Owner`s manual

Page 4, Data Sheet 4020, rev: Saturday, October 06, 2007
called Demon Drool. Since our pigmented, archival ―clone‖ ink (Demon Drool) is so close to the original Epson ink, you
can use our ink in these printers without the need for any further profiling! Just use whatever color settings that you
would have used for the original Epson ink.
The rest of these calibrating instructions apply to these Epson printers (C80, C82, C84, C86, C88, 2200, R800, R1800,
and R2400) as well as all of the other Epson printers that are using dye-based ink, or our ―clone‖ of Epson’s dye-based
ink which we call Spider Spit. Some common Epson printers that use dye-based ink are the 1200, 1270, 1280, R200,
R220, R300, etc. These instructions will be very difficult to apply if you are using one of the Epson multi-function
machines. Their drivers are not designed for quality photo printing.
About Color Management in General
If you want Photoshop to take your image and print it on an ink jet printer correctly, then you need to tell Photoshop a
little about: 1) the color source of your picture; 2) the monitor that you’re using to look at the picture; 3) the printer that
you will be using; 4) the paper and ink that you will be using; 5) your personal preferences for color cast… warm, cool,
neutral, etc.
In order to get Photoshop to display images accurately on the monitor screen, you can do one of two things: 1) use a very
accurate measurement device known as a colorimeter sometimes called a ―spider‖ (expect to pay anywhere from $300—
$2000.); or 2) you can use a much less accurate, but still usable built-in utility called Adobe Gamma. On a PC computer,
you’ll find the Adobe Gamma icon in the Control Panel.
These instructions deal with option #2 above.
Adobe Gamma will offer you either a Wizard to guide you through the setting-up process, or let you do it manually. I’ll
give you directions for how to set up the Adobe Gamma manually in a little while. When you have completed the steps in
setting up Adobe Gamma you will have created a ―profile‖ for your monitor. A profile is simply a little piece of computer
code (a tiny program) that tells the computer how your monitor displays color so that later, Photoshop will be able to use
that ―profile‖ to display your pictures as accurately as possible.
After you have the monitor set-up, it will be time to tell Photoshop about your desktop color printer. You also do that
using another ―profile‖. Unfortunately, Photoshop does not come with a step-by-step utility for doing that. You have two
choices: 1) you can use the ready-made ―profile‖ that was supplied with your printer and got installed when you installed
the printer drivers, or 2) you can buy a profiling application ($50—$2000) and make a custom profile. Save your money!
I will show you in these instructions how to use the ready-made profile that comes with your printer… and tweak it to
compensate for any different paper and/or ink that you might be using. I’ll also show you how to tweak the ready-made
profile to compensate for any personal preferences that you might have about the color cast of your prints… such as
warm, cool, neutral, dense or light, high or low contrast, etc.
Let’s get started!
Setting Up The Monitor
The whole act of ―calibrating‖ a monitor is the act of ―dumbing it down‖. In its default mode a monitor displays a picture
that is just too pretty to ever be able to come close to looking like a picture on a piece of paper. We will dumb down the
monitor a bit.
Today, most CRT monitors are being phased out in favor of LCD or ―flat screen‖ monitors. Some of the new LCD
monitors work very well for photographic quality use. Others do not. When you buy an LCD monitor be sure to get one
that has a ―Contrast Ratio‖ of at least 600:1. If you can get a monitor with a contrast ratio of 1000:1 (and they are readily
available) that is even better. But, do NOT try one that has a lower contrast ratio. You’ll have color quality problems with
lower contrast ratio monitors. And, yes, the higher ratio monitors do cost more.
To proceed to calibrate your monitor (CRT or LCD)…….