Monitor/Camera/Scanner Profiles

• Profile your input devices (scanner and camera)
  
  Use a profiling tool like Vuescan, Eye-One or a profiling service such as BAT Systems
  
  
• Profile your output devices (monitor and printer)
  
  Use a hardware profile tool like Eye-One or a profiling service or software tools such as Adobe Gamma (distributed with Photoshop/Elements) and the RH Designs DISC1. Hardware tools are preferred as they do not rely on the operator to make subjective judgements.
  
  
• Use a colour management aware application to link them all together
  
  Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Picture Window Pro, Corel Paint Shop, etc.
  
  

• Profiling your camera/scanner/monitor requires a site visit by one of our staff. We charge a fee based on distance from our office near Buxton in Derbyshire. We then charge an additional fee to profile each device. It's almost certainly more cost effective for you to buy your own equipment to profile these items.
  
  
• Monitors need to be regularly profiled as their output will drift with time. CRT displays are worse in this respect and should be profiled every week for accuracy. LCD monitors are more stable and don't need to be calibrated so often (once a month is Ok). If you are on a tight budget and you do not need to send your images to other people to work on then we recommend the Pantone Huey. This device produces acceptable profiles but there are limitiations. Read this review (external link) for more details. If you do go with the Huey we recommend the 'Web Browsing & Photo Editing' option for white balance (~6500K/Gamma 2.2). The Huey is not recommended if you need to prepare images for other users, e.g. for sending to a lab, as you cannot tell other operators exactly how your monitor is calibrated. Other recommended monitor calibration tools are the Spyder 2, the Eye-One Display 2 or the Eye-One Display LT.
  
  
• If you are scanning film then ideally your scanner should be profiled against each film type that you use. For slides low cost IT8.7 profile targets are available from Wolf Faust at http://www.targets.coloraid.de/. If you use a flatbed scanner we recommend the R1 target at €10. For film scanners we recommend the S1 pack at €70 (includes R1) (Prices correct as of 01-Mar-2006). We also recommend that you use Vuescan to drive your scanner ($89.95 as of 23-Feb-2006). You need the Pro version to profile your scanner.
  
  
• Your camera needs profiling every time white balance changes. The easiest way to do this is to photograph a reference target in the same lighting as you are using for the rest of your shots. Programs like Vuescan are then able to generate a profile from this reference. We recommend the C1 camera target from http://www.targets.coloraid.de/ (€25 as of 01-Mar-2006) or a GretagMacbeth mini colour checker. An alternative is the QPCard range (we haven't tried the QPCard ourselves so we can't comment on it's accuracy).