Complete color management and workflow under Linux -- from a Pentax user

zaurus · 03-30-2008, 07:32 PM

Joel Cornuz, a Pentax DS user from Switzerland, maintains a very informative blog on most aspects of digital photography under Linux:
Linux Photography

I recently followed one of his write-ups to calibrate my monitors (Eizo L887 and L685) with the Spyder2 using the open-source ArgyllCMS:
Use Colorvision Spyder to produce an ICC monitor profile under ArgyllCMS

The result is very good, by far outperforming the one achieved with the Express Mac/Win software.

Highly recommended.

Torphoto · 04-02-2008, 04:45 PM

Oh so thanks for this, now I can use vista less and Suse more.

tdb · 04-02-2008, 09:38 PM

Hi!
I've got Dell 2007fp S-IPS panel (newer model). I was wondering if I can "calibrate" it somehow without the calibrator (to some extent)? Anyone knows where to rent one, maybe, in Ottawa?

Using Ubuntu Linux....
Michael.

jcornuz · 04-03-2008, 05:20 AM

Hi there,

Thanks for the thread

@Zaurus: an entry price calibration tool such as Spyder2 or Pantone Huey is worth about 100$. Otherwise you can try a Linux AdobeGamma equivalent about which I blogged here:
Poor man’s screen calibration Linux Photography

Take care,

Joel

_____________________

images: J.Cornuz - Photographies
blog (Linux & Photography): Linux Photography

reeftool · 04-03-2008, 08:39 AM

Thanks for providing this info. I use Ubuntu and while I use it most of the time, I am using my Windows XP box for photo and video editing. I would like to use Linux more but I wasn't happy with the results and find many of the programs difficult to use. The biggest problem I have found is there isn't much info for newbees. Gimp may be ok if you have been using digital for a while and you have some knowledge but I was kind of lost with it. I bought Photoshop because there were lots of books, websites, and magazine articles on how to use it. More threads and info for Linux users will get us using it more for photos.

raz-0 · 04-03-2008, 12:03 PM

Originally Posted by jcornuz

Hi there,

Thanks for the thread

@Zaurus: an entry price calibration tool such as Spyder2 or Pantone Huey is worth about 100$.

The spyder 2 is running about $60 these days. It's being replaced y the spyder 3.

PaulF · 04-03-2008, 12:47 PM

zaurus, thanks for those links. Have been playing around with color management under Linux a couple of times now, but somewhat given up every time. Next time I'll consult that blog :-)
Maybe I should get my hands on a Spyder2 while they are still available on ebay.

zaurus · 04-06-2008, 01:45 PM

Originally Posted by Torphoto

Oh so thanks for this, now I can use vista less and Suse more.

I myself am using openSUSE 10.3 for my workstation.
One of the reasons is the excellent package manager, YaST, and the vast choice of community repositories for free high-quality softare.

You don't need to build ArgyllCMS (as per Joel Cornuz's original post) under openSUSE!
A ready constantly updated package exists.
Just add in YaST with copy/paste this repository:

Code:

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/hfiguiere/openSUSE_10.3/

Get from the same repository also RawStudio (raw converter) [1], PhotoPrint (print manager) and Lprof (ICC profiler).

Also, get CinePaint (retouching) and Oyranos (its color management system) from:

Code:

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/bekun/openSUSE_10.3/

Get Xcalib (monitor calibration loader) and Scribus (desktop publishing) from:

Code:

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/mrdocs/openSUSE_10.3/

All excellent tools, some have no equivalent under any other operating systems!

[1] RawStudio and Digikam utilize LittleCMS instead of ArgyllCMS.

tdb · 04-26-2008, 06:47 AM

Is there a real need to use ICC profiles? Somehow I was able to get away without it so far. I've get Dell S-IPS monitor ans somehow what I see on it is what I get in prints from my local pharmacy... Well, pretty much. I'm not sure it makes sense to calibrate your monitor as you don't have any clues about the profile of the printing device... Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I use dcraw and imagemagick for batch processing. My workflow is (K10D, DNG) :

dcraw -w -S 3100 -q 3 -f -4 -c -v RAW.DNG | convert - -verbose -depth 16 -gamma 2.2 -sigmoidal-contrast 6 -unsharp 0.7x0.7+1.7+0.03 -depth 8 -quality 100 RAW.JPEG

zaurus · 05-02-2008, 12:03 AM

Firstly, some printing shops, e.g. Costco have put online their printer profiles for download and use.
Secondly, some programs, Digikam and CinePaint among them, allow for the only meaningfull end-to-end color management (including camera color space, monitor profile and printer profile along with automatic conversion among them).

If you are happy with your workflow, this is fine.

In my personal opinion, complying to all of the above leads to consistent and improved results.
I am mainly following the excellent J. Cornuz write-ups cited above.

tdb · 05-02-2008, 05:34 AM

Originally Posted by zaurus

Firstly, some printing shops, e.g. Costco have put online their printer profiles for download and use.
Secondly, some programs, Digikam and CinePaint among them, allow for the only meaningfull end-to-end color management (including camera color space, monitor profile and printer profile along with automatic conversion among them).

If you are happy with your workflow, this is fine.

In my personal opinion, complying to all of the above leads to consistent and improved results.
I am mainly following the excellent J. Cornuz write-ups cited above.

Well, having the ICC profile of your shop's photo printer changes things! I assumed it's not available...

Entropy · 05-02-2008, 07:26 AM

Just FYI - do not purchase the Huey Pro if you plan on using it primarily with Linux.

The only difference between the Pro and the normal one is the software - the hardware is identical.

I have gotten great results with my Huey. I still haven't done too well with "poor man's printer profiling" with Argyll using the calibrate scanner with target -> print a test target for printer -> scan target back in with calibrated scanner approach. The profile SEEMS OK, but when I actually print I still have the same problem I do when running uncalibrated - gutenprint prints WAY too dark with an Epson printer. What comes out of the printer looks nothing like the softproof.

tdb · 05-02-2008, 07:40 AM

Any hints on the *Linux* calibration software? Yes... I know I can calibrate it on windows and transfer the profile ... but, will... Anyone had ever any exp. with dcraw/ufraw and ICC profiles? They seem to be capable of doing that... And how do I guys know the profile, say, for my local Costco printer? I suspect I'll get strange looks if I start to ask them about it

PDL · 05-03-2008, 12:21 PM

Profiles for Costco printers are available off of their web site. It varies by store location but it is there.

The Elitist - formerly known as PDL

Entropy · 05-04-2008, 04:17 PM

Originally Posted by tdb

Any hints on the *Linux* calibration software? Yes... I know I can calibrate it on windows and transfer the profile ... but, will... Anyone had ever any exp. with dcraw/ufraw and ICC profiles? They seem to be capable of doing that... And how do I guys know the profile, say, for my local Costco printer? I suspect I'll get strange looks if I start to ask them about it

Argyll CMS is what I use. (That's why I said not to buy the Huey Pro - Argyll can give a better cal than Huey Pro, and the Huey hardware is the same for both versions, only the Windows software is different) lprof CVS supports hardware calibrators now, but it eodesn't seem to work very well. Argyll gives good results for me for monitor cal. It SEEMS to do OK for scanner cal, but I don't know if my printer cal is working well. I think it's how I'm applying the printer profile, not how I'm generating it.