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A sample scan (much reduced here) after cropping, ready for making a profile.
A reduced version of the Freeware test image supplied (the original comes from 
The plugin has adjustment sliders that you can use to alter the overall tone and brightness of the profiles. This is very useful, but you are faced with the problem that the sliders are marked in arbitrary units, and there is no feedback available on what the effect is going to be. |
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| Epson PP profile | PrintFIX profile |
The examples above are photos of actual prints and give a feel for the differences. They were taken with a digital camera and processed identically to maintain the feel of the actual prints. I hope it looks that way on your monitor, but that's all part of the mystery you get when putting images on the web.
For more info, see Keith's article about the problems of images on the web.
Some possible issues
The plastic wallets are absolute dust magnets (static electricity) and the scanner -will- show up dust.
There is noticeable interference fringing introduced by having the plastic layer over the print (with glossy paper). I’m not sure how this affects accuracy and repeatability of profiles. (ColorVision does suggest that you can clean up -minor- blemishes to the scanned image with Photoshop).
One of my print wallets quickly started slipping in the scanner and refused to feed correctly (ColorVision support promptly answered my request for a replacement wallet).
The PrintFIX profiles handled some seriously out of gamut colours less gracefully than the Epson ones. I would normally check for out of gamut colours with soft proofing before doing a print, and make any adjustments needed. This is not a problem, it’s just part of the trade-offs that can go into profile making.
Adjustments using the adjustment sliders need to be re-entered each time you make a change, a feature to allow the saving of named sets would be nice ... otherwise just remember to write them down.
The calibration seems to be limited to black and white levels (from the calibration card). Perhaps a slightly more complex card (with a mid grey for example) would increase initial accuracy?
PC users – I’m afraid we did not have any PCs in the building to test the PrintFIX.
A much magnified portion of a scan made of a glossy paper, showing the interference fringes.
The image is direct from a scan and been increased in size by 200%, converted to sRGB from Adobe98 and saved as a medium-high quality JPEG (with sRGB profile).
Where it gets tricky
If you’vet looked at much of the rest of this site you’ll see that I do a lot of Black and White.
B/W profiling is one area that takes really good ($$$) equipment to get right, and some printer/ink/paper combinations will probably never give a good grey scale.
You may get a good B/W profile with minimal tweaking, but then again you may not? My own solution [2004] is to use a printer devoted to B/W and special inks (Lyson SG for the prints on this site) Most of my commercial colour work is fully digital, with images being sent electronically for reproduction.
There are software tools to help you refine the profiling process, such as DoctorPRO from ColorVision but this is starting to get into some serious stuff. If you feel like going this far, you should already know quite a lot about colour management, if not it’s time to learn. (See update at the end of the review for latest DoctorPro Info)
Quite a lot of the finer adjustments depend on your own colour vision. It can be worth checking with other people?
A quick web check on your colour vision is at http://www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/Ishihara.html
Remember to compare test prints in similar lighting to which they will be viewed.
Conclusions
What it’s good for
Third party inks and papers. Despite what the printer manufacturers say, most will not cause your printer to burst into flames. To get the best you need a profile. PrintFIX will (with some work) probably allow you to get better results. Some papers and inks just won't work together and no amount of profiling will fix it (an example would be some pigment inks on certain glossy papers ...the ink just won't stay put)
I’m going to be using it as part of my Photography teaching. The process of creating profiles will certainly help explain some aspects of colour management.
I can see it as a useful resource for Photo Clubs and groups, enabling people to try out profiling on their own printers (also good for an additional topic of discussion at the bar).
Testing new printer/ink/paper combinations for short runs, where the expense of a custom profile is not justified.
Profile building is not some arcane guild secret. It seems to be possible to get very good profiles with this DIY approach. Certainly, any potential purchaser should have realistic expectations and be aware of the limitations, but it is reassuring to see that ColorVision offer a money back guarantee on the product. There are some features that could be improved (feedback on adjustments and those plastic wallets) but overall I found it a good product.
And where it’s not (yet)
Black and white printing will be somewhat hit and miss.
If you need -absolute- colour accurate prints, then pay the money and get it done by a pro!
The profiles are RGB ones. If you're into CMYK then I'm afraid that more $$$ will be required. Don't forget though, that the inkjet printer drivers you are using are RGB anyway (the driver does the RGB <-> CMYK conversion internally) The PrintFIX is aimed squarely at the photographic side of things.
If you are going to be producing large numbers of prints on the same printer with the same ink and paper you can’t beat getting a good profile from a reputable profile maker.
If your printer is not supported, it won’t work. Fortunately there is a form on the ColorVision web site (from the FAQ) where you can suggest models for them to support.
Where will it lead...
I’m sure that in a few years devices like this will be the norm, providing fast accurate profiling at a fraction of the cost of today’s custom profiles. I’m not saying the skills of the profile builder are ready to go the way of the Linotype operator, but they had better factor this into their business plans?
- Note - Keith has written a follow-up review covering some of the changes in V1.2 of the PrintFIX software. This gives an updated list of supported printers and latest product info.
DoctorPRO Update -- 1st July 2003
According to ColorVision's web site they are offering a copy of DoctorPRO with the PrintFIX (until Sept 30th)
Keith has tried out this software with PrintFIX profiles...
DoctorPRO gives you the ability to tweak profiles with a lot more subtlety than the adjustments in the PrintFIX profile builder plugin. It is also supplied as a plugin for Photoshop. As I mentioned in the review above, it gives you very fine control with a direct visual approach. The basic technique would be to open an image and convert it to your output (PrintFIX generated) profile. This gives a version of the image that you can correct (saturation, contrast, remove colour casts etc.) The corrections are then applied to your starting profile to produce a new one that better meets your requirements. The adjustments are carried out by recording your edits as a Photoshop Action (script). It is this action that is used to edit the profile.
I found the instructions for using DoctorPRO quite straightforward for someone who knows a bit about Photoshop -- and therein lies a potential problem. If you have never used actions (and I know several quite advanced users of Photoshop who have not) you had better get that manual out!. Also there are often many ways of achieving the same change to an image in Photoshop and it's up to you to decide. This is not really a criticism of DoctorPRO, since it's aimed at serious users who want the finest adjustments of their profiles (it even does CMYK profiles). If you should get a copy with a PrintFIX, I'd really recommend leaving it in the box to start with -- only after you have experimented with PrintFIX, have a go with DoctorPRO. When making adjustments, don't forget that you have converted your image to a printer profile, so just assuming that R=G=B=127 is going to give mid grey and correcting accordingly is wrong (if the reason for this is unclear, you might want to find out more about profiles and colour management to get the best from a package like this) As an example, try converting an image to a printer profile, desaturating it and seeing if you have a good greyscale image, then check colour values with the eye dropper...
Although perhaps beyond what could be expected with such a product. I'd appreciate one or two worked examples in the documentation and maybe a section relating to common 'faults' and how to cure them.
As I mentioned above, Black and White will be a bit hit and miss. Even with DoctorPRO you are still going to have to make those final tweaks by eye, so make sure you are happy with your monitor calibration and have appropriate lighting to do your tests. Very fine colour casts are not at all easy to see when distributed over a greyscale image. Once again this is aimed at colour printing.
A useful addition to the PrintFIX package -- but not for the unwary!
--We are looking at producing a more in depth review of how you can use DoctorPRO -any hints or tips appreciated!
Comments received about the review
Wallet problems? ... I received a mail from someone with the same wallet slipping problem I had. They also noted its dust attracting feature.
Colour fringes? ... several comments as to how this affects the accuracy of profiles, but no consensus as to whether it's a significant problem.
Historical note added Mar 2006
The PrintFIX was a good idea, and I got some quite usable profiles from it. I know some people had problems with the scanner, but if anything, that was often more due to unreasonable expectations. Things have moved on and if you look at what you now get in the PrintFIX PRO package, you can see many of the lessons learned (the software is very easy to use and has very extensive help available). If you've got to this page because you've been given an original PrintFIX then do have a go with it - you can learn a lot in the process!
More Info
- The very simple guide to 'what is colour mangement'.
Is the red in RGB the same as a London bus, or a UK Telephone box? A very short explanation of what colour management is, and why you use it. - The PrintFIX PRO - same printfix name, but a very different bit of kit
- An Introduction to colour management article by Keith and collection of CM info.
- The Viewing page - basic monitor set-up
- The Eye One design - monitor calibration/profiling, light measurement and basic print profiling.
- Colour management links on this site
- Colour Management Check-up kit review
- The Spyder2 Pro - Monitor calibration and profiling
- Eye One Display 2 - Monitor calibration and profiling device from GretagMacbeth - also allows ambient light measurement.
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