Datacolor User to User Support Group.

Can I use the Spyder 2 or newer Spyder as a denstitometer?

I want to have a go at B&W printing and it seems a denstitometer is pretty essential (or at least very useful).

Thanks

The Spyder2 and Spyder3 are emissive measurement devices; since your  
prints won't be emitting any light, you would need a reflective device  
for measuring print output. That's what Spyder3Print and Spyder3Print  
SR devices are for. I'm not sure that a densitometer is really the  
critical device; but if you want density values, you can use the  
S3Print devices to create density values. Lab values are actually more  
useful, but there are still some people (and a few applications)  
around that use Density. The S3Print devices produce both types of  
values.

C. D. Tobie
Global Product Technology Mngr.
Digital Imaging & Home Theater
Datacolor.com
CDTobie@...

On Dec 13, 2009, at 9:08 PM, "Phiegze" <swp91011@...> wrote:

> Can I use the Spyder 2 or newer Spyder as a denstitometer?
>
> I want to have a go at B&W printing and it seems a denstitometer is  
> pretty essential (or at least very useful).
>
> Thanks
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>

Yes - excuse me; I meant the Datacolor Spectrocoloromiter (esp model #1005) which I already have.  

These pages tell how to use QTR to print a stepwedge and measure the density to linearize and make a curve for use with QTR.


Pages 12-16 http://www.quadtonerip.com/User%20Guide.pdf

Specifically bottom of page 14  - How do I do that with your Spectrocoloromiter?  Can I do that with the software I already have?
I'm using WinXP and Spyder3 Print 3.5

Thanks

   Steven

--- In datacolor_group@yahoogroups.com, Cdtobie <CDTobie@...> wrote:

>
> The Spyder2 and Spyder3 are emissive measurement devices; since your  
> prints won't be emitting any light, you would need a reflective device  
> for measuring print output. That's what Spyder3Print and Spyder3Print  
> SR devices are for. I'm not sure that a densitometer is really the  
> critical device; but if you want density values, you can use the  
> S3Print devices to create density values. Lab values are actually more  
> useful, but there are still some people (and a few applications)  
> around that use Density. The S3Print devices produce both types of  
> values.
> 
> C. D. Tobie
> Global Product Technology Mngr.
> Digital Imaging & Home Theater
> Datacolor.com
> CDTobie@...
> 
> On Dec 13, 2009, at 9:08 PM, "Phiegze" <swp91011@...> wrote:
> 
> > Can I use the Spyder 2 or newer Spyder as a denstitometer?
> >
> > I want to have a go at B&W printing and it seems a denstitometer is  
> > pretty essential (or at least very useful).
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
>

On Dec 14, 2009, at 3:22 AM, Phiegze wrote:

> Specifically bottom of page 14  - How do I do that with your  
> Spectrocoloromiter?  Can I do that with the software I already have?
> I'm using WinXP and Spyder3 Print 3.5

Yes, your existing software can do this. Go to the Tools section of  
the menu bar, and in the Tools menu choose the Measure command (which  
is grayed out until you've chosen the Calibrate command, unless you've  
otherwise calibrated the device in the last hour). In the resulting  
spot measurement window, you can see density values. And you can save  
a series of measurements to a log, in various formats , for use with  
applications such as QTR. Some massaging of the resulting text file  
may be needed depending on just what you're doing with them, but its  
still faster than typing them in manually.

C. David Tobie
Global Product Technology Manager
Digital Imaging & Home Theater
CDTobie@...