Datacolor User to User Support Group.

Sorry for a question which has probably been answered often. I'm just getting back to photo printing, and I've forgotten a lot of things.

Windows 7 - LCD monitor profiled with Spyder3Elite.

Using Spyder3Print, I made a printer profile using the 720 patch target. The colors are spot on, but the prints are significantly too dark. At first I thought an adjustment of +5 brightness would be sufficient, but after further testing I see that at least +9 or 10 brightness is needed, along with a -3 adjustment in saturation. That seems like it's too much adjustment. The black and white points in the profile seem okay.

I think I remember from a couple of years ago that if prints are too dark, it means that the monitor brightness has been set too high. I tried reducing monitor brightness (from 69 to 52) and then re-profiling the monitor, but that hasn't seemed to affect the overly dark prints.

I know I can bring the prints into line by just bumping up brightness and/or reducing saturation as I re-edit my printer profiles, but it seems that I souldn't have to make such a large adjustment.

Any guidance is welcome

Bill Hansen