Digital BW, The Print

> 3b.Re: new Spyder3Print SR profiling kitPosted by: "John  
> Slaughterbeck" jslaughterbeck1@...  jslaughterbeck1Fri Aug  
> 28, 2009 5:17 pm (PDT)
>
>
> Thank you for this review. I just this week purchased the  
> Spyder3print and
> the Spyder3pro monitor calibration system. Being a newbie at color
> management, it's as clear as mud to me and I need all the help I can  
> get.
>
>


There are videos that I've made, that you can watch,
that take you through the basics of building
profiles. You can watch the videos here:

http://spyder.datacolor.com/learn_videos.php

The techniques that I'm showing here are the same
that you'd be using with the new software as well.

The new 4.0 software has been in the works for
more than a year, and there are a huge number of
changes and improvements: some directly related
to the new SR spectrocolorimeter, and some which
affect overall use and the original DC1005
spectrocolorimeter as well. Some important things
to note:

- New, improved, streamlined workflow (no more
Basic and Advanced) and an improved sequence of
user interface screens.

- The OSX version is now Universal Binary,
launches, runs, and builds profiles twice as fast
as 3.5. The OSX installer itself is also
Universal Binary. (Meaning that neither require
Rosetta emulation) The Windows version is also
faster than before and has a new driver for both
spectrocolorimeters.

- Improved compatibility with Vista (and has
also been tested with Windows 7 RC)

- The installer size has been significantly
reduced by approximately 30%.

- All languages are installed at once, and
Spyder3Print SR can switch and run in different
languages without reinstalling (based on your
OS-level language settings)

- A new Software Update feature checks for new
versions automatically.

- You can print all pages in a multi-page target
with a single click of the Print button.

- Patches in the Target window can now be
selected by mouse clicking.

- The new EZ targets can be used with both
spectrocolorimeters. Some people will appreciate
the larger patches and automatic error checking
feature...:-) Even with larger patches, we're
printing 125 patches/sheet, so 2 sheets produce
a 225 patch profile, with more than twice as many
patches as the ColorMunki uses on it's 50 patch
sheets. (And of course, you can still use the
older targets and print 225 patches on a single
sheet if you like).

- And of course: changes that are specific to
strip reading/scanning with the new SR spectro.
You only need to press the button once at the
start of each row, instead of for each patch
in each row.

- My strip reading speed with the SR spectro,
without using the SpyderGuide, is around 2
patches/second. I can measure the 225 colors
target in 2 minutes; adding the 238 grays brings
me up to 4 minutes total. I can measure the 729
patch target in 7 minutes this way.

- With the original DC1005 spectrocolorimeter,
measurement speed (the time between the "open"
and "close" shutter sound, as each patch is
measured) has been improved once again. With
4.0 software, the DC1005 measures each
patch about 2x as fast as it did with 3.5
(which in turn was 2x as fast as with 3.0
software and earlier). This means that those
with original DC1005's will also find the
measuring process to be faster and more responsive.

If anyone is interested in more information and
has more detailed questions, please email me
off-list at dmiller@... and
I should be able to accommodate you...:-)


David Miller
Senior Software Developer, Digital Color Solutions
Datacolor