Im a photographer and just switched from PC to iMac. I print on Fine Art paper using a Epson 3880. My prints are darker than my display. How do I calibrate the monitor? Do Calibrate the monitor? any advise?
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014), OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)
Hi LPaul71,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities. Based on what you stated, it sounds like you want to calibrate the display. I would recommend that you read this article, it may be able to help the issue.
OS X Yosemite: Calibrate your display
Cheers,
Mario
In addition to the calibration what color profile are embedded in your image files. If they have the Adobe RGB profile the images will tend to print darker and a bit muddy on inkjet printers. You would want to use the Camera RGB, Generic RGB or the sRGB IEC61966-2.1 profile.
You can use the ColorSync Utility to compare the profiles to see the differences.
The integrated calibration software of Mac OS X won't really give you a reliable calibration, as it is done by eye, and our eyes always relate what they see to the room light and colors. Therefore, if you want reliable colors on your screen, you should calibrate with a colorimeter (sensor like spyder).
Hey there Paul I am a photographer like you, and I used X-rite to calibrate my 5K Retina works great..
Your monitor is brightly lit by powerful lamps behind the screen, while your prints are only as bright as the room light falling on them. This is not a problem that monitor calibration will solve.
Perhaps you can turn down the brightness of your monitor?
Hi Paul,
Are you using a completely colour managed workflow?. Do you have custom profiles for the papers you are printing on? Are you able to print the same image from your PC and the Mac and if so, are they different? If they are I'd look carefully at the colour settings you have in your apps and see how they compare.
As far as I know, when you have your monitor calibrated (possibly your camera(s) also, the idea is consistency in colour accuracy all the way through your workflow. The brightness you talk about may simply be the brightness of the monitor setting. If you use Photoshop, select the info panel and then move the cursor over part of an image and see the actual colour values. Now increase or decrease the brightness of your monitor by using the controls on the keyboard. You will see that the actual colour values do not change so arguably, the brightness of your monitor should not impact your prints.
I've just acquired 5K iMac and am going to have to go through this calibration process myself again. On previous macs I've been able to produce accurate prints by calibrating my camera (5DIII) using X-rite Passport, then a hardware calibrator for the monitor, and finally have custom profiles made for the papers/ink that I use. Any colour adjustment required I do in Photoshop.
FWIW, you really need to calibrate the printer as well for accurate results.
Sorry Mark, I actually meant to reply to the OP.
calibrating the 5K monitor
