Datacolor User to User Support Group.

Hi,
I've been using the Spyder3 colorimeter to generate profiles for my 
Epson R1800 with a newly installed InkRepublic CIS with Image 
Specialists ink. I'm using the 729 patch target with extended grays. 
I would develop the profile, print two DataColor test prints (the 
colored one with the children and a B/W with the tower, boat and B/W 
strip at the bottom), and try to decide if the grays had a color 
cast. I would then try to "tweak" the profile to get to a neutral 
gray. After a while I had many test prints, many profiles and many 
opinions from different family members as to what was gray and what 
wasn't. Time for a different approach.

I went back to the original unadjusted profile and printed just the 
test strip across the top of the paper. I then measured the gray box 
with the colorimeter and converted the LAB values to RGB using this 
tool http://www.colorpro.com/info/tools/convert.htm. I got RGB values 
of 116.7, 107.9 and 108.4 compared to PhotoShop's measured 109.4 for 
all three. This confirmed the red cast that I saw earlier so I 
started to move the sliders eventually winding up at Red/Cyan -4, 
Mag/Green +4, Yel/Blue 0. This setting gave 109.64, 108.76, 109.32 
for the neutral gray box as measured by the colorimeter on a test 
print.  Pretty darn good in my opinion.

I then printed a test image that has a GM test box of 24 colors and 
shades of gray. Some colors were very close, others were not. That's 
when I found out that the LAB to RGB conversions vary depending on 
which converter I use and what setting. (Heavy Sigh)

So, Can I use the colorimeter to spaot measure and edit in this way? 
If yes, how should I convert the Colorimeter Lab output to RGB so I 
can decide how to adjust the sliders? Should I just try for a neutral 
gray and assume that the colors will be ok?

One other question. Is there any way to go directly to the profile 
editor after launching Spyder3 without rebuilding the profile?

Thank you very much,

Bob Schoner