GretagMacbeth have introduced an update (V3.6) which contains several new colour management features of note, such as support for 64bit Windows XP.

This quick review highlights the changes and looks at some aspects you might want to investigate further.

What do you get?

GretagMacbeth have just released a new version (3.6) of their Eye-One match software for colour management.

Since I have both an Eye-One spectrophotometer, and an Eye-One Display 2, I decided to check out the 40+ megabyte download.

When I originally reviewed the products, the software was at V3.2

According to GMB the principal changes are:

General	.	.
.	Create your profiles according to the ICC 2 (default) or ICC 4 specification. Accessible via the options menu in the application. X64 Support	.
Monitor module in general	.	.
.	Before and after calibration step added. After your calibration you can you check how the monitor looked before calibration.	.
.	Updated list of supported monitors for the PushButtonCalibration	• Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2070SB • LaCie Electron 19b3 • LaCie Electron 19b4 • LaCie Electron 22b3 • LaCie 321 • HP p1230 • IBM P275 • Eizo CG220 • NEC 2060NX • NEC MultiSync FP2141SB • NEC 930SB • NEC FP13755X • Sony SDM S205F/K • User feedback during the recognition phase of the PushButtonCalibration check.
Monitor module for Eye-One Pro and Eye-One Display device:	.	.
.	Create Matrix or LUT profiles.	Accessible via options menu in the application.
.	Extract calibration parameters like white point, gamma and luminance values from previously generated GretagMacbeth monitor profiles. (only for profiles that are generated with version 3.6 or higher)	.
.	Updated white point selection	• Select white point from 4000 – 10000 K • Define your white point by entering xy coordinates • Define your white point by using the ambient light capabilities of your device.
.	Updated gamma selection	• Choose a gamma from 1.0 – 3.0 • Choose native gamma
.	Updated target luminance dialogue	• Measure your target luminance on a white patch on a different monitor
.	Monitor profile validator and trending graph	• Check the quality of your profile in terms of dE and store the results in tracking database. This allows you to see how quickly your calibration and profile ages.
Monitor module for Eye-One Display LT:	.	.
.	Updated gamma options for this device. You now have the ability to choose between a gamma of 1.8 and 2.2.	.
.	Ambient light measurement step added. Check how consistent the ambient light conditions around your monitor are.	.
Printer Module:	.	.
.	.	New gamut mapping included. The new Colorful Gamut mapping from Profile Maker 5.05 is now used in Eye-One Match.

The X64 support for people using 64 bit Windows systems will be welcome, and the expanded range of monitor settings is useful, although I'm still not sure when or why I would want to calibrate my monitor to 10000K with a gamma of 3.0 (try it on someone else's monitor for fun :-)

The options for V4 icc profiles and LUT based monitor profiling are hidden away in the preferences, suggesting that unless you know why you want to change the default settings, it's probably best not to...

Matching two monitors becomes a bit less effort, in that you can now use a different monitor to set your luminance level.

If you were ever unsure of how often your monitor really needed calibrating, there is now a monitor profile validation option where you can store profile checks over time and see just how fast your expensive monitor is deteriorating.

The Validation option, opens up a whole new window with its own measurement interface

The measurement process is very like that used to create the profiles in the first place.

The application records and shows changes over time.

I cheated a bit and just moved the computer's date forward to check this out :-)

There is also a new part of the monitor profiling setup where you can look at an image and compare before and after profiling to see if you can see changes.

Printer profiles

Most of the changes in the application are fairly obvious, but if you have previously used Eye-One Match to create your own printer profiles. you may want to look at rebuilding them (from your saved measurement data). This is because GMB have updated the algorithms used in profile building to make use of what they call "clean, highly saturated colors". This is the same as is available in the advanced Profilemaker Pro package.

Summary

A definite upgrade to install for all users of Eye-One match. If you've made printer profiles before, it may well be worthwhile building new versions to see if the new profile building algorithms produce results more to your liking.

The update is free from GretagMacbeth.

Windows
• Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server

Macintosh
• Mac OS X (10.3 or higher)

More Info

An Introduction to colour management article by Keith and collection of CM info.
Eye-One Design - review
Printer profiling with the Eye-One Photo - review
More advanced printer profiling with the Eye-One.
Eye One scanner profiling - review
Using the Eye One with a scan target to get better results from your film or flatbed scanner.
Review of the Camera Profiling option in the Eye-One Photo SG package.
Review of the printer profile editor in Eye-One Match.
The Eye-One iO automated scanning table - review
An automated solution to improving the quality and accuracy of target measurement for printer profiles when using the Eye One spectrophotometer.
Pantone Huey - review
Pantone Eye-One Display 2 - review (see also the longer review of the original GMB version below)
GretagMacbeth Eye-One Display 2 - review
Colour management links on this site
Why don't my prints match my screen? - some of the reasons you need to do more than just calibrate your monitor
Colour Management Check-up kit - review
The Spyder2 Pro - review
The PrintFIX PRO - review

Keith is always happy to discuss matters raised in his articles. You can use our Contact Form to mail us at Northlight.

The views above represent those of Keith Cooper. Articles copyright ©2003-9 Keith Cooper.

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