icc for 3800 good for 7800?

[gqdre78]

This might be a very simple question, but i am not sure what the answer is.

I am new to professional level of printing, and just obtained a used but excellent pair of 3800 and 7800. Are the icc profiles interchangeable between the 2? I have tons od icc profiles for the 3800 but not much for the 7800, this is why I'm wondering if I can use it for both.

 

[jtoolman]

Should be OK as the both are K3 printers. Unless you are really finicky and have to have specific profiles for you individual printers.

 

[RogerB]

Are the icc profiles interchangeable between the 2? I have tons od icc profiles for the 3800 but not much for the 7800, this is why I'm wondering if I can use it for both.

Comparing profiles for just one paper - Ilford GFS - I would say they are certainly not identical, but that's just a simulation.

A real print test is what you need. When I want to do a quick check on a profile I print a simple reference file (below) and compare it to my "reference" print. You could print this on your 3800 with a known good profile, then print it on the 7800 using the same 3800 profile. Comparing the two prints would give you a very quick indication of how useful the 3800 profiles will be for the 7800.

For information, the colours in this image are the same as those in the GM Color Checker. They should all be in-gamut for your printers.

 

[gqdre78]

thanks for the feedback, really appreciate it!

 

[Emulator]

An interesting colour strip Roger, so I thought I would try printing it with the Canon Pro9000 MkII using the range of standard Canon gloss paper profiles.

The image attempts to show the results. I printed the strips on a single sheet A4 micro porous glossy using Canon Easy-PhotoPrint pro and Relative Colorimetric, the second line in the descriptions shows the Canon profile paper type used for each, the last strip on the paper was an old locally generated profile. The A4 sheet was taped to my LCD iiyama screen and illuminated with a 6400K viewing lamp. I have attempted to adjust the illumination level to match paper and screen white levels (not too sucessfully), but it does illustrate the colour matches fairly well. The combined image was taken using a Canon camera.

On the whole I am surprised how well the patches match. The screen has been calibrated using Spyder 3. There are a number of artifacts visible which are not actually present. The greys show some noticeable differences and also some of the colours, but on the whole a surprising result.

Regards Ian

 

[RogerB]

An interesting exercise! Never tried that myself.

Even allowing for the difficulties in photographing this kind of subject, I can see significant differences in rendering between the various profiles. The differences are particularly obvious in the "sky blue" patch (4th from right), the green, and the various greys. However, I suspect that if you showed any one of these strips in isolation, many people would be satisfied with the screen-print match.

For my purposes I have a reference print which has been verified by measurement with my i1Pro. When I produce a custom profile for a new paper, I print this file using the profile and compare the result visually with my reference by laying one on top of the other. Normally I cannot see any difference, even between matte and gloss paper, except in the lightest colours which are influenced by the paper white point. I also use it as a quality control check when I have a new batch of paper or ink. It's often possible to print the strip in the margin of a "real" print and get a free accuracy check!