[Leica] Colour Management ?????

[tedgrant at shaw.ca (Ted Grant)]

Douglas M. Sharp said:
Subject: [MUGers] Colour Management ?????


> Help!! This is probably a question that would be of interest to anyone
> starting scanning, posting and printing.
> It also serves as a criticism of the manufacturers of  scanners and
> printers, they all seem to assume that we are already experts
> when we buy their products. The "Just load the software, plug it in, and
> then of course you know what you are doing, or you wouldn't
> have bought it" mentality of Handbook authors.<<<<<<<

Hi Doug,

My feelings exactly! I mean they write dummies manuals for...".XYZZ... for
Dummies." of all types, supposedly as simple as it can be. But what they
fail to understand is they assume the reader is already literate in
computer, digital, scanning and other techie lingo. What they don't
understand is........ dummies are truly clueless, I mean really clueless
beyond turning it on! Even then. ;-)

We want to use the equipment but are as dumb about it as understanding why a
concrete block stays together.

Much as I did in learning how to become a photographer, I only learned what
it
is I need to make "good prints" with no more than turn it on, put film in
here, scanner hums, image comes on screen, "Damn that looks good!" Put paper
in... hit print!"

If it looks great that's neat! Why does one require knowing all the other
stuff as in, "what gamut, whatever range, monitor balancing?  Heck "my
monitor has never been done" it came out of the box got plugged in and
that's that." I just wanted a big monitor that gave me a nice clear great
big picture... like what more do you need?

Just like buying a Noctilux..... fast is what it was all about! I didn't
read and test to see how sharp and all the other things some fellas do.,. It
was fast, the fastest so it was out of the box, on camera start shooting in
low light level as I could find, soup film and that was it!

> The more I read about it the more confused I get.<<<

Heck that's just like using a digital camera. It's got a huge manual using
words I can't pronounce let alone understand. So I only read the part
about.... "How to turn it on  & off!"

Then set if for auto everything and the camera is producing incredible
images I can make 13X19 size prints that people can't believe they come from
a digi-cam.

I'm asked "what do you set it at?" My response is simple........ "Auto
everything and have fun taking pictures! What's so difficult about that?"

When I read about "digital noise?" Hell if they'd said "grain like look" I'd
have known what they were talking about. But no it's "noise," doesn't that
indicate "sound?"  So I would set the ASA for 400 take some available
darkness pictures then hold the camera close to my ear to hear the " noise!"
Hell it was silent!!

So why didn't the geeks use the language of photography, it is a camera of
sorts isn't it? And say... "a kind of grain like pattern."  However, in a
few situations the shot looked a little grainy, like film pushed a stop or
two. Then it dawned on me this "grain look" must be what they were talking
about.......... stupid geeks, "noise for crying out loud!" ;-)

You see the people designing digi cams and some of this other stuff are
really "technological geek computer geek people." So they use this language
from Mars that plain simple folks rarely understand.

So the answer is, just turn it on, don't ask questions or push buttons,
don't listen for noise, take pictures on automatic and if they look cool,
don't mess with it and enjoy your picture / printing time. :-)

>>> My intention is , rather obviously, to get prints, and >>images for the
web, with identical colours, contrast and >>brightness as the slides I'm
scanning.<<<

Well sometimes that's an almost impossibility unless you have a degree in
some esoteric language and skills beyond ordinary folks. So keep it simple,
get as close as you can on automatic and live with it!"  Why? Cause yer the
only one who's going to know the difference and as long as it still looks
real good, why sweat the extra 2 thingies to try to match it...... that is
unless it's a pound of butter and you want to match it.

But have you ever seen three different pounds of butter that look identical?
;-)

> What should  the colour management parameters for the following
> conglomeration of equipment be ?
> 1) Monitor (at present TFT, a CRT is on the shopping list)
> 2) Nikon V ED 35mm scanner
> 3) Canon 9900F Flatbed
> 4) HP Photosmart Printer<<<<<<<

Hell you lost me at...." colour management parameters "

> There are so many options for each piece of equipment and the
> corresponding software that it's so easy to get totally lost.
> Are Nikon or Canon profiles compatible/identical  with Adobe PS Elements
> 2.0 or Arcsoft Photostudio 5 ? is  sRGB some kind of  general setting
> that serves all other RGB profiles ?
> Am I confusing  Color Spaces and Color Profiles ?<<<<<

No, because yer confusing too much reading stuff with a simple
question....... "OK guys which one works the best and the easiest? Oh yeah,
for th best price?" Then go from there and forget all the damn machines and
the instructions, bells, buttons and whistle. Hell all this stuff can spoil
yer lunch trying to cope with it.

If ever there was a reason to remember "KISS philosophy" it's when you want
to move into this "wonderful, wild, whacky, confusing world of computers,
digital camera's and electronic shooting and printing!"

My greatest success so far has been with an Epson 2200, PC computer with
PS... (no I don't know how to make it work either, well sort of simple
things,) A Polaroid Sprintscan 4000 scanner and that's it. Oh yeah and the
new Leica Digilux 2! Always on auto and I'm having the best damn fun playing
photographer as I did 55 years ago when I started. :-)

And best of all?  Damn the prints look beautiful at 13X19 and hanging on the
wall! ;-)  Need I say more? :-)
ted