Datacolor User to User Support Group.

Thank you for your patience with my queries.  Correct me if I'm wrong
but this is how I understand color management and working with Print
Fix Pro Suite:


1. Monitor Profiling:

The purpose of using the Spyder is to be able to calibrate a monitor -
being able to adjust the monitor to its white point (eliminating color
casts), which is why the goal of adjustments is to equalize R, G and
B.  The profile created through using the Spyder is the Monitor Profile.

Should I be calibrating 5 CRT Monitors together to make all 5 Monitors
render the same brightness and white point, I should have a standard
setting that I follow.  Such as:

Display Type: CRT
Gamma: 2.2
White Point: 6500K

Otherwise, if I use different settings for different monitors, then I
won't be able to achieve the standard "look" - brightness and white point.

At the end of the process, each of the 5 Monitors will have its own
unique Monitor Profile.  I understand that Monitor Profiles created is
intended for the Monitor it was calibrated from.  Should I assign
Monitor Profile of Monitor A to B, there is a high probability that
Monitor A and B won't render the same look because no two Monitors
functions the same due to wear and tear and other factors.

Using the Spyder doesn't guarantee that all Monitors can be calibrated
because some can be so worn out being unable to achieve the standard
needed.

2. Monitor Profiling in our Frontier Lab:

I believe that I don't have a problem with how our monitor looks.  I
don't see any color casts that would make a photograph look reddish or
yellowish or to any effect.  Simply put, if view a large white patch
on the screen, it literally looks white - not yellowish white, reddish
white, greenish white nor bluish white.  I believe that my problem
lies more on the Profiling Process of the Frontier.






3. Printer Profiling:

The goal is to be able to present an image in the monitor the way it
will be rendered on print.  Since there are different factors that
affect color rendition on print, we should create Printer Profiles
according to combination of Printer Type, Ink and Paper.

If for example, I have 2 paper types (Matte and Glossy) coming from 1
set of Machine+Ink (Frontier), then I should create 2 different profiles. 

- Frontier-Matte-042606.icc
- Frontier-Glossy-042606.icc

The Spectro is the tool to use to be able to measure color values
created by a printer.





4. Color Profiles:

Image files contain a color profile.  An image taken by a Digital
Camera with sRGB as its assigned profile, embeds sRGB profile into the
image file.  Should we need to edit an image using a different
profile, we have to convert the embedded sRGB profile to the required
profile - ex. Frontier-Matte-042606.icc.

If I view one image file (with sRGB profile) on 5 of my Monitors, it
should all look the same.  If I assign 1 image file among the 5
separate Monitors&Computers, with a different profile
(Frontier-Matte-042606.icc), that image file will look different among
the 5 Monitors even if they are all calibrated correctly.

It is also possible for an image not to have an embedded profile as
with the case of the Target Prints bundled with the Print Fix Pro. 
This allows us to print the Target Prints without bias from any other
color profile.  The printer will print the Target Prints as how it
interprets it.




5. Converting Color Profiles:

If I am a photographer working on my image of which I intend to print
on Matte Paper on a Frontier Machine, I should have a calibrated
monitor and the Frontier-Matte-042606 Printer Profile from the printer
I will have print done.

Since images from Digital Cameras are assigned either sRGB or
AdobeRGB, my photographs will look different when I view it on
Photoshop against the printed photograph.

Should I want to view the image file as how it will be printed, I
should convert the image file with the Printer Profile -
Frontier-Matte-042606.  This should be the initial step as well should
the image to be printed needs to be enhanced.




6. Viewing Images on the Monitor Against Frontier Print:

After creating Frontier-Matte-042606, i use this profile to determine
how my image in the monitor will look when printed.  This I believe is
the essence of what the Print Fix Pro is capable of doing.  The steps
that I do is simply opening the image file that was captured by the
Digital Camera with sRGB Color Profile in Photoshop and then Convert
the color profile to Frontier-Matte-042606, save the file, then print
through the Fuji Frontier Interface.

My problem is that the colors are off.  It is not because of the
monitor as I believe my monitor is well calibrated.  Image viewed on
the monitor is reddish.  The skin tone is reddish.  If I convert the
color profile of the image back to sRGB or even AdobeRGB, it looks
more natural, closer to skin tone.





Am I missing anything here?  Do I have the correct understanding of
the whole process?  Where do you think the problem is?





Thank you again for your patience.  I appreciate the help a lot.


Regards,
David Hanson