Can I print a colour swatch from CS2?

[ben_s...@adobeforums.com]

Hi guys,

Having the age old colour mismatch from two printers problem. Is there a way in photoshop CS2 (or anything else) that I can print a colour swatch that also gives the individual RGB values?

My theory is that if I print the same swatch to the two different printers, I can manually match the colours by eye and adjust RGB values to suit. Make sense?

Thanks in advance

Ben

[pfigen]

The easiest way, and parenthetically, the best way, is to run custom ICC profiles of both printers and either convert from a common master source file separately or convert from one printer profile to the other.

[Gernot_...@adobeforums.com]

Ben,

if you don't have the equipment for printer calibration,
then you may use these test pages:

RGB targets, page 19:
<http://www.fho-emden.de/~hoffmann/swatch22112002.pdf>

General printer test pages:
<http://www.fho-emden.de/~hoffmann/a3gencolorhigh.pdf>

Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann

[ben_s...@adobeforums.com]

Wow, thank you Gernot.

Am I right in my theory? First of all, print the chart to both printers. Now, print out my actual 'master' to the one printer I know gives me the colour I want. Then, simply using the chart from the second printer, colour match by eye and change 'master' colour to that I 'matched' on the second chart?

Sounds confusing I know.

Ben

[Gernot_...@adobeforums.com]

Ben,

that may work occasionally, but in the long run it's not
a good solution.
You'll need printer calibration hardware and software.
GretagMacbeth ProfileMaker is OK but very expensive.

You may ask here for a cheaper solution:
<http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?14@@.eea5b31>

By the way: for visual tests I would use the IT8-target
on page 5:
<http://www.fho-emden.de/~hoffmann/a3gencolorhigh.pdf>

Very important is the gray step wedge. Some patches
are out of gamut for sRGB, indicated by a small square.
This doesn't matter.

Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann