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PostPosted: Sat Sep 01, 2001 5:20 pm
by ilyons

I have now chosen Calibration in "Scanner -> Internal", None in "Internal Monitor" and my Photoshop/ColorSync profile under "Internal".
I think the "Internal Monitor" selection had thrown me off course all along and did not realise I should set it to NONE. I am now producing colour and saturation which match my originals and that is all I wanted.
Although I must admit I am still not sure what "Internal Monitor" does that it over saturates the images like it does when used in conjunction with "Internal" (does it choose my monitor that is selected in colorSync or what?).
Over and out!



Internal Monitor should normally be set for either ICC/ColorSync or Automatic. The None choice means that you have decided not to use colour management. If you were getting saturated images with it set to Automatc or ICC/ColorSync it is VERY likley that your monitor calibration profile is badly screwed.

When set to Automatic it uses Photoshop to provide the colour matching. When set to ColorSync/ICC you are using the monitor profile directly and allowing the OS to control how the image looks. None means you paddle your own canoe and when it hits the rocks you better be a good swimmer because there aren't any lifeguards around :smile:


Ian

PostPosted: Sat Sep 01, 2001 6:19 pm
by adagency
My Siverfast preview and scan with Internal Monitor set to "NONE" and Internal set to "Adobe RGB 1998" (which is my ColorSync and AdobePhotoshop RGB profile) is far more accurate as to the original as the over saturated image from Internal Monitor set to either "Automatic" or ColorSync" and Internal set to "Adobe RGB 1998".
I have, after your suggestions about the possibility of a bad profile, recalibrated the monitor. I use Heidelberg ViewOpen with a Sequel imaging device. The result was the same. Just in case it was not working correctly and the profile was not being correctly written from this application I then calibrated with the Apple Monitor calibration the results were the same.
We are using 22" Apple Cinema Displays could this be a problem, as all this science is too much for me.
Lastly if I rely on a preview and scan without Internal monitor do you mean to say the images I am seeing are incorrect as we have jut received all new equiptment (Cinema Displays, G4's and software such as PhotoShop 6 and Silverfast) and have not brought any thing to print for a few weeks now. Maybe I better get some proofs done!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: adagency on 2001-09-01 19:21 ]</font>

PostPosted: Sun Sep 02, 2001 9:44 am
by Tomaz Klinc
post moved.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tomaz Klinc on 2001-09-02 13:28 ]</font>

PostPosted: Sun Sep 02, 2001 2:28 pm
by ilyons
On 2001-09-02 10:44, Tomaz Klinc wrote:


The question is: "Does SF have an 'Internal Colour Space,' as claimed by
the Manual on p. 30, and implied by the CMS dialog?".



Hmmm, which internal? Scanner Internal, Internal Monitor, Internal Output, or Internal within the Profiles for ICC/ColorSync. I suspect you mean the latter and if so:

Only if you select one and to avoid potential mismatches it should be the same as you use in Photoshop. Photoshop 5 users really shouldn't even condider an alternative, but PS6 users can in "theory' pick anyone they like and PS6 will ensure that the displayed image is colour accurate. However, I'm not convinced (given the number of questions here and in my private email) that folk actually appreciate the differences between PS5 and PS6 in this regard.



Granted that I don't have the slightest idea how SF operates
internally, I still feel confident that the right answer is an emphatic
"No!", if the term 'color space' is to be understood in it's usual
sense.




How can you write this - surely to goodness you can see that selecting a profile in the Internal field has an impact.? I'll explain how you can test this in a moment.


What SF most probably does have internally is something that could be
called a "Face-value color space," that simply says "This color is
exactly what it purports to be." In other words, mathematically
speaking, SF's 'Internal Colour Space' is the identity maping, which is
no color space at all.




I don't know what this means.


So, what is "this color" that SilverFast gets from the scanner and
interprets at it's face value. It is the color value sent by the
scanner and subsequently modified, or interpreted, in accordance with
the calibration standard. When this value is output by SF to another
device, it is modified, or maped, or 'tagged' again, so that the
device could understand it correctly. In this scheme no proper SF
"internal colour space" would serve any purpose.



The colour space is either nothing or something - there is NO in between. It either does something or nothing - there is NO in between. The data gets mapped from the scanner colour space to the colour space defined by YOU in the Internal popup - the destination profile. If you leave it as None a colour conversion will not take place since there is no destination. But profiles are useless without a Colour Matching Module to carry out the transforms.

Try the following (I really hope you're pulling my leg):

Set PS6 set to use Adobe RGB as your working space. Open Silverfast:

Open the Silverfast CMS dialog and set as Scanner Internal and Internal Monitor to None. Also set Scanner (R or T) to None and Internal to None. Now click Apply and and make a Prescan of an image that has plenty of colour.

Once the image is displayed in the Preview hold down the Shift Key and mouse click 4 areas of the image, ideally 4 different colours. Write ALL the RGB values associated with these 4 sample points down.

Now open the CMS dialog and set Scanner Internal to Calibrate You have Assigned the scanner profile! Click Apply and make another prescan. Check and note down each of the sample point RGB values. They will NOT be the same as they were before.

Open the CMS dialog again and set Internal Monitor to Automatic - click the Apply button - the appearance of the image should change. Make sure you do another prescan. Again check and note down each of the RGB sample point values. Did they change from the last set.

Open the CMS dialog and set Internal to Adobe RGB, click Apply and then make another prescan. Check and note down the 4 sample point RGB values. They "may" be different to previous set. In my case the difference was 1 unit in the blue channel on two sample points and 2 units on green channel for one sample point. no image will be the same - but major changes should not occur.

Open the CMS dialog again and change Internal from Adobe RGB to sRGB, click Apply and again make another prescan. Check and note down the RGB sample values and this time you should see a pretty big change relative to Adobe RGB.

(added text: I find that 1 sRGB profile from a batch of 3 gives me the same RGB values as Adobe RGB - I will need to check what is going on with this profile, which is supplied by apple as part of colorsync)

Open the CMS dialog and change Internal to read ColorMatch - now you have a different set of XY coordinates and a different gamma snapping at your backside. Click Apply and again prescan. Check and note the RGB values. They will again be different.

Internal either does something or nothing - you should have noted :-


As you moved through all the various working spaces Silverfast did its best to retain the appeance of the image and it did so by changing the RGB values - this is EXACTLY what Convert to Profile in PS6 does. This is Colour Management at work!

Internal scanner = Assign Profile and Internal = Convert to Profile. You need BOTH to ensure that the image matches the original when it gets delivered to Photoshop. If Internal Scanner is set to None Internal becomes Assign Profile. They even gave us all the options for Rendering Intent so that we can optimise the conversions from source to destination.

All of this may be what you meant by your last paragraph but your first has an entirely different meaning, hence my ramblings.


Ian


(tried to fix my spelling also deleted some silly remarks and smillies)




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ilyons on 2001-09-02 16:24 ]</font>



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ilyons on 2001-09-03 00:35 ]</font>

PostPosted: Sun Sep 02, 2001 2:55 pm
by adagency
All is well now thanks for your involvement it may seem easy as pie for you but for myself there have been some confusing moments especially when the colours did not match.
One last question though to the theme of calibration does one turn off "Unsharp Mask" I presume one does and this is how I have calibrated till now (also turned everything to "NONE" in the CMS department).

PostPosted: Sun Sep 02, 2001 3:04 pm
by ilyons

One last question though to the theme of calibration does one turn off "Unsharp Mask" I presume one does and this is how I have calibrated till now (also turned everything to "NONE" in the CMS department).



"I" would leave the sharpening OFF and the CMS dialog set to None. This "may" not be necessary as SilverFast in calibration procedure should ignore all these things. However, I'm not taking any chances :smile:


Ian

PostPosted: Sun Sep 02, 2001 3:09 pm
by adagency
Cheers I hope your girlfreind hasn't left you after writing all this tech stuff, I now mine isn't too happy about the late nights.

Thanks once again, you have earnt your place in heaven.

PostPosted: Sun Sep 02, 2001 4:00 pm
by Tomaz Klinc
Dearest Ian, first my apology for moving my post; in a hurry (must pay every second for being online) I misplaced it and then tried to correct the mistake. Sory if you got the feeling that I was trying to cheat anybody.

To quote you:

Hmmm, which internal? Scanner Internal, Internal Monitor, Internal Output, or

Exactly, that was my question.

Ever since I first opened the Manual (yes, I do read manuals before I get into trouble), I was mistified by the text on p. 30 that describes CMS settings. There you can see:
Scanner->Internal
Internal->Monitor
Internal->Output
This "Internal" must refer to the same thing, otherwise would not be written this way. Further down the Manual discloses that this "Internal" refers to "internal colour space of SilverFast." This color space must be forbidden to all outsiders, since it is nowhere defined or explained. That was my point, and I stand by my assertion that there's no "internal colour space". There are just three profiles: Calibration (for receiving from the scanner}, Monitor (for outputting to monitor) and Output (for outputting to another application/devise), which make sure that all parts of the system speak the same language.

I will study your post in more detail later, and then amplify on this developing confusion.

PostPosted: Sun Sep 02, 2001 6:38 pm
by Stefan
Hi Ian,
if SF would have included your description in its manual, everything I wanted to know would have been clear.
?Internal scanner = Assign Profile and Internal = Convert to Profile. You need BOTH to ensure that the image matches the original when it gets delivered to Photoshop. If Internal Scanner is set to None Internal becomes Assign Profile."
I hope everything about SF`s colormanagement is clear now to everybody.And I hope for you,that you can relax a little bit,knowing that you helped some people very much.Probably we bothered you a little bit to much with too
many questions.
But THANKS again.
Stefan

PostPosted: Sun Sep 02, 2001 7:06 pm
by ilyons
On 2001-09-02 19:38, Stefan wrote:
Hi Ian,
if SF would have included your description in its manual, everything I wanted to know would have been clear.
?Internal scanner = Assign Profile and Internal = Convert to Profile. You need BOTH to ensure that the image matches the original when it gets delivered to Photoshop. If Internal Scanner is set to None Internal becomes Assign Profile."




I doubt the questions will cease and I'm sure that somebody will take issue with the what I wrote :smile: The above is a simplification and you MUST read it the context of the exercise that I outlined above it. In other words the Colour Management section of the CMS dialog must be configured appropriately. I'll see if I can post a page that shows the various dialog cofigurations, although they should already be in the manual.

I changed my mind the a page will do for another day

Ian








<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ilyons on 2001-09-03 00:38 ]</font>