NOTE: Opinions expressed here are qualified by the fact that we don't have as much testing time as we'd like. We reserve the right to add or remove reviews without notice or debate. If you think something's missing or disagree, feel free to contact us but we don't guarantee a response.
(Product names are the copyright or registered trade mark of their respective owners.)
Books
Displays
E-stores
Profiling hardware
Profiling software
Profile testing and editing tools
Training and consulting services
Other useful stuff
Real-World Color Management
Bruce Fraser, Chris Murphy, Fred Bunting
Peachpit Press
An essential resource for anyone trying to implement a color-managed workflow. Packed with good explanations and advice (most of which we agree with), this is the one book to buy if you can't afford any others.
Back to topUnderstanding Color ManagementDr. Abhay Sharma
Thompson / Delmar Learning
Covers the theory of color management with clear explanations on everything related to ICC profiling, as well as some interesting product comparisons.
The GATF Practical Guide to Color Management
Richard M. Adams, Joshua B. Weisberg
GATF Press
The first book ever published on ICC-based color management. A little long in the tooth but still essential in any color management library.
Measuring Color - third edition
R.W.G. Hunt
Fountain Press
If you want to understand the theories behind color vision, color spaces and color measurement, this book is excellent, but be warned, it's all science and math, NOT practical color management.
LCD or CRT? In our opinion the latest high-end LCD monitors beat CRT displays in all significant categories - except price. Below are the two LCD manufacturers we recommend for color-critical soft-proofing and retouching.
Apple Cinema Display (ACD)
If you have the money, get the 30" model (2560 x 1600 pixels), or if you're on a budget, the 23" (1920 x 1200) or 20" (1680 x 1050). All three ACDs have outstanding quality, and lack the annoying "simulated" knobs and dials that other LCD manufacturers include, in an attempt to make them feel like a CRT, but which just make them harder to calibrate.
Eizo
The Rolls-Royce of LCD displays, EIZO's higher-end models feature self-calibration through internal 10-bit (FlexScan) or 14-bit (ColorEdge) video LUTs. The result is silky-smooth gradations and perfect gray balance, no matter what white point or gamma you choose. Most people won't notice the difference, but if you want the very best LCD money can buy, get an EIZO.
ColorMall
The one-stop shop for all your color management needs.
CHROMiX
Steve Upton's site offers a wide range of color management tools, and an e-profiling service.
GretagMacbeth
GretagMacbeth manufactures a wide range of densitometers and spectrophotometers. Their excellent SpectroLino/ SpectroScan is one of the few units that can measure in both reflective and emissive modes, and it's ideal for press profiling, because it only requires a letter-sized target for standard targets like the IT8.7/4 and ECI2002.
GretagMacbeth's ICColor is a very fast spectrophotometer which reads a fairly small (custom) target, but not standard one-page targets.
The Eye-One Pro is a compact, self-powered (USB) spectrophotometer, which does an excellent job on both monitors and printers. One version comes with a diffuser for measuring ambient light, and the Eye-One Beamer is custom-designed for measuring projectors.
X-Rite
X-Rite sells a wide range of color densitometers, colorimeters and spectrophotometers. Color management products include the DTP41 strip-reading spectrophotometer, the DTP32 Digital Swatchbook, and the excellent new MonacoOPTIX XR colorimeter.
X-Rite's new PULSE strip-reader is a neat and fast way to measure targets. Currently it only works with a functionally-reduced version of MonacoPROFILER, (PULSE ColorElite). We can't wait till we can use it with the full version of PROFILER 4.7, or GMB Profilemaker, or other profiling software.
We have not yet tested X-Rite's tantalizing new DTP-70, which, like GretagMacbeth's SpectroScan, will measure single-sheet targets like the IT8.7/4 and ECI2002 - only about ten times faster!
For press setup and hand-held measurements we recommend the X-Rite 530 SpectroDensitometer, which reads both CIELab and Status T Density with all colors displayed simultaneously.
Back to topAgfa ColorTune
Agfa's ColorTune Pro 4.2 is a full-featured color management profiling package designed to serve Agfa's Sherpa™ wide-format ink jet proofers. It does an outstanding job of proof-to-press matching, which helps Sherpa produce some of the best ink-jet proofing quality available.
The only problem is that ColorTune can be hard to get hold of unless you're already an Agfa customer.
Back to topbasICColor
The German basICColor team makes scanner, camera, monitor and printer profiling software. The monitor module, basICColor Display, is capable of excellent soft proofing, partly because of its ability to make gamut-compressed profiles, which reasonably simulate colors outside the monitor gamut, and also thanks to its ability to match the actual white point of the local viewing source, instead of just the stock "D50", "D65", (etc.) options.
ColorVision
The Spyder and OptiCAL software from ColorVision are possibly the best-known monitor profiling systems. ColorVision also make printer profiling packages, including PrintFIX, and a profile editing tool called DoctorPRO.
ColorVision products are relatively inexpensive, which helps bring color management to a broader base of low-budget users, but quality seems to suffer in proportion, and we don't recommend them for professional work. The new Spyder2PRO Studio claims improved quality, but we have not tested it as yet.
Back to topFuji ColourKit
Fuji ColourKit is a relatively new entry into the profiling market, but with a longer pedigree than most other profiling software. ColourKit comes from the same folk who made Crosfield drum scanners, and who pioneered many of the principles of ICC color management, so it's no surprise that ColourKit offers a rich set of high-end CMYK features, and some excellent profile editing tools.
ColourKit supports the HCT scanner target, and makes very high-quality scanner profiles. Appropriate for a company that makes the world's best flat-bed scanner, Fuji Quattro.
Back to topGretagMacbeth ProfileMaker 5
GretagMacbeth manufactures state-of-the-art profiling software. The latest version (5.x) offers DRAMATIC quality improvements over previous versions, especially in gamut mapping. If you haven't upgraded yet, do so IMMEDIATELY after reading this.
Output profiles from older versions struggled with weak blues, jaundiced reds, and dull results in saturated colors. But version 5 adds a new Gamut Mapping option called "LOGO Colorful" which dramatically improves saturated color mapping. ("Chroma Plus" and "Classic" should be deleted from the menu.) In the past you had to use relative Colorimetric with Black Point Compensation to get decent saturated colors, but now it's safe to use Relative or Perceptual.
Scanner profiles are very good, although very dark colors tend to over-saturate slightly. This is insignificant in normal images - in fact sometimes it's beneficial, but if you open up a dark image, it can be a problem.
ProfileMaker's camera module offers a staggering array of options - too many for most users, but if you get the RGB values wrong in the original capture (e.g. higher than 245) you may get an unusable profile.
GMB's monitor profiles are generally very good, but lack the ability to measure a custom light source, or employ 3-D gamut compression (features found only in basICColor display and Monaco OPTIX Pro).
ProfileEditor has at last been upgraded to allow more than one Selective Color edit at a time. Thank you, GMB! But we still wish GMB, (and other manufacturers too, for that matter), would add 24-channel "scanner-style" color correction as a first-line correction tool, leaving Selective Color for fine-tuning.
Apart from a few minor issues, ProfileMaker is an excellent buy, and boasts some unique features found in no other software. For example, it supports virtually any user-designed output target, (created in MeasureTool or elsewhere), it creates profiles for non-standard viewing light sources (to reduce metamerism failure), and its "Neutral Gray" option renders grays on colored stocks better than any other profiling software we've used.
MonacoPROFILER 4.8
Monaco Systems' MonacoPROFILER 4.8 is another "must have" upgrade. If you don't yet have the latest version, upgrade IMMEDIATELY after reading this. MonacoPROFILER comes in two price levels - gold and platinum (see website for details). Go for the gold unless you want hi-fi color or special camera profiling features (buy platinum).
Some of the major improvements are better gray balance under rich blacks, even better gamut compression (it wasn't bad to begin with), the best GCR algorithm we've ever seen, and an end to the problem where Relative Colorimetric (with BPC) gave weaker shadows than expected. Now, if you ask for 320%, that's what you'll get. So it's safe to use either Perceptual or Relative Intent with 4.8 CMYK profiles.
Monaco scanner profiles seem a tad more accurate than GMB in shadow areas (not so prone to over-saturation), but they are intent-sensitive. Converting to working RGB from a Monaco scanner profile can blow out highlights if you use Perceptual, and can look a little dark if you use Relative. (This of course can be adjusted in Photoshop.)
You can pay extra for Monaco's camera profiling package, but we prefer to use the scanner module, which produces very good, consistent camera profiles, and unlike some other software, produces usable profiles even if the RGB values are not "perfect".
If you don't need printer or monitor profiling, Monaco DC Color makes unbeatable camera and scanner profiles at a budget price.
MonacoOPTIX Pro (available separately and embedded in Profiler 4.7) is the first monitor profiling software to equal the quality and versatility of basICColor display. Like bd, MonacoOPTIX offers 3-D gamut compression, plus some additional features that basICColor lacks. Either one is a "best buy" for serious soft proofing, but at the time of writing, OPTIX seems more solid.
Sadly, Monaco (like GMB) don't seem to get it when it comes to profile editing. Monaco Tweak has some good features, but is clearly in need of a complete overhaul. The good news is that profiles made carefully in Monaco PROFILER 4.8 just don't need editing!
Monaco's new PULSE ColorElite software produces very good profiles but lacks some of the high end features needed by serious color experts. Nevertheless, it's a great value and probably the best "entry-level" profiling package we've seen.
Best Buy?So which profiling software do we like the best? Truth is, Fuji, GretagMacbeth and Monaco now make such good profiling software that any of their latest versions is a great buy.
For a custom analysis of which one suits your specific needs, contact us for a consulting quote. We often find that modules from multiple companies are needed to get the very best results with specific devices and workflows.
Back to topAlwan ColorPursuit™
Alwan ColorPursuit is the best software we know of for assessing the color quality of ICC profiles, devices and workflows. Pick a color or an image with ColorPursuit and see numerically and visually how well it is rendered.
An essential tool for anyone serious about profile quality and analysis.
Back to topCHROMiX ColorThink™
If you don't already own the brilliant "ColorThink" profile visualization and repair software, buy it IMMEDIATELY. Don't argue, just buy it. Then put on some Floyd and take a trip through color-space.
To see the world's first mind-altering RGB color space, download "MaRGBta" and display it rotating in 3-D. Disable the "Tone using L*" option and reduce the dot size a little. (Lemon and Lime supported - you supply the salt.)
Kodak Custom Color™
The new release of Kodak's Custom Color is the cleverest and most powerful profile editing tool this side of Alpha-Centauri. A plug-in to Photoshop, it applies any combination of global corrections or layer effects into virtually any type of ICC profile.
Custom Color's user-interface is not for novices, but it's flexibility is unmatched. You can edit any combination of input / output tags, PCS or device-side values, rendering intents, etc. But perhaps the best feature is the ability to use as many Photoshop adjustment layers as you like, with all the standard layer effects, AND with separate layer masks, so long as the masks are made with a global selection tool. (Brushed or hand-cut masks won't work.)
The only real problem with Custom Color is getting a hold of it! You may need to know someone at KPG.
Back to topLeft Dakota Link-o-lator
Left Dakota’s Link-o-lator software turns your ICC profiles into custom ICC 'device links' that bypass LAB and generate direct CMYK-to-CMYK transformations. Link-o-lator is THE definitive link builder, with industry-leading options to fix the most common problems caused when two profiles are connected through a normal CMM.
If you're serious about accurate transformations and your RIP or workflow software supports device links, you'll love Link-o-lator.
Back to topHutchColor, LLC (you are here)
The most experienced color management company in the world. The first to make color management work in high-end users. We pioneered the RGB revolution and continue to fine-tune custom workflows for maximum performance. Far from accepting color management as a finished technology, we continually challenge manufacturers to improve their profiles and applications. We even train our competition.
GATF
Graphic Arts technical Foundation, Pittsburgh PA. Color Management workshops for high-end printers and graphic artists.
Bruce Lindbloom
A valuable source of spreadsheets, formulae, and other information on color-related topics. Bruce is a well-respected color scientist and author of several profiling software packages, including the old Candela suite.
Color Vision
A great site for learning just how incredible and complex is human vision. If you think you understand the human eye, take a look at the continuing investigations and discoveries being made even today about humankind's most priceless sense. Powered by Drs. Jay and Maureen Neitz at the
Medical College of Wisconsin.
GTI
Graphic Technology Inc. make excellent standard lighting systems including dimmable D-50 booths (SOFV-1ex, SOFV-1e, and SOFV-2e) which are ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL for effective soft proofing. Either buy one and follow our soft proofing tips, or don't complain if your soft-proof doesn't match the press sheet!
WMU* Profiling Review
If you like statistics, take a look at Dr Abhay Sharma's review of profiling software (2005 version now available). The WMU Profiling Review is a kind of 'consumer report' with independent, objective assessments and accuracy rankings of current profiling products from most major vendors.
Unfortunately some of the testing methods ignore real-world "best practices", with the result that many of the ratings are misleading, or unfair to one or more products. This somewhat negates the intended purpose of the report. Hopefully revised testing methods will make future editions more valuable as a buyers' guide.
(*Western Michigan University)
