Monitor and Printer calibration with Display Mate

[Julie Deane]

Hi,

I'm sick and tired of dealing with a monitor and printer that don't see eye to eye. I'm tired of printing over and over, trying to overcome the differences in color and value between them. So, I'm finally getting around to doing something about it. After some research, I decided to order a program called Display Mate:

http://www.displaymate.com/intro.html

It involves a fair bit of work for setup, but looks like it will do a good job.
Unlike programs with automatic calibrator devices, I have to do the work using the test patterns supplied, but I believe that it will pay off in the long run. Plus it's pretty cheap, always a good thing.

I'm buying the program that's on a USB drive, so I can calibrate not only my one monitor, but anything else I might want, such as my laptop, my son's monitor, TV, etc. Even my camera, or so the literature says.

I'll try to remember to report back on how well it works after I have had time to use it.

[John Reidy]

Julie,

Hello.

One simple thing you might try if you haven't already, is to make sure your graphic and your printer are speaking the same language. Not literally. I am talking about how each uses color information.

If you can, assign a color profile (Adobe RGB) to you graphic and to your printer.

Some programs will use one profile while the printer tries to use another. This can foul up your color.

And, yes, please keep us posted on the new software. I'm curious.

[Carver Shivers]

A great tool for monitor calibration is called the Huey by Pantone. Go to

http://www.pantone.com/pages/product...px?pid=79&ca=2

It is a simple tool that works great. check it out.

[Julie Deane]

Thanks, John and Carver,

I know part of the problem has been the printer speaking a different language. I want to be able to get very close prints to what I see on my monitor but I also I want my monitor to show an image that others can see clearly on internet, at least as much as possible, given all the variety out there.

Carver, the Huey was one option I looked into. I've decided, after a lot of looking around, to go this other route, for reasons having to do with cost, differences of opinions in reviews, etc. I should have found the time to work on it within the next week, so I'll report back soon.