Printer profiling: Wondering what media type to choose?
Friday, June 20, 2008 at 09:52AM If you create your own ICC profiles for your inkjet printer, you should be interested in understanding which media type to select when printing off targets that are ultimately read by your spectro. Scott Martin of Onsight has created a nifty image entitled the Onsight Media Selection Image that helps you determine which is the best media type to use.
thumnail of Onsight's Media Selection image
Why does this matter? From Scott's web site:
"This 5×7 color image is intended to be used by advanced users to determine a media’s optimal media selection prior to the profiling process. If you have a 3rd party paper and you aren’t quite sure which media selection to use in the printer driver, simply print this image without a profile several times with different media selections. When the prints come out run your finger across the smudge test area to see if the the ink is drying at an acceptable rate. Compare the final prints for maximum black density (DMax), color gamut, shadow detail and dot smoothness. You’ll want to choose the media selection that delivers the best DMax without loosing a significant amount of shadow detail (loosing 5% or less is OK), or without a course dot pattern caused by what I call “micro pooling” (where dots touch due to excessive ink)."
Scott adds:
"Once you have determined the optimal media selection then one can print a profiling target and generate an ICC profile that delivers optimal results. I do this constantly onsite on my client’s printers (as well as my own) and keep a running list of the results. By doing so, I often find that I can get better results than with a paper manufacturer’s recommendation. Hats off to those that question conventional wisdom and do there own quantitative testing."
You can download the image from Onsight's web site by clicking here.
Reader Comments (1)
Excellent profilling about printer and thanks for sharing your thoughts with us..Keep up the good work..