Hello to all,
First post altough long time reader of the LL forums & sites.
A little background, I do photography as a side job, both commercially & personnal artwork.
I'm a D200 user for commercial work, & love my pentax 6x7II for personnal artwork.
I love to control the end to end chain, from capture to printing. To understand the color management problematic, I've read lots of books & website review/documentation/tests but I'm not an engineer nor a color geek therefore be indulgent & pardon my ignorance (to some extend!)
(& btw sorry for my english I'm french speaking ;-)
My setup for Color Mgt includes so far a lacie electronblue IV, calibrated with Monaco Optix Xr Pro (PC environment, win XP, Matrox P650). I use a Canon i9950 A3+ with very basic output profiles based on Monaco EZColor/IT8 Target/Epson 4990 Scanner)
I'm now ready to take the plunge & invest in a A2+ printer. My choice is definitive & will be the Canon ipf5000.
I just have one question regarding which spectro from gretag, eye one WITH UV, WITHOUT UV & which software suite ?
I've read troughout my web resarch so many different & contradictory conclusions that I'm now lost !
What I want to do with my spectro is to calibrate both my monitor (CRT and LCD) + any pigment based OR colorant based printer on any kind of paper. (I will sell my Monaco Optix colorimeter if relevant) But 80% of my profiling work performed by the eye-one will be on photographic paper such as Ilford smooth pearl or glossy paper (like the PR-101) I do not intend to use much fine art paper (cotton based etc...)
Can anyone of you guys give me a simple answer on that topic (UV or Not UV, software), BASED ON PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE ? I sometimes feels that there are a lot of findings/conclusions based on theoretical & quantitative testing (which I appreciate a lot) but the bottom line for me is : What will a "lambda" observer find to be more pleasant. Read: real life experience.
Looking forward for some advice
Many thanks
Antoine

With the proper software that can detect OB's a UV isn't at all necessary (I'm using ProfileMaker Pro as well as EyeOne Match). There's a debate among color geeks. Some say UV filters are useful, some say it's like placing your hands over each ear and humming loudly (IOW, it doesn't help).

Thanks for your reply, It confims that there are some uncertainty & no reall consensus on that matter. Taking into account the price difference between both, I think I'll go for the non-UV version. I was also wondering if monacoprofiler can detect the OB's via software or not. There is the choice in their software between the iOne with or without UV. I haven't found any documentation from Monaco wether it manage the UV/non UV stuff properly via software.
Anone know this ?
Txs
Antoine

It doesn't.

I'm pretty much decided on the iOne - non UV version. (Design version for budget reason, plan to upgrade to the photo later)
I did purchase 2 years ago a Monaco Optix XR PRO.
I'm planning to sell it & use the iOne for display calibration as well.
However, while searching if there was any advantage of a colorimeter vs Spectro for display calibration, I've read Andrew's post on Dpreview (see below) which tend to conclude that in some cases, a colorimater could have an edge over a spectro.
Provided that I'm not a color geek at all but just looking for having a versatile & cost effective tools, would anyone give advice on should I sell or not the OPTIX XR PRO ?
Many Thanks for your advice.
Antoine


------ EXTRACT FROM DPREVIEW -----
No but there are advantages to using a well tuned colorimeter for display calibration since it’s usually better at measuring darker areas. Just because a Spectrophotometer cost more, it’s not necessarily better (and when measuring a display, there’s no light source used so technically it’s a spectroradiometer). Since a Spectrophotometer has to break color into many bands unlike a colorimeter which breaks the color into three components using filters that can be optimized for a display, it can out preform a Spectroradiometer in some cases. Most may not notice the difference so it’s not a recommendation not to sell the colorimeter only that the two instruments are not always equal.
--
Andrew Rodney
Author of Color Management for Photographers
The Digital Dog
http://www.digitaldog.net

If you aim to do proofing, you may find a use for the UV-cut. Or not.
If you aim to exhibit prints you need the non-cut (regular) version because the spectro should see the same thing as the customer.

Edmund

Thanks for the feedback. It's definitely for fine print, not for proofing.
Is the eye-one (spectro) device a capable device for replacing my Optix XR PRO ?

Any suggestions ?

Thanks
Antoine

Sorry for my ignorance but what does OB's mean?

Thanks
Steve

Optical Brightener, this is chemical substance added to the paper (in this case but also used in laundry detergents) to enhance the "whiteness" of the paper.

Thanks Francis! I should have figured that one out.

Steve