I have just tried to calibrate my new IMac 5K with a Spyder 3 Elite. It wasn't a great success. Datacolor recommend (they would) an upgrade to the Spyder Pro/Elite 5. Any comments before I part with even more money? I use CS6 and LR6 to process my photos. Thanks.
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Photo Calibration - IMac 5K Late 2015
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Here is my icc from Spyder 5. iMac 5k 27 Late 2015 - "Bright room profile". You are welcome to try, not sure if there was any licensing violation or not? I don't think there is. You can drop this at(El Capitan): Mac HD > Users > "User Name" > Library > Colorsync > Profiles.
Note: you might want to remove .txt
Note: you might want to remove .txt
iemcj
macrumors 6502
Honestly the default setting is pretty darn accurate. I print through WHCC and ACI, my prints through WHCC tend to be a little darker than the way it looks on my screen, the way ACI prints is pretty much spot on though.
Always remember the whole reason to calibrate a screen is to get it to match what your lab is printing. It doesn't do you any good to have a "calibrated" screen if it doesn't look the same as the prints you get from your lab. Each lab is going to be slightly different so focus on that instead of what the spyder is telling you. 😉
Always remember the whole reason to calibrate a screen is to get it to match what your lab is printing. It doesn't do you any good to have a "calibrated" screen if it doesn't look the same as the prints you get from your lab. Each lab is going to be slightly different so focus on that instead of what the spyder is telling you. 😉
I accept all that; however, having spent a small fortune on paper and ink in the past, my investment in Spyder Print Studio eliminated most of the problems that a camera, computer and printer mismatch can create. I have both the old and new IMacs in front of me and the calibrated colour test print output is visibly different.
I do both. Using Spyder 3 Print Studio, I calibrate the monitor. Separately, after turning colour management off, I print a test sheet and scan the colour squares to produce a printer profile for the paper and ink type in use. This has worked for me for as long as I can remember. That said, mypreference these days is for Blurb books via the LR book module. For this, I update the monitor profile as a final check before I send the book to Blurb.
iemcj
macrumors 6502
No prob. I realized that sounded more accusing than I meant it to lol. Perhaps I have just been fortunate that setting it to the p3 color setting perfectly matches what my lab prints do. The other nice thing for us is that with a large part of our business being seniors and weddings, people want images for social media. This works nicely in that the way I see things on my screen is the way they will see it on theirs (or at least close). It would always suck to have an image that looked great on your screen then you post it on your website, the you look at in on your phone and go "gah! The color is all different!"
maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
Thanks for this profile, I think it may come in handy for me, once I take the plunge 🙂
joema2
macrumors 68000
I tried to calibrate my 2015 iMac 27 screen with my X-Rite Colormunki Photo. Something is really wrong -- color and gamma are way off. I re-tried it numerous times with the same result. I re-calibrated my 2013 iMac and 2015 retina MacBook Pro, and it worked OK.
I contacted X-Rite support, they are looking into it. I explained if this is not a unique one-off problem this is very serious since all iMac 27s from this point on have the same retina screen.
I calibrated my 27" iMac 5K P3 with an i1 and could not get a decent match with prints from two different labs (I happened to be testing out Nations in comparison to my favorite Bay Photo).
Ended up buying the Dell UP2516D (Ultrasharp, Premiere Color - 99% aRGB) and that monitor is spot-on. LR and PS now live on that monitor and I do everything else on the iMac's main screen.
Ended up buying the Dell UP2516D (Ultrasharp, Premiere Color - 99% aRGB) and that monitor is spot-on. LR and PS now live on that monitor and I do everything else on the iMac's main screen.
joema2
macrumors 68000
Apparently the new iMac Retina's 5k uses GB-LEDs, not white LEDs as previous. You can make that technology type choice in the i1Profiler, does that apply to the i1?
My i1 Pro allows the choice of "White-LED" or "GB-LED". I noticed that the software automatically detects and chooses the "White-LED" choice. I own the new iMac 27 inch 5K. Is "GB-LED" the correct choice then?
Thanks.
-Brian
joema2
macrumors 68000
I was told GB-LED was the correct choice for the 2015 retina iMac 27, but I don't have that type of calibrator so I can't check it myself. You'll just have to try and see.
I have e-mailed Datacolor (Spyder) support to ask whether they have actually tested their products on a new IMac 17,1.
Most of what you need to know is discussed here and on links from that page.
http://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2015/20151106_1728-DCI_P3-vs-ProPhoto-NEC.html
http://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2015/20151106_1728-DCI_P3-vs-ProPhoto-NEC.html
Interesting: however, the recommended NEC monitor has built in colour calibration. The question being posed here is 'which, if any, of the third-party screen colour calibration hardware/software products actually work with the new IMac'?
I would be interested to know the outcome of this as I just got an email offering 25% off the Spyder 5.
In my experience Datacolor can take many days to answer emails though 🙁
If it helps anyone I'm using a ColorMunki Display on a nMP with a Dell P2715Q 4K display and it works very well. From reading this thread it seems like its a specific problem with the 5K iMac - looks like you might have to wait for an update, or use an external monitor if it is effecting your LR workflow.
I tried emailing them too. I asked them (a) whether it had been tested with the the late 2017 iMac, and (b) whether there was specific BG LED support.
The reply I got was: Please choose RGB-LED instead and "wide gamut".
"Instead" of what I am not sure and it certainly isn’t wide gamut in the sense that my external aRGB monitor is. So, I am none the wiser really.
Anybody else care to interpret their response before I reply?
The reply I got was: Please choose RGB-LED instead and "wide gamut".
"Instead" of what I am not sure and it certainly isn’t wide gamut in the sense that my external aRGB monitor is. So, I am none the wiser really.
Anybody else care to interpret their response before I reply?
joema2
macrumors 68000
OK this is now resolved. The problem was basically an older version of a ColorMunki file which was not properly removed. Once a manual removal of all prior versions was done and a clean reinstallation, ColorMunki Photo calibration works OK on the new 2015 retina iMac.
Specifics: ColorMunki Photo / Design v 1.1.1 cannot be installed on OS X 10.10 or higher, however many customers updated their 10.9 system (where ColorMunki Photo / Design v 1.1.1 was present) to OS X 10.10 or higher. After this, they updated to ColorMunki Photo / Design v 1.2.x. Even if they ran one of the existing un-installers or moved the ColorMunki program folder to the trash, this did not remove all related files. Some unknown file from the prior versions was not properly handled by the new version and caused dark monitor calibration results.
The solution was a complex sequence of manual file removals. I recommend anyone encountering this problem contact X-Rite support.
I just started using WHCC and noticed they print a little darker. Historically I used H&H a lot and didn't have any real issues with prints being dark. Same goes for ACI as I print a lot of banners with them.
jczabre
macrumors newbie
How do you install this in your iMac? I moved the file to the destination that you indicated but obviously the txt did not work out. Can you please help?