Digital BW, The Print

Hi Ben,

I agree that the same printer profile will not give the same identical 
results with three different samples of the same printer. Every printer 
sample varies slightly, which is why Epson produced its Colorbase program so 
that you made a correction 'profile' for each printer that worked behind the 
scenes to set the color back to the designed values. Then they would all 
work with the same Epson printer profile that Epson supplied - the 'canned' 
one that was made on their standard printer. But that didn't catch on 
because people use different non-Epson papers and inks that require custom 
profiles in any case. There is no need to correct the printer, if you've got 
to make a custom profile for other reasons.

But getting back to my complaint, the same printer profile gave different 
results on the same printer, with the same paper and inks. The only 
difference was the OS. That should not happen. The OS should not upset color 
management, but Colorsync has and does. And to think it was the leader in 
color management at one time.

Bob Frost

-----Original Message----- 
From: Ben Schneider benjschneider2@... [DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint]
Sorry, but I will disagree.  You can change the suffix and get them to work, 
but will they work as well as they should?

I am running three Mac print stations all with the same model printer.  The 
profile from one does not work at its best on the others.  I have tried it. 
The difference in the work stations are the OS I am running, and the issue 
of Photoshop.  They all print differently.  I can not take a good printing 
file from one station by sneaker net, to another, and have it print the 
same!

The printers themselves are part of it.  The way that version of photoshop 
handles the files another.  The files always need tweaking, and they never 
print the same.  The prints always vary a bit even using the same ink, and 
paper.  I am not a computer geek, just a user who has noticed this with two 
decades of digital printing experience.

For the best quality, one needs to do a custom profile for each printer 
station.  Canned profiles will get you in the ball park, but will need 
tweaking to work its best.  I am running Mac Pros, and G5s with OS10.4, 
10.5, and 10.6.  Photoshops from PS7, CS3, CS4, CS5, and CS6.