actually. . .

Submitted by ireid on Tue, 2007-10-30 21:15.

But the management's rationale is "Why buy 2 when we can get 4 Apple's for the same budget allocation?"

:) 4 IS better than 2 BUT would it compromise our color matching?

"Try not, Do! or do not, there is no try."
-Yoda

How accurate?

Submitted by Creative_NRG on Tue, 2007-10-30 21:26.

It's been my experience you get what you pay for. A pair of LaCie's would be better in my opinion but it all depends on your quality standards. Without a calibrated press profile it most likely won't matter a great deal. Some very picky people I've worked with in the past have suggested Mac LCD monitors fade over time. I don't know to what degree or how that compares to LaCie.

Also keep in mind that the Delta-E on a press can vary wildly from one end of the sheet to the other.

Apple Cinema Displays

Submitted by Creative_NRG on Wed, 2007-10-31 04:55.

To answer your question here is an excellent report on the color accuracy of the Apple Cinema Displays.

http://www.colormanagement.nl/reports/index.php?acdcolor05_intro

Here is a PDF version.

http://images.apple.com/pro/pdf/AppleReport2005_rc1_051214.pdf

We're an ad agency

Submitted by ireid on Tue, 2007-10-30 21:47.

So what we desire is that when we send out is what we get back as close as possible. We do everything from Business Cards to Billboards and we have many varied printers from Newspapers to offset to large format. Some of our presses have gone CTP (Direct to plate) and they no longer send us press matches only laser color proofs to sign off. The Newspapers don't send us proofs. . . so u understand we have to allow for different presses and different outputs.

"Try not, Do! or do not, there is no try."
-Yoda

Profiling

Submitted by Creative_NRG on Tue, 2007-10-30 21:58.

I understand what you're shooting for and you're on the right track.

Take a look at this presentation on color management and ICC profiles.
http://www.idealliance.org/dal/resources/presentations/HutchNYC021005.pdf

You'd probably be well served to get your proofing device calibrated along with your monitors. [That may require a different spectrometer as I believe the HueyPro only does displays]

After that its about coordination with your printers and selecting and working with the right profiles to use for each.

Nothing beats a good

Submitted by natobasso on Tue, 2007-10-30 22:29.

Nothing beats a good relationship with a print vendor when it comes to getting colors the way you want them, IMHO. All the calibration in the world isn't going to change that printers perform differently day to day.

Dust, heat, ink levels and paper all contribute to the great variable that is professional printing. Calibration can't give you any of this information.

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Powerpoint is not a design application

Calibration does have its

Submitted by natobasso on Tue, 2007-10-30 22:32.

Calibration does have its place, though:
http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/colorcalibration/a/cal_monitor.htm

It can help you and your printer speak the same language and help you anticipate what your printed colors will look like. Don't mean to sound like calibration is totally useless; just want to say it's not the only tool you should use for getting correct printed color.

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Powerpoint is not a design application