Datacolor User to User Support Group.

There may be nothing wrong at all.

If you're profiling matte paper: (just as you've seen with the correct
measurements and profile sample for the HPB9180): the spectro measures
(correctly) a lighter black. Inside SpyderPRINT, the softproof mechanism
softproofs it that way, and you end up with something that looks a bit
washed-out. That doesn't mean the measurements or the profile are "wrong",
however.

(As a rough guideline: for matte paper, the first patch in the target, which
is "perfect" black, usually measures with an L value in the upper teens to
the low 20's at most on matte papers. An L value above, say, 22 or 23 would
be a warning sign that something else is wrong. With some Epsons, the most
common mistake people make is to use photo black ink on matte paper, to save
the horrible ink-swap routine, and the result is a much-too-light black
that's significantly washed out. But with your Canon, that shouldn't be a
problem)

Inside Photoshop (or Lightroom 4), you can use their additional softproofing
controls to turn off black ink simulation; most of your contrast will
pop back; that's the recommended way to properly softproof with any of these
profiles.

If you'd like email me a copy of your measurement file and I'll take a quick
look to see if there are any problems. Use the File:Open Data command in
SpyderPRINT to open your measurement file folder; find the .xml file; then
.zip and email it to me at dmiller@...

David Miller


On Jul 25, 2012, at 6:09 PM, kk325ic wrote:

> I found something might help to understand why the softproof is washed out: the measured L value of the black patch is too high. 
> 
> I use spectro to measure the black surface of the spydercube which looks pretty dark black to me. The measured L value is 10, which is a gray shown on my screen. The L value of the middle gray is about 44.90.
> 
> It seems my spectro cannot correctly measure black patch.
> 
> --- In datacolor_group@yahoogroups.com, "kk325ic" <kk325ic@...> wrote:
> >
> > 
> > I have been profiling Canon Pro9000 MK II printing on Kodak Matte Photo
> > Paper, but not able to generate a correct profile. The results
> > (softproof and printout) are always washout.
> > 
> > The washout effect is shown in the following links: softproof
> > <http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8149/7641568514_9a180e54d4_z.jpg> and
> > no-softproof
> > <http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7250/7641569098_c570b63fe0_z.jpg> . I
> > have double-checked media selection, disable color management at the
> > printer level, and correctly take measurement data. All seem correct.
> > Furthermore, even I use the measurement file "HP B9180 Matte-Art"
> > provided by DataColor, the results are still washout.
> > 
> > Anybody has a clue?
> >
> 
> 
> 

David Miller
Senior Software Developer, Digital Color Solutions
Datacolor