Custom Icc Printer Profiles
Note: Due to a backlog of profiling orders, our custom profiling serivce is suspended for the time being. Our listings of photo lab profiles will remain on-line, and our profile subscription service customers can have their profiles updated as usual. Photo labs using our subcription service will also have their profiles updated on a regular basis.
Our Frontier and Noritsu profiling project has helped
thousands of photographers achieve better results on digital mini lab printers. Many commercial labs and individual photographers are using our services to get better and more accurate color from their printers. We are pleased to offer our services to the photographic community at large. Our
profiling service is for printers accepting RGB input only. Our enhanced custom profiling targets are
now available for all our custom profiling customers.
What custom profiles do for you:
- Give the best color match between what you see on your calibrated monitor and the printed page.
- Fewer wasted test prints means better prints in less time and for less money.
- Allow you to use the full range of colors your
particular printer can produce. Generic profiles are usually designed to be safe, and restrict the available color range. Our
custom profiles measure the limits of your printer's performance, allowing you to print with as vibrant,
saturated colors as your printer can.
- Need more convincing? Read what Bruce Fraser, the author of Real World Photoshop, has to say on the subject.
What we provide:
- We put our over $20,000 of hardware and software to work for you.
- Exceptional accuracy: Our custom profile targets are
Dry Creek Photo exclusives. They are built from our analysis of target prints from thousands of individual printers and papers. Our targets provide unmatched overall color accuracy, gray scale rendering, and highlight and shadow resolution. We
also include a printer optimization and evaluation target to assist in setting up your printer for best
performance.
- Each custom profile is individually evaluated against a series of test images, and fine tuned if necessary.
- A thorough evaluation of your printer's performance based on a comparison of the target data to our extensive measurement database. We can help detect and diagnose potential printing problems.
- A solution to the dilemma an inkjet or dye-sub user faces – new profiles for each ink or ribbon change. Our
profile update package provides an initial profile and up to 12 additional profiles over the course of
a year at no additional charge.
- A money back guarantee if you are not satisfied with the profile results.
Our options:
- Single profile/no updates: $50. We will create a single
profile for $50. No updates will be provided. If you are not satisfied, we will re-profile or refund
your fee.
- 1 Year/Updated profile: $99 for the first paper stock from your printer. We will provide up to 12 updates as needed for one year from the date of the first profile. This allows you to get new profiles if your ink, ribbon, or machine settings change. This is also a favorite of our commercial customers, as they can provide their customers with the most current and accurate profiles available. If you are not satisfied with the initial profile, we will make you another one or refund your money.
- Additional paper stocks: $50. If you purchase a 1 year/update profile, additional paper stocks from the same printer will be profiled at a reduced rate. The same terms and conditions apply as for the primary profile.
Which option is best for you?
- Inkjets: Photographers using OEM Canon or Epson inks along with major-brand papers usually find a single profile will give excellent performance for several years. Third party inks are variable - some have been stable, others not. HP inks also tend to drift from batch to batch. Our profile with updates option is best for these situations.
- Dye sublimation: Ribbons from different manufacturing batches often show significant variations in color performance. The update profile option is the best for these printers.
- Kodak 8500 and 86xx printers: If you have a densitometer to use for linearizing the printers, a single profile will suffice. Otherwise, the profiles with updates option is recommended. Kodak 8500 owners can save some money and extend profile lifetime by purchasing the larger packages of paper and ribbon branded for the 8660.
- For small event printers, such as the Sony models, we have seen excellent within-lot stability of printer supplies. If you purchase multiple print packs from the same batch (usually same expiration date on the package), one profile should cover all of them. Photographers printing high volumes with these machines likely should use our update service to keep their profiles current as they change materials lots.
- Fuji Pictrography: The self calibration routines in these printers is very good. A single profile will last until the print engine needs major repairs. For normal print volumes, the single profile (no updates) should suffice.
- RA-4 printers (LightJet, Durst Lambda/Epsilon, Fuji Frontier, Noritsu QSS, Gretag Sienna, Kodak LED, Agfa D-Lab, etc.): These printers also have good self calibration routines. A new profile is usually only required after major maintenance or when the machine settings are changed. Minor drift in the printers or aging of densitometer lamps can be compensated for by re-profiling on an annual or semi-annual basis.
- Color Laserjets: Variation between toner cartridges often requires new profiles. If your usage exceeds one cartridge per year, our update option is recommended.
- Solid ink thermal printers (Xerox/Tektronix Phaser): The inks for these printers has proven very stable between batches. A single profile is recommended.
Profiling kit downloads:
Our custom profiling kit includes profile and printer evaluation targets, complete
instructions, and an order form. All you need to do is download the kit, print the target, and mail it to us. We
will measure the prints and email you the profiles. If you require other means of delivery (CD or direct
web download), let us know.
