Colour Management Equipment

The ColorMunki Design and Photo were already discussed. A review can be read on IT Enquirer.

One of the best colour management devices is the industry-standard Eye-One spectrophotometer with iO robot arm, which guarantees a smooth and perfectly accurate profile. The Eye-One is replacing the older Spectrolino and a whole group of X-Rite products that used to compete with the device. The measurement accuracy of the Eye-One is quite high, which is why it is used by printers all over the world.

The measurement device communicates with a software application that stores the spectral data measured by the device in a measurement file. From this measurement file an ICC profile is constructed. A lot of math is involved in the process, which is why the resulting profile will always differ slightly from the reference file on which the test target is based. Rounding errors prevent the profile from being as accurate as the measurement file.

When you are dealing with contract proofing, therefore, it is advised to create several test targets and average the resulting measurements before creating the actual profile. Also, several profiles created over time, can be averaged so that all rounding errors that might occur, can be amortized quite successfully. This is not absolutely necessary in the case of inkjet printers being used by photographers.

ProfileMaker Pro vs. MonacoProfiler

X-Rite has 2 professional-grade applications with which you can create ICC colour profiles. ProfileMaker Pro is a modular application that uses a dongle to activate modules as you buy license upgrades. MonacoProfiler works about the same, but does not have a module for the package industry, which ProfileMaker Pro does have.

MonacoProfiler also doesn't come with multicolour and Hexachrome capabilities enabled by default, and it's a closed system, i.e. it doesn't comply with the CGATS standard.