ColorMunki Not Working So Great

[braddewald]

I recently purchased a ColorMunki and I was wondering if anybody had any tips for using it. I have followed all the instructions and repeated the profiling process for my display and my printer at the beginning of each of the last few weeks. It's kind of frustrating to have bought such an expensive item and have it not work well.

 

The display profile seems to work ok, but everything looks kind of green (I'm sure that its just how its supposed to look, though). The printer profile however is not working very well at all. I can hold the print-out up next to my display and the colors are obviously off. I've also chosen the option to "optimize existing profile" and used color swatches from the image I'm attempting to print (which it seems to me should get at least those colors to come out properly) but to no avail. Like I said, it's just kind of frustrating to have bought something so expensive and have it not really improve my workflow. Any "best practices" or hints that anybody can give would be great. Thanks.

[Jeff Mottle]

Something is definitely wrong by the sounds of it. If anything your screen might appear more red (unless it was really out of wack to begin with). A few questions:

 

1) What whitepoint and gamma did you calibrate to?

2) Have you ever had another profile loading software (calibration/profiling software installed?)

3) Have you removed Adobe Gamma from loading?

4) Have you or did you make any adjustments to the video card color settings through either the NVIDIA or ATI control panels?

5) Are you sure the display profile is being loaded?

[braddewald]

1. I didn't set it to a specific Whitepoint or Gamma. This is the procedure I followedL I went to Tools>Profile My Display and then chose Laptop and Easy. Under Advanced, there are an extra few options:

"Set the luminance level of my display based on my current ambient light conditions" or "Set my luminance level of my display to the following target value: [80-140]" and also an option labeled "Target White point for Display [D65 (default), D55, D50, Native]"

2. No

3. Adobe Gamma is not listed under the "startup" section in my "system configuration" box. Adobe Acrobat, Adobe CS4 Service Manager, Adobe Reader and Acrobat Manager, Adobe Version CueCS4 are the only services I have with "Adobe" in the name.

4. Before buying the ColorMunki, I attempted to use the NVIDIA control panel to adjust the colors myself, but eventually reset it to the defaults. Now that I have the ColorMunki software installed, any changes made via the NVIDIA control panel causes my profile to unload, so I stay away from it.

6. Yes, as Windows is starting the profile takes a second to load, so I can definitely notice it take effect as the change is fairly dramatic.

 

Also: There is a step when the Color Munki wants me to rotate the selector on the device to "calibrate" and then press "calibrate". Am I supposed to be doing anything during that step? Does it matter what I'm doing with the device at that moment or which way it's facing?

Edited December 29, 2010 by braddewald

[Jeff Mottle]

I've not used my ColorMunki yet as I have an Eye-One Pro, but can you use advanced mode and try setting the luminance manually to about 100 and select D65. I generally never like to use easy modes as I don't know what it's doing. I'm curious to see if something is happening in this easy mode. A few other notes:

 

1) Never adjust the color at the video card if you're using a color management software. I'd pop in there again before calibrating/profiling again and double check everything has been reset.

2) Make sure your screen is clean and does not have fingerprints, dust or dirt on it before you place the hardware on the screen.

 

Which laptop do you have?

[braddewald]

I'll check the settings, clean my screen and profile again in the morning with the advanced settings in place. The defaults are as you said: 100 and D65.

 

2 laptops, I tried both, they end up slightly different in color after being calibrated separately, but both with a greenish tint:

 

HP HDX 18 Notebook PC and

Lenovo 2757 CTO

 

Is it time for me to start using a desktop computer with an actual monitor?

[Jeff Mottle]

Is it time for me to start using a desktop computer with an actual monitor?

 

As a rule of thumb laptops displays are not really great for color management as their color gamuts tend to be a lot less than a desktop display. For example my MacBook Pro has a gamut even smaller than sRGB in some colors. That having been said, you should not see a large green color cast like you are seeing. I've been doing a bit of research on Google and have a few things for you to try:

 

1) Make sure your video cards are compatible: https://xrite.co.uk/ph_product_overview.aspx?ID=1115&Action=Support&SupportID=2933

 

2) Make sure you have the most up to date software: https://xrite.co.uk/ph_product_overview.aspx?action=support&id=1115

 

3) Trying using the LCD mode rather than laptop mode. The LCD mode will create a individual gamma settings for each R, G and B channel whereas the Laptop mode will set them all to the same value.

 

4) If none of the above works, I would suggest submitting a ticket with Xrite as it's possible you have a bad sensor.

[braddewald]

1) Yes, the card is compatible

2) Software is up-to-date

3) I used LCD mode and used 100 and D65, but it introduced a new step in LCD mode where it wanted me to put the ColorMunki next to my display to measure the ambient light conditions and it said something like "based on your lighting conditions, the display will be calibrated to 80"

It ended up pretty much the exact same as before (there is an option after it is done to look at before and after) just a little less bright.

4) How often do these things have bad sensors? Also, should it appear more red after profiling instead of green? I've kind of gotten used to it being green (started thinking, "well maybe this is how it's supposed to be and my colors were way too blue and bright before") but should it have appeared more red than normal?

[Jeff Mottle]

Yeah at 80 it would be a lot less bright and too dark. The sensors should not go bad very often if at all, but I've had some throw diagnostic errors and needed to be repaired and re-certified. Generally LCD displays are too blue out of the box, but how it shifts would really depend on what it looked like in the first place. You can see on this diagram below where 6500K (D65) falls in the spectrum. It's not a perfect representation, but when people use D50 (5000K)) (which appears kind of white on this diagram) a lot of people observe the color being quite redish. In any case, I'm not sure what to suggest at this point, something is definetly wrong, so I think you'll have to call X-Rite. I've done so in the past and they have been pretty good.