Epson Pen Calibration

[Rell Jette]

ForWindows Users Double-click the EPSON Stylus Scan FB icon in the Control Panel. The EPSON Stylus Scan FB dialog box appears. Click the Screen Calibration Utility icon button. The Screen Calibration dialog box appears.

Move the slider to the right or left until the two shades of the gray horizontal stripes match. Click OK when you have finished calibrating your scanner and monitor. Click OK to close the EPSON Stylus Scan FB dialog box, then exit the Control Panel.The gray stripes will not perfectly blend together; however, try to make the different tones match as closely as possible.

Move the slider to the right or left until the two shades of the gray horizontal stripes match. Click OK to finish calibrating your scanner and monitor.The gray stripes will not perfectly blend together; however, try to make the different tones match as closely as possible.

Using ICM, ICM/sRGB (For Windows 98/95 Users)If you use Windows 98 or 95 and your output devices (monitor and any additional printers you wish to use) support the ICM color management system, you can use the ICM calibration method.

Run an application that supports TWAIN and select Acquire or Acquire & Export to start EPSON TWAIN. Click Configuration. Select ICM/sRGB in the Configuration dialog box. Make any other settings you desire. Click Scan. The scanner scans an image using the sRGB profile.For Windows 95 usersNote:If your output devices do not support ICM, make sure the check box is clear.Follow the steps below:

Run an application that supports TWAIN and select Acquire or Acquire & Export to start EPSON TWAIN. Click Configuration. Select ICM in the Configuration dialog box. Make any other settings you desire. Click Scan. The scanner scans an image using the ICM profile.Note:Adding or removing profiles on the Color Management menu of your scanner's properties dialog box will not affect the colors of your scanned images.

Run an application that supports TWAIN and select Acquire to start EPSON TWAIN. Click Configuration. Check ColorSync in the Configuration dialog box. Make any other settings you desire. Click Scan. The scanner scans an image using the ColorSync profile.When the scanned image is printed or displayed with the output device calibrated for the scanner, the image reproduced is identical to the original.

A reliable printer is vital for any small business or independent professional. If your documents, spreadsheets or images are coming out of your printer with strange streaks or jagged patches, don't dish out money for a repair quote just yet. In many cases, a quick calibration is all that is required to set your printer straight. Aligning the printing head of your printer, no matter the manufacturer, can be performed quickly from your computer.

Click "Continue" to print the alignment page. On the Alignment Status dialog, click "OK" if the automatic alignment is successful; if it's not, clicking "OK" will return you to the Utility Main Window.

Brandon Getty began writing professionally in 2008, with columns appearing in "Thrasher" magazine. He received a Bachelor of Arts in literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and lives in Stockton, Calif.

Jane: I didn't calibrate when I got mine. I use the Epson scanner software that came with the scanner and post process using Lightroom 3 or Photoshop Elements 8.

I set the scanner to Professional Mode, for 2400 dpi resolution, 48 bit color and ALL other settings off except for Continuous Auto exposure Gamma 2.2 (click Configuration tab at bottom). Sometimes I use ICE to clean up dust but it takes three times as long to scan. So if the film is fairly clean, I spot heal the dust in Post processing.

This is a good place to start. You will get pretty decent results. Final adjustments can be made in Post. I always work with Levels first. I've got scans of 120 and 35mm color slide film on my Flickr site to get an idea. Some 120 negative film too. No B/W film scans though.

What kind of film are you scanning What program do you use for post processing? Good luck and have fun. Alan

ages ago(permalink)

I'm pretty sure the Epson calibrates its self when it powers up. That's what all the noise is when you turn the power on. If you are talking about building a icc profile for the scanner, that is a different thing entirely.

I don't think the Epson software can deal with profiles. But Silverfast and Vuescan can.

ages ago(permalink)

I don't think you need to calibrate at all.

First of all this is a consumer grade scanner and it's supposed to be ready to use right out of the box, use the included drivers as they're simple enough.

Like Alan mentioned, adjust your images after you scanned in a good program like Lightroom, Apple Aperture, Photoshop, etc.

Enjoy your scanner, I love mine.

ages ago(permalink)

I just tool a look at that kit. In order to do what it claims, it needs to build an icc profile for the scanner. It may be able to do this. But as I mentioned, you will need to purchase scanner software like Vuescan or Silvefast that can load custom profiles.

ages ago(permalink)

Thank you very much for all the responses above.

Alan, I am mostly scanning photos instead of negatives or slides. I use Photoshop CS5 for post processing.

Mdruziak, I downloaded Silverfast 8.0 Ai Studio 8 demo version on my Window 7 (64 bits). To my disappointment, I found it's slow and sluggish to operate. My computer has Intel i7 processor with 8GB memory. Shouldn't be the problem of my computer. It might not be worthwhile to spend $299 if the sluggish problem cannot be resolved.

According to your responses, I can still get good scan results without calibration. I'll go ahead and start scanning. I think I will go with professional mode, 24bit color (or 48bit?), do some histogram adjustment to adjust the highlight and shadow, then use the curve to adjust the brightness and contrast. Is 300ppi enough, or is it better to go with 600ppi? I'll save the scanned photo in non-compressed tiff format, which is convenient for me to do post processing in Photoshop later.

Really appreciate your help.

Originally posted ages ago. (permalink)

Jane's2000 edited this topic ages ago.

Jane: Don't really know much about scanning photos other than to remind you that the V600 (but not the V500 for others considering buying) does ICE on photos as well as film. So if you have scratches or tears or marks on the photo, ICE will clear up a lot of that during the scan.

ages ago(permalink)

Hey everyone and sorry if this one has been covered before (I searched and can't find anything)

Fort 35mm I am using Epson V850 for quick proofs of the whole roll (much like a contact sheet) and then Plustek (which I find very sharp) to further work on selected frames.

Due to this workflow I've not experimented so far with getting the best out of the V850, but I'm now starting 120 scanning so will be completing the whole process in the V850.

Regarding optimising sharpness: I'm aware that the feet of the holder will move the image closer/farther from the fixed scanner lens and therefore effect sharpness, so I can experiment with that . But I also read sometime ago these scanners can be 'calibrated'. Is that the same thing (presumably with a commercially available 'target'), or is this 'calibration' referring to something different ?

Secondly, can any Lightroom users that are using V800 or V850 advise what level of additional sharpening you apply in Lightroom? With the plustek I don't add much at all, maybe 12-15%

By the way if relevant, my processflow is Scan > Negative Lab Pro / Lightroom conversion > Final edits in Lightroom

Thanks in advance for any tips.

I'm pretty sure 'calibrating' is simply adjusting the feet of the holder, and it's well worth doing a few tests even if you end up back where you started. When I was doing my MF on my V700 I used a Betterscanning 120 neg holder that has screw feet which can be more finely adjusted, and my holder had ANR glass to make sure the negative is perfectly flat.

I use silverfast the same way u use vuescan, since i have both apps, but for batch scanning im more familiar with silverfast, other than that they are the same, so dont worry, and since we are scanning raw files in DNG, i dont think we need to calibrate it

With the color temp set to 6500 and skin tone to 4 the pre-calibration white balance was a little bit plus blue and minus red and green on the high end of the grayscale with the DeltaE ranging from 1.25 on the low end to 5 at the high end. The 2-point white balance calibration controls (called Custom) work fine but are a bit course especially the lower (offsets), but I was still able to achieve good results with a DeltaE (error) ranging from 1 on the low end to 2.5 on the high end.

The default gamma (0) was a little on the bright side at a 2.08 average. With my target set for 2.4 I lowered gamma to -2. After the 2-point and 8-point calibration the gamma curve was a super linear 2.4. When it comes to sharpness controls Epson never fails to give you many adjustments options, I recommend you just keep them at their default values. Overall, I was extremely happy with my post Best Mode (1080p) calibration and its 1846 measured lumens.

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