Monaco Systems MonacoEZcolor

I primarily shoot slides (Velvia, Provia, E100S, and E100SW), scan with a Nikon LS4000, import into Photoshop, and output to an Epson 1280. Since I've started to color-manage my workflow, I realized what a ridiculous waste of time and money it is to not do so. I used to tweak colors endlessly in Photoshop and the printer settings. I could never get things to be satisfactory. For the process I use, you have to at least use ICC profiles for your input (scanner) and output (printer). Profiling the monitor is useful, as well, but if you are just using it to get some sense of brightness and contrast, as opposed to using it to fine-tune colors in Photoshop, it is not as critical. The process would still work even if your monitor was monochrome, since neither the scanner nor the printer has to "know" about the monitor. The ICC profile that Nikon provided for the LS 4000 was not good. The ICC profile that Epson provided for the 1280 was OK, but there was only one. They did not provide different ICC profiles for different kinds of paper. I bought 1280-specific ICC profiles from inkjetmall.com, and they are excellent. But I am way off track. The Monaco software is very user-friendly, and the manual, though brief, is clear and helpful. I highly recommend it. Also I highly recommend figuring out how to use ICC profiles correctly. I could not find any book or source that explained each step clearly. Here's what I do: (1) scan using the same settings on the scanner that I used to build its profile; (2) in Photoshop, assign that custom profile (using assign profile); (3) then convert to a wide-gamut profile -- I use Adobe RGB 1998 (using convert-to-profile); (4) then under view/proof set-up I select the ICC profile for the Epson 1280 and the paper I am printing on; (5) in print options I choose source space: proof: proof setup for that paper; (6) in print space, I choose profile: same as source. This seems to work. Interested in hearing others' thoughts or experiences. Also it is critical to get a transparency color target, which they sell you for I think $40.

It is easy to use and effective. Allows you to profile a printer through a clever system of printing a color target, attaching a reflective target to the page, scanning with a flat-bed, and simultaneously profiling the flat-bed scanner and your printer. Can also be used to profile a digital camera if you place the reflective target in the scene. Obviously there is not just one definitive profile for your digital camera -- it depends on your camera's settings and the lighting. I have not tried this, but I am willing to bet that you could make 3-5 profiles for common lighting conditions that would serve you pretty well in general.

Does not seem to work with 14-bit scans. Only works with 8-bit scans. So I scanned the color target at 14 bits and then reduced to 8-bits in Photoshop, and built a profile for that process.

None.

Have not used.