X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution

Comments about X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution:

Easy to use

Comments about X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution:

Easy to use with me iMac 27

Comments about X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution:

Appears to do good job of profiling the monitor, but fails miserably at profiling printers. The support and tutorials provided with the product are oriented toward Epson printers, so if you have an Epson printer you will probably like the product.

I have an Apple iMac running OS 10.7.4 Lion with a Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mark II printer. There is not one bit of information in the manual or tutorial that helps get the correct setup to profile my canon printer. I have contacted support and they have only provided the information that came with the product or information that is outdated and refers back to older versions of the Mac software. In addition, support is extremely slow to respond.

After printing photos with the profiles I created using the best information I could find, the photos came out looking no where close to what I was seeing on my computer screen. I had to use the canon profiles provided with the printer to even get close to what I was seeing on the computer screen.

I would not recommend this product to anyone trying to profile a Canon printer.

Comments about X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution:

I am required to use the Colormunki for school classes, It calibrates the monitor well- still need to work on calibrating the printer.

Comments about X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution:

Had major issues with Adobe Photoshop on multiple systems for finishing. After using the colormunki to calibrate all the computer monitor on each system, my images are by far more constraint.

Comments about X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution:

Makes it very easy to profile the central region of a screen and generate accurate color representation. Also profiles printed output so a match with the screen colors seems nearly perfect. Haven't done this yet, but apparently each camera sensor can also be profiled. Watching the training video, and especially the webinar with Joe Brady, is certainly worthwhile and makes installation and initial use very straightforward. I've been extremely pleased with the ease of use and excellent results so far.

Comments about X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution:

Good to a point on papers. Canvas is horrible it just can not read it. Send that profile to a pro.

Comments about X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution:

If there were a choice I would have given this product 4 1/2 stars simply because the learning curve is a bit steep, but you can't argue with the excellent outcome. Once you learn the proper use, the workflow becomes smooth and easy, but stick with it because I had moments of frustration along the way.They provide a well done video tutorial with the software installation. You might want to go through it more than once to sort of hard wire it in your brain before making your first attempt, but don't worry because if you do it wrong you won't break anything and can start all over :-) However there is a terrific Webinar that X-Rite sponsors given by Joe Brady. It's a little over an hour and is chock full of valuable information, some of which isn't covered in the the software tutorial and ought to be to make the learning curve a bit less steep. Definitely view this too before using the ColorMunki Photo. It's an archived Webinar so you don't have to set up a date to see it. http://xritephoto.com/ph_learning.aspx?action=webinarsarchive&eventid=1027&eventdateid=4884 I don't know if you have to register your ColorMunki first before you can have access to it, or if it's open to the general public, but it's worthwhile.So I took it out for it's shakedown cruise and it worked wonders after a few fits and starts due to my own stupidity. At first I thought what had come out of the printer was a big disappointment and that I had made an expensive mistake, but when I came back that afternoon to the print I had trashed , which had given it plenty of time to dry, I then took it outdoors into sunlight I was blown away! "THAT'S IT! THAT'S WHAT I SEE ON MY SCREEN!" I couldn't have been happier.Last point that is another matter that would have given it a 4 1/2 star rating if there were such a thing. You have to turn a dial on the side of the ColorMunki to do different things. One position turns it into an ambient room-light measure, another a screen calibrator, and still another into a spectrometer. How great is that? Three products all in one. But here's the rub. That darn dial is a lot of trouble to turn especially with aging hands. I can't describe it in words, but at first I thought there was something wrong with the product. Only persistence and some finesse managed to turn it. I notice it's getting a tiny bit easier the more I use it, but the people at X-Rite ought to do a better job at figuring a solution to this, like raised nubs on the wheel that would give your thumb and forefinger some traction. And oh yeah, don't try to turn it when it isn't connected to its USB. Apparently it needs electricity to release the turning mechanism.

Comments about X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution:

Great and affordable way to calibrate screen and printer for true to life colours.

Comments about X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution:

Ordered Color Munki on 3/29 it arrived on 4/2.
After setting it up I tried to read color patches. The button on side of unit was froze, would not activate. Contacted X-rite, they got back to me right away and said send in Color Munki and they would "replace it". I returned it to them and didn't hear back. Last Friday I contacted them and was told unit was assigned to the technician and will be here an average of 10-12 business days. ??

First thing I have bought from B&H in over twenty years that wasn't worked. wc

Comments about X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution:

I was totally frustrated with my print output. I happened to watch a video tutorial in Xrite.com website and was highly impressed and I ordered it through BHphotovideo.com. To my surprise i calibrated my screen and the printer profiles according to the instruction in CD and the first print it self was highly satisfying. Currently I am in the process of profiling different kind of papers which i iuse. Colormunki photo gave me enough confidence to go for bigger size prints without the fear of mismatched colors or tones. Colormunki just rocks.

Comments about X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution:

The pros:

Cheapest spectrometer, calibrate both monitor and printer, free mini-color chart that is handy and capable to cailibrate your camera, software is easy to use.

The cons:

The software do not offer the function to match my two monitors. It is not the hardware and the more pricer version can.

Comments about X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution:

Love this product! Instantly improved the quality of my prints!! very happy. just dont drop it. they dont like that much!

Comments about X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution:

This product was very simple to install/operate but it was pretty expensive.

Comments about X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution:

If you print your own photos and want to insure accurate color reproduction from from your screen to printer output then this is a must have item. The Color Munki is ruggedly made for years and years of use and is easy to setup and use. Most importantly it does what it's supposed to, that is accurately profile your monitor and anyone can do it easily even if color calibration is something they don't really understand that well. The included DVD walks you through the entire process and the software gives you onscreen prompts so you can't go wrong! I wouldn't want to be it without mine!

Comments about X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution:

I purchased this package to profile four monitors attached to two video cards in my primary desktop machine (used for both photo and video editing), my laptop and two printers -- one new Canon Pixma 9000 Mk II and a color laser printer (Brother MFC9320CW)

The laser has always had terrible color rendition as the profiles are simply not designed for anything realistic. It's fine for business graphs where nobody really cares if you're "right", and it's fast. It's terrible for anything that has a face in a picture. Really terrible.

The ColorMunki fixed the laser printer. REALLY fixed it. It is now a credible and fast output device for color images. It is not up to the quality of a good inkjet, but it prints nicely on regular paper and gloss laser paper up to 30lb or so -- where an ink printer simply doesn't handle that sort of paper AT ALL in a reasonable fashion.

It also tweaked up the Canon Pixma materially, taking what I had found to be a rather-objectionable magenta tint with the stock profiles that I could find. The prints I'm getting now out of the Pixma look like they're chemically-processed. It's THAT good.

That's the good.

Now the sorta-bad: It decided that my laser printer was a CMYK device and won't build a RGB profile for it. This means the profile is NOT usable by either Lightroom or Canon's Digital Photopro, neither of which will read CMYK ICC profiles. There appears to be no way to override this either. The profile does work with Photoshop and other CS5.5 components, but the lack of functionality with Lightroom is a bummer, and there is no way to override the program's decision and get a RGB profile.

Finally, the ugly. If you have multiple monitors be careful. I have four Samsung monitors, two EX2200s and two 226BWs in a 2x2 configuration, attached to two Nvidia 9xxx series video cards, all via DVI ports. When attempting to profile the monitors the ColorMunki software gets rather confused -- it sets the **brightness** of the monitors (remotely from the computer!) and that would be ok if it set the right one..... but it doesn't.

It turns out that the device's software tries to be too cute by half and use "advanced" features that apparently don't work reliably on all machines. Fortunately they're in the preferences on the program and can be turned off. Turning off both the automated LUT and DDC calibration fixed the problem and all four profiles were able to be consistently built -- it just asks YOU to set the brightness until the grey brightness it wants is present. Incidentally one my 226BWs (these are cold-cathode lit as opposed to LED) has a materially brighter backlight (by 10 pts on the adjustment scale!) than the other -- the Munki figured it out and made the proper adjustment. Nice.

It also profiled up my Epson projector in a couple of test scenarios. I haven't used that "in anger" yet at a client site, but I will in the future and the differences there are NOT small either -- they're on the scale of what it did for the laser printer.

One bummer -- not only did the price go down right after I bought it, but now there's a MIR on it too. C'est la vie. It was still worth it on balance.

The included neoprene case looks reasonably protective, the included "bean bag" counterweights work well to hang it over the monitor in the correct orientation and the design is solid. I like the internal calibration capability which should keep it from having to be returned to the factory.

This is a very impressive device. I wish I could set a lower screen Lux value for calibration (I prefer to work in a darker room than most, so 80cd is a bit high -- I'd like 60) but the low end is serviceable. The high end (120cd) is close to the maximum most desktop monitors can emit, so that's well-matched. It did a markedly better job of matching all four monitors in under 15 minutes than I could do by hand with a LOT more time involved using color panels and my eyeballs, and the matching against output devices is something that is nearly impossible without a device like this.

This is not an inexpensive device to purchase but it's something you should only need to buy once, and it does what it says it does. If you look at the attached image that's a photograph of all 4 of my monitors after calibration. You can still see some minor differences between top and bottom (LED backlight .vs. cold cathode; CRI is materially different between the technologies) but they're darn close, and the left/right panels (same monitor brand and model in the horizontal plane) are EXTREMELY close. I couldn't get anywhere near that by hand -- and that's the bottom line.

Comments about X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution:

Very happy with my colormunki. Had a bit of a problem installing on my computer, however the customer service department was outstanding and fixed my issue right away. Makes my printing experience way more fun, what I see is what prints on the paper. Spend the extra money to get this product, it is really worth it.

Comments about X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution:

If working in the print industry for two decades has taught me anything, it's that ICC color management was a really good idea that usually stayed an idea. With ColorMunki, X-rite has become the Apple of color management by recreating the whole notion of what a colorimeter and color management should be.

From the moment you open the packaging it's apparent that this is not your father's calibration tool. The brilliant approach ColorMunki takes to rotating the business end of the device around the integrated case virtually eliminates the ability to mess things up. The calibration chip is tucked away where fingers and dirt can never reach. Even when the device is setup to read reflective color there is little chance that you will ever come in contact with the optics.

The design is very clever beyond just the practical. This one device can serve all of my measurement needs and it fits into the palm of my hand. The approach of hanging the colorimeter over the display seemed weird at first but it works and is much more versatile for all types of displays. The USB chord can get in the way but other than that the solution is sound.

Ambient room readings are a nice feature and the ability to calibrate projectors is a cool parlor trick. I imagine pulling this thing out to calibrate your presentation might just get you the job if you are claiming to be a color expert. :)

We use the ColorMunki at the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) to calibrate video to print. Video calibrations with ColorMunki have been spot on and the printer calibration has given us confidence to trust color even from a workgroup copier.

We decided to purchase the ColorMunki Photo instead of the Design based on features and price. Even though we are using this primarily for print, we have found treating print as photographs is a better approach as the print industry as we know it is constantly changing. The print industry is guilty of forcing everyone to comply with his or her process but if you can manage RGB and LAB, whatever the print shop down the street uses becomes a non-issue. We have seen fantastic results with our own print shop and local vendors simply by sending them calibrated images from the start.

The software is well designed and plays well with Apple OSX Lion. The DigitalPouch is interesting but I am not sure we will use it in our workflow. However, it's a great approach to a complicated task of making sure ICC profiles actually arrive at their destination. The Photo ColorPicker is fast and accurate and the ability to export and automatically sync color palettes is once again brilliant. There are so many great features in this one piece of software it deserves its own review. Soft proofing, PrintSafe, CMYK / HTML/ sRGB values, Color Harmony, Color Variations, in a word - win.

The only complaint I have so far is rotating the device with my big German hands can be a problem. I have to take care not to inadvertently push the measure button while changing modes. This comes into play while calibrating the device and can be annoying. The trick is to keep away from the button but as most guys know, buttons are hard to stay away from, especially blinky ones.

This also has a blinky button. :)

Fun name, great software, correct measurements, blinky button, and cool conversation starter. What more could a color geek want?

Comments about X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution:

This calibration system works great and is exactly what I needed for class.

Comments about X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution:

This is a great product! I'm a photography student and this is a great calibration product!