| PRODUCT DETAILS | | ColorMunki Photo - Monitor, Printer & Projector Profiler |  | |
ColorMunki Photo - Monitor, Printer & Projector Profiler
Your best friend for matching prints to display with color perfection. Ideal for wedding, portrait and event photographers - or any passionate advocate - this completely integrated color control solution delivers the latest technology to calibrate your displays, projectors and printers for accurate color matching. It's also loaded with color creation and communication tools that allow you to send your images with DigitalPouch and create unlimited color palettes! So whether you work on a PC or Mac, ColorMunki Photo is the innovative way to bring your photos from screen to print accurately, simply and affordably.
Manufacturer: X-Rite
Price: $499.00
 ColorMunki Photo - Monitor, Printer & Projector Profiler
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| User Reviews |  | Acts like a preproduction prototype
rating: 3
We have a custom studio with many monitors, a printer and a projector. Our Spyder is long in the tooth and won't do projectors, hence the Munki.
Numerous other posters complained about the crummy software, but didn't dissuade me because I never saw all the problems listed in one place. Here we go:
Disc doesn't have actual code, just sends you to their site to download 250MB of file.
Link didn't work, had to go directly there to get it. Download gagged twice before success.
Limited to load on 3 machines, which is not enough for us, but I figured a way to cheat it.
No "CRT" choice in cal menu, use LCD.
Only 3 fixed color temps.
Won't handle multiple monitors in Win XP without a prog from MS called Color Tool.
No gamma control.
No profile naming.
After fighting thru all that, then the hardware fun starts:
Hang straps are a joke. Most people who cal also have a screen hood so they CAN'T work.
Device frequently gets in an endless CAL/SET loop and has to be reinitialized.
Who thought of this stupid zipper case that must be removed and replaced during the CAL sequence?
The profile created is pretty good on both my displays and the projector. Probably better than the Spyder BUT, the "measure room light" option is whacko. Turn it off and the profile looks like a 60's album cover even in complete darkness.
The fact is, I know of nothing near the price that will do all this. Version 2 probably will be fine , but be prepared for a load of hassle.
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Does exactly what I hoped it would do; some customer support reservations
rating: 4
I decided to get the Colormunki after struggling for over a year to get my Canon Pro9000 printer to produce prints that were consistently accurate representations of my photos, as they looked on my monitor - I had a monitor calibrator, but that's only one part of what you need in color management. I had used generic profiles for the paper I was using in the past and did all thing things you are supposed to do with the color management settings to get things right, but still experienced highly inconsistent results. After much reading, I determined that getting custom profiles for my printer/paper combinations might be the way to go. The Colormunki allows you to profile your printer specifically for the paper you are using, in addition to calibrating your monitor.
The profiler controls are easily understood and engaged; in order to profile the printer you will need to use at least two sheets of whatever paper you are profiling, and you will need to profile for each type of paper you use - each paper gets its own custom profile - so there is some initial expenditure of ink and paper to get your profiles ready. But that's nothing compared to the ink and paper you would have wasted trying to get an acceptable print without a custom profile, so I don't see that as a disadvantage.
Things did not go smoothly at first though - you're supposed to use the Colormunki to scan a series of color patches and when I first printed out my color patches my printer was apparently low on magenta and did not properly print out the patches that had magenta in it. I was unaware of that, and as I attempted to scan the patches, the Colormunki would simply tell me the scan had failed and not offer any tips as to where to begin locating the point of failure. It wasn't until I used the online help and wandered in and out of several articles (their online article resource is not well-organized) that I finally stumbled on a sentence that pointed me in the right direction. Once over that hurdle, the profiling proceeded very quickly and very easily. I was then able to make more profiles without any hitches at all. But my review gets 4 stars instead of 5, as I believe the makers of Colormunki could have done a much better job in creating and organizing the help documentation. There needs to be more of an effort on their part to address the questions that might arise for a user that has no knowledge of the finer points of color profiling - their help documentation seems to gloss over a number of things, or assume that the user would already know them. Given that the product is marketed to the general consumer, this is potentially a serious misstep on their part.
I cannot speak for the projector profiler feature as I do not have a use for that and have not tested it.
In summary, I've seen a vast improvement in the color accuracy of my prints since using the Colormunki, but be aware that troubleshooting any problems with this product can lead to a lot of frustration if you don't already have the expertise that would help you know where to start looking.
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Poor Software & Beware of Activation Limit
rating: 1
Several issues with this product, all software related. I haven't gotten far enough to qualify the icc results. First of all, the CD you receive has nothing on it except a small application that downloads the actual software. So, no internet connection, no calibration. I was installing on a laptop, and luckily was at home. Second, you only get three machine activations of the software.. after that I guess your Colormunki becomes an expensive paperweight. Good thing my camera isn't restricted to 3 machines, or I'd really be in trouble. You also need that internet connection to "activate" your software. Under OSX it seems to only activate it for a single account. Thirdly, I was only able to calibrate one of my two monitors, the software produces an errors for the second. I'll finish testing, but the 3 machine software installation limit for an expensive piece of hardware is asinine, and will most likely result in a return... especially since I have 4 machines at home.
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Technical problems, hostile support , just be aware
rating: 1
I am new to color management - but not to software engineering and release having done support, engineering, test and release since 1982 in the retail and enterprise space.
I think I am one of the CM's target market segments being a part time wedding and portrait photographer. I am using an Epson Stylus pro 3800.
Downloading and installing version 1.05 at 364 MB and using it as my base install on a Vista home premium, x64 SP1 system here are my observations:
Tehe install requires .net and java - making it quite long to install and cluttering up your machine - this was on a new dual core 3 Ghz system, it took about 42 minutes to install.
1. monitor profiles do not stick, they disappear after UAC or on resume from S3 standby. This has been a known issue since at least mid 2007, based on threads across multiple boards and product lines.
X-rites supports comments - " it's a Vista issue - not our problem". -
That's poor response - they could have a work around for it, instead of making me figure out what do do on my own by searching the internet.
I've temporarily solved it by placing the CM gamma icon on my desktop and after resume rerunning it.
2. Per CM support the patch reading process is iterative and there are rounding errors on each successive pass of reading.
X-rite has no hard and fast rule - surprise ! But I have been told that no more that four or five at most optimizations can be read without inducing errors. and there is no way to determine when a color profile has become unusable.
I have a profile that has gone far green blue - at eight optimizations using Epson Ultra Premium Photo Luster I sent it into technical support to get a comparison to a known "good" profile and got told to go purchase their professional services.
On the Luminous Landscape, other users reported that they also were told to purchase X-rite's other solutions as the technical fix.
3. I am used to a customer is right attitude, or maybe a don't care attitude, but typically support being helpful, off the bat and from the beginning I have to say they have referred me to third party vendors and third party online forums, told me to go buy their three thousand dollar solution, and then go puchase training and support from then, all for profiling Crane Museo Rag and the above Epson pper - what a crock ! they have been quite antagonistic maybe they have knowledge - but interaction of some tech support stinks to put it mildly.
I will say when I changed technicians - I got a different one who was more civil and answered some of the questions rather than giving me a run around.
4. the profiles generated are not visible in the Epson control panel version 6.50 under vista x64 the answer I got after switching technicians after 5 email rounds was that Epson does not read version 4 of the ICC profiles - although Photoshop, Lightroom 2.1, Qimage all seem to just fine, and Epson support states that they read icc version 4 profiles just fine.
5. The Colormunki made profiles do seem to get rid of some of the color casts from the stock factory profiles, however the shadow detail seems to be somewhat compressed, this may have something to do with the way in which they read and sample colors - but I really do not know.
Overall I would not recommend this product to anyone who was not aware of the technical hurdles and problems in this segment of the industry, compared to support from Canon, Epson, DDI, or about any other vendor I've seen this was quite poor.
The amazing thing has been the utter and total arrogance exhibited that bordered on plain hostility, well now I'm hostile.. and I'm usually able to put up with a lot from flaky drivers and know nothing tech support.
The problem here is they do know something about color and I do respect that, - but literally X-rite thinks that there is not a single solitary problem with their product and that you should be grateful to have it.
I fist called them as I became concerned while waiting for the ColorMunki as some threads had commented on the vagueness of the instructions - asking what the exact steps were to turn off color managment for my printer. There are three major manufacturers Canon, HP, and Epson, There are two operatings systems and a few variants - if you laid out a table and multiplied it by versions of drivers it's probably about 48 or so maximum that would cover 90% or better of the target market - truth be told probably 16 screenshots / Kb articles would probalbby cover 99%, so I thought hey - just e-mail me the KB because I could not find it on your site........
Oh heck no, instead I started getting a rather snooty lecture from the tech support guy on how this was not their responsibility and impossible to do. I am sorry - in 4 weeks or less and documentation writer - or technical support staff could have knocked this out.
Besides any compotent quality assurance staff would have done this testing already and just could have taken the screeenshots and passed them along to a writer.
I should have just returned the device then, but I kept plugging along... figuring that all this great hoopla would show how great the device is.
The ColorMunki has defects in its USB driver were coming out of S3/ S4 hybrid standby it wont always be recognized on multiple different hubs and directs connects - instead of working with me X-rite has ignored me.
The device appears to not have any way to increase the accuracy of its black and white printing - or the gray tones - which so many of us with multiple inksets native in the printer for black and white printing want to use.
This was the quoted recommendation,"You may also find that you are aiming at a result that would typically require the feature set of our professional level programs, Monaco Profiler or ProfileMaker."
Some more from X-rite support:
4: Profile adjustment and editing is not something that is central to the ColorMunki feature set. The types of prints that you are attempting to do are very specialized and grayscale profiles are not specifically addressed by the program. Many fine art companies have devoted considerable effort to create grayscale procedures for users such as yourself. I'd suggest checking out Nash Editions, or Luminous Landscape to see what suggestions they can provide.
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WHAT ???
Bruce - can you please clarify this statement you are telling me that CM cannot be used to make professional level prints, either color nor greyscale and are recommending I go look on BBS's for support ??
You indicate you are using Qimage for printing. Our support department will have no information on this program, and although it might well produce excellent results, we would recommend contacting their support department for any print related issues.
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So X-rite doesn't support the product with screenshots or workarounds to known issues , there are rounding errors that mean that a profile cannot be optimized more than some unknown unset standard, Drying times for full color maturity will not be something that X-Rite will provide any specific guidance on. X-rite's software is involved with making profiles, and we provided the suggestion that you increase your drying time based on the findings of many end users who report that their profiles improved on some papers when they left them to dry longer. You are free to make the call for your papers and length of time needed. Further information may be obtained from Epson, Crane or other paper manufacturers.
hey it's my three cents.- or more like four hundred dollars plus a box of crane rag and Epson paper - ouch.
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Can't be beat at this price point!!!
rating: 5
This is the third color calibration system I have used. It's really great but has benefits and limitations that I will outline below:
Generally, until now, being able to calibrate your monitor AND your prints has been impossible without spending $1000 or more. Of course, if you are a high end production photographer or someone who requires perfect calibration for pre-press, then this is not the tool for you.
This is a great tool for an advanced amateur who is satisfied with really decent monitor to print accuracy, but not absolutely perfect results. It gets you about 90% there. I use it to give my printer an advance look at what I think my digital files are capable of, as a guide to creating a final print. I also use it for all the home printing so that I don't waste paper. It's saved a bundle of $$ so far not to have to print twice!
I won't go into all the nitty gritty. The software is fairly intuitive, especially compared with the higher end products. It's a quick process - about 30 minutes from start to finish to set it up if your printer is already installed.
I found it to be a little less accurate with Black and White printing than color.
The best part is that with LCD screens you only have to calibrate once and it lasts as long as you have the printer. Find a friend who also wants to calibrate and share the cost.
You'll be pleased to finally be able to hit the print button and get what you expect from you printer!!! Good luck!
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ColorMunki Photo - Monitor, Printer & Projector Profiler
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