Photography News Issue 51

Photography News | Issue 51 | photographynews.co.uk

First tests

X-Rite i1Studio £450

Specs

Two words guaranteed to make most photographers quake in their boots are ‘colour management’. Getting colours spot-on, for photographers in all spheres, is really important; but colour management is seen to be bit of an IT dark art and not something to be trifledwith. Maybe the newX-Rite i1Studio outfit will change all that. It is designed to get your colours from capture to output, so from using a digital camera or scanner through to projection and print. The outfit comes with the X-Rite’s ColorChecker Classic Mini, a 10.7x6.2cm test chart with 24 colour patches, USB cable and an i1Studio spectrophotometer with a holder. To get going, all you need is to download the i1Studio software. Also available is the ColorTRUE mobile app for colour correct images on iOS devices. Starting with capture, the point of the ColorChecker Classic Mini is to help you achieve the correct colours in software after capture. Include the card in the scene when you take the shot, ensuring that the card is in the same light as the subject. So, for example, if you’re shooting a portrait in shade and you are standing in the sun, the card needs to be in the shade – just ask the subject to hold it for a test shot. It does mean a new shot as you move from location to location but, for example, if you want to keep the cream wedding dress looking correct all day long the extra few seconds taking a test shot is worthwhile. If you prefer, X-Rite offers a robust option with the ColorChecker Passport Photo for £90. This features more colours and comes in a plastic case. In software, using your test shot and clicking on a neutral colour patch – one of the greys in the row of white, grey and black patches works – means the colours in the shot are correct. Syncing the corrected shot with others shot under the same lightingmeans all your shots in that sequence will be accurate. When it comes to hardware profiling, the i1Studio software takes you through the process in a logical manner and there is plenty of on-screen assistance and explanation as you go. The first dialogue screenafter you’ve opened the software gives the options of monitor, print or scanner calibration, together with a graphic of the spectrophotometer showing how the unit is set up for various functions. For

Price

£450

In the box i1Studio spectrophotometer, holder, USB cable and ColorChecker Classic Mini System requirements Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 – all with latest service pack, 512RAM, 500MB hard disk space, monitor resolution of 1024x768 or higher Mac OS X 10.11x or later, 512RAM, 500MB hard disk space, monitor resolution of 1024x768 or higher Light source White LED Contact xpdistribution.com

a print from the software’s test image on the material to be profiled and you can do this via the software or save the test chart and print through your preferred software. Either way, allow ten minutes to let the print dry and then it is time to use the spectrophotometer (out of its soft pouch) to scan each row of the test print. The software guides you through this and the process is straightforward enough. It is also quick as you smoothly pass the spectrophotometer over each strip of colours in turn and you don’t have to stop and measure each colour patch. The software tells you whether each pass was successful or not. There is a knack to this and to start with some strips took several goes to get it right. With the first test print scanned, the software then produces another test image and you go through the printing/scanning process again and this time end upwith an ICC profile for the printer/paper that you can then use for future output. If you major on one or two papers, it’s done quite quickly. If you like to use a wide variety of papers it takes time but the effort and saving on paper cost is worthwhile. One nice feature is being able to pick five different looks for monochrome output and the process is the same. It is a clever innovation and open to more presets–seleniumtoning, lithprintsand split toning are settings I’d like to see. All told, the calibration process proved painless. WC

Original

Corrected

Images Colour management needs to start from capture and shooting the test chart means you can get an accurate result in editing very easily.

print calibration you have the option of colour or mono output and you can produce an optimised profile too. I started by profiling my pair of BenQ SW2700 monitors. These were bought newat the same time so the first test was to get both screens looking the same. That sounds simple enough but frompast experiences, it isn’t. The calibration process starts with the device calibrating itself which takes about 12 seconds; just follow the graphic on the screen. During calibration you can rely on defaultsettingsthatsetsCIEIlluminant D65 as the white point, 2.2 gamma and 120cd/m2 luminance. If you prefer you can take an ambient light reading for a custom luminance reading. I mostly work in lower ambient light levels with little daylight in the roomso I thought a customreadingwouldbemore relevant – I got a reading of 80cd/m2 so that was

my luminance target when it came to adjusting the screen’s brightness. With the unit resting on the screen, which I angled up to ensure no extraneous light being detected, I was ready to profile. The profiling process measures 118 colours and takes five minutes and you can leave the i1Studio unit to it after the screen brightness adjustment step. The final step is to save the profile and compare a selection of images beforeandafter–youcanloadyourown TIF images if you prefer. Dragging the software interface to the second screen and repeating the process resulted in two identical looking screens so I was impressed by that. For this test I profiled my Epson SureColor SC-P800 printer and one of my frequently used papers, Epson’s Traditional Photo. With printer profiling the process starts by making

Verdict

Colour management is not glamorous which is probably

why many photographers do not accord it the time and investment it needs, and with the i1Studio costing £450 it is by no means cheap. However, given the importance of accurate and consistent colour management it is money well spent and the kit will soon pay for itself in actual material costs but also, probably more importantly, in time savings in your workflow.

Pros Easy to use, intuitive software, it works, versatile Cons It isn’t cheap

Software step by step

The i1Studio software’s interface is clear and easy to follow, with options to calibrate the display or the printer.

Next, you choose the monitor to calibrate when two are detected and you can either go for presets or take the custom option.

Now it’s time to plug in the i1Studio device and hang it over the monitor, making sure it is touching the screen.

After the measuring you get the chance to compare before and after calibration with the supplied images or load your own.