Datacolor User to User Support Group.

>A few observations for those just starting with the equipment.

And a few observations, on your observations... 1. The recommendation in the dialog to turn the paper sideways is a good one. It 
just helps with the movement of the Spectro from patch to patch.

Yes, its something I learned long ago in art school (and again later, in archtectural school):

 you have much more control moving your arm towards your body, or even away from it, 

then sideways. Its the trick to drawing a straight line...

>2. You have to have the Spectro "snout" aligned better than I at least first 
thought.

Alignment does not need to be all that good; if entire nose is on the patch, thats more than sufficient;

but some people have what I call a "visual offset" (its why my wife can't cut a pan of brownies into even

size bars)... in the case of patch reading, this can result in errors, since where one THINKS one is placing

the nose, and where one is ACTUALLY placing it can be offset by a quarter of an inch or more. People with

this condition are better off printing oversize targets; if the patches are large enough, you hit them even

with an offset.

>3. A good way to make sure you are aligned properly is to use the supplied 
"Print Guide Rule" even though, evidently, experienced users don't
 need it - or 
maybe they just say they don't?. 

Those with good eye-hand relationships truly don't need it. But its there for anyone who does. If you

have trouble an error-free set of measurement set, thats an indication you should try using it.

>When you use it you will be perfectly aligned on the patch row and only need to 
pay attention to the patch to patch alignment within the row. I finally got the 
patch to patch alignment right by looking at the "snout" on the paper and after 
moving it past the nearest white divider between patches then moving it back 
slightly in past the divider onto the patch, then maybe a little more. 

Yes, the guide, while it can slow down the row to row movement, eliminates concerns about staying on the row,

leaving the user to concentrate on hitting the patches in the row, not the row. Your description of the effort

required to align on a patch would indicate you may indeed have a visual offset condition.

>In other words, cover up the nearest white divider of the new patch with the 
snout and then move back in slightly just past the white divider. It's easy to 
see that way. Then click the Spectro or hit return as is your preference. I find 
clicking the Spectro is easier for me.

This method would be slow, but sure...

>3. On occasion, after clicking the Spectro, or hitting return, you will get only 
one audio "click" from the computer, rather than tw
o. I don't know why. In that 
case with the arrow keys I move the red triangle back and "reshoot" that patch. 
Maybe unnecessary but who want to take a chance. This happens to me only now and 
then.

Not sure what might be causing this condition (perhaps a USB communications issue?), 

but you are correct; its suspicious enough to deserve a rereading.

>4. So far, for me, I have settled on the "measured" view of the patches during 
measurement. After coming upon the system described in (2) above I find looking 
at the measured patches, not the split, and after finishing each row comparing 
it to the hard copy being measured, tells me if I have shot a good row. On 
occasion, maybe 3 or 4 of the 225 patches I use I will see one that despite your 
best efforts needs to be tried again. In my very much limited experience it's 
easier to spot those if you review after each row rather that at the end of the 
whole thing looking at the whole array of patches.

There tends to be more info for comparison when the whole grid is completed; but the 

eye can be focussed on the patch to patch match better if you are reviewing only one row;

so its six of one, half a dozen of the other. But stopping after each row does assure that

you are moving slowly and deliberately, and not just racing through without proper attention...

>5. In reviewing the measured patches as in (4) above, pay little=2
0or no attention 
to the brightness or completely exact color. Often it won't be exactly the same. 
It's just that if the comparison shows a nonsense measurement you can see it. I 
think a nonsense read is because of slopping over onto the white divider between 
patches - but who knows?

Typically a bad read will be because of misalignment (so some of the border is measured as well), 

or bad timing (so the device is not on the page during the entire measurement), or simply reading

the wrong patch.

OK, I installed the PB version of Spyder3 Print and, finally, profiled the Epson 
Velvet Fine Art paper. A bit more comment about the "finally" below. Results - 
outstanding! By that I mean the print is about as close as you could hope for 
between hard copy and the monitor. My monitor, as I mentioned a day or so ago, I 
profiled with the Spyder3 Elite. Really, the system works, at least with this 
(difficult in the past) paper, just great.

On the "finally" part what I can offer is just patch measuring learnings by a 
newbie with the Spectro.

First, after I screwed up 2 or three patch measurement series, and the profiles 
that went with them, I started to pay attention. Always a last resort - I know. 
A few observations for those just starting with the equipment.

1. The recommendation in the dialog to turn the paper sideways is a good one. It 
just helps with the movement of the Spectro from patch to patch.

2. You have to have the Spectro "snout" aligned better than I at least first 
thought.

3. A good way to make sure you are aligned properly is to use the supplied 
"Print Guide Rule" even though, evidently, experienced users don't need it - or 
maybe they just say they don't?. 

When you use it you will be perfectly aligned on the patch row and only need to 
pay attention to the patch to patch alignment within the row. I finally got the 
patch to patch alignment right by looking at the "snout" on the 
paper and after 
moving it past the nearest white divider between patches then moving it back 
slightly in past the divider onto the patch, then maybe a little more. 

In other words, cover up the nearest white divider of the new patch with the 
snout and then move back in slightly just past the white divider. It's easy to 
see that way. Then click the Spectro or hit return as is your preference. I find 
clicking the Spectro is easier for me.

3. On occasion, after clicking the Spectro, or hitting return, you will get only 
one audio "click" from the computer, rather than two. I don't know why. In that 
case with the arrow keys I move the red triangle back and "reshoot" that patch. 
Maybe unnecessary but who want to take a chance. This happens to me only now and 
then.

4. So far, for me, I have settled on the "measured" view of the patches during 
measurement. After coming upon the system described in (2) above I find looking 
at the measured patches, not the split, and after finishing each row comparing 
it to the hard copy being measured, tells me if I have shot a good row. On 
occasion, maybe 3 or 4 of the 225 patches I use I will see one that despite your 
best efforts needs to be tried again. In my very much limited experience it's 
easier to spot those if you review after each row rather that at the end of the 
whole thing looking at the whole array of patches.

5. In reviewing the measured patches as in (4) above, pay little or=2
0no attention 
to the brightness or completely exact color. Often it won't be exactly the same. 
It's just that if the comparison shows a nonsense measurement you can see it. I 
think a nonsense read is because of slopping over onto the white divider between 
patches - but who knows?

Happy as a clam so far with the Spyder3 Studio. My next step is to redo the 
Epson Premium Luster profile I did. Did that yesterday in hurry just after 
installation. The print was ok - acceptable - compared to the display. But this 
was before I had major issues with my first attempts with the Velvet Fine Art 
today, then started paying attention with the patch measurements, etc.

I'm sure when I redo the profile for the Premium Luster it'll be even better. It 
may sound like my little newbie patch reading system is too much but it probably 
takes maybe 30% more time than doing a sloppy job - which with color profiling 
is a job not worth doing - no?

Moving right along and happy with the new equipment. And I thought the 
Spyder2Express was good. It was, but little did I know.

Pat



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