Perfect Colours for Creative Minds (2)

By Hermann Groeneveld / SilvergrainClassics

The Complete Colour management process chain at the creative’s workplace

Professional photographers started shooting in RAW format or scanning analog material in RAW. The Adobe RGB color space, which was much larger than sRGB, became increasingly important. Although Adobe’s definition never became an international standard, it became widespread through Adobe’s graphics applications. EIZO’s CG monitors did the same: Building on the success of the first ColorEdge monitors, EIZO introduced the ColorEdge CG220 in 2004. It was the first LCD monitor to cover most of the Adobe RGB color space. It impressed with saturated color tones, the finest gradients and a precision that LCD monitors had previously been unable to achieve. It became possible to use the large color space for meaningful color management. Image data could be compared with profiles of output devices such as inkjet printers or the ISO standards of the printing industry according to Fogra. The subsequent result of the printed image could be simulated on the monitor, so to speak. High-quality scanners for professional and semi-professional users finally became affordable. Scanning increasingly moved from external services to the home desktop. Plustek with the OpticFilm 120 scanner in conjunction with the SilverFast Archive Suite from LaserSoft Imaging redefined the quality standard for sharp and detailed images in the desktop sector. This meant that these input devices could also be integrated into the colour management system. The complete process chain of colour management, from input (digital camera or scanner) to display on the screen (preferably an EIZO monitor) to output (photo printer or print as a service) could thus be mapped and controlled at the creative’s workplace. EIZO has made a significant contribution to establishing trust in LCD technology among professional photographers, image processors and printers. This eventually became a large market and is now considered the standard.

Mid-range for Professional Requirements – Affordable and Calibrated

Thanks in part to EIZO’s pioneering role, the workflow has become more consistent, less error-prone and more precise. And more affordable. In 2015, EIZO introduced the CS series, a more affordable mid-range line. These made EIZO’s typical precision in image display affordable for amateur photographers too. One of the most popular monitors in this series today is the ColorEdge CS2740 with its 4K UHD resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. For well under 1,500 euros, I believe it is the ideal entry into EIZO’s mid-range for ambitious photographers. This monitor has been on the market for more than four years. It has been in my creative workshop for just as long without complaint. “Just lit up well,” Christian Ohlig said with a wink when I told him about it. For me, this purchase means a degree of production security and, above all, investment protection. With the CS2740, calibrating a monitor came into play for me for the first time. It’s complex, but with EIZO monitors it’s very user-friendly. If you want to be absolutely sure that the ‘correct’ colours are displayed on the monitor, regular recalibration with a colourimeter is essential. This is because monitors age and change their colour behaviour. EIZO supports calibration with the free colour management software for ColorEdge monitors, ColorNavigator 7, in which calibration targets are defined and the calibration process is carried out. This initially consists of a measurement, followed by a loss-free correction. And at the end there is an ICC profile, which is automatically stored in the operating system (PC or Mac) and contains the necessary information for consistent colour management. These are then also taken into account by RAW converters and image editing programmes. For starters, you can rely on the factory calibration of your EIZO monitor, which is very precise and geared towards photographic requirements. Various presets are available for this purpose. To prevent perceptual errors, the calibration target that matches the ambient light must be selected. This ensures that the desired setting values and the precision of the display are maintained. In my experience, my calibrated CS2740 immediately came amazingly close to the brilliance, colours and contrast of my slides. A monitor calibrated by the manufacturer at the factory is definitely more reliable than one that has not been calibrated. The factory monitor settings of most other manufacturers are usually geared towards the general taste of the average user. Regardless of the precision of a monitor’s image display, images often look more colourful, sharper and richer in contrast than the file actually provides. Emphatically saturated colours result from the complete coverage of large colour spaces on a monitor. They can be the cause of this. But they can also be the source of a distorted impression. This is exacerbated if the glass of the monitor is glossy. EIZO devices, on the other hand, are effectively anti-reflective. My ‘glossy iMac’, once my production machine, has since been decommissioned.