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Duratrans colour calibration

thrice

Active member
Hi all,

I'm after some advice. I recently had duratrans prints made and diasec mounted. The process cost me thousands but it was a labor of love.

My issue comes with the colour representation when backlit. I am seeing a strong shift of dark green toward brown.

eg (excuse mobile phone photo).
brownshift.jpg
1198x598mm_sRGB_Liffy.jpg

What are people's thoughts, did the lab botch the color calibration, or is this to be expected with backlit media?
 

kdphotography

Well-known member
It's hard to say what the lab did----but if I had to guess, I'd say it might have just as much to do with the display itself. In other words, the type of lights and strength of the lights themselves. Is the display dimmable? That might make the shift from the lights more noticeable as they are adjusted...
 

thrice

Active member
Thanks for the feedback.

Lights aren't dimmable. 4500k constant temp.

The shadows look brown held against a window so I don't think it's the backlight.
 

bab

Active member
Backlit film is prone to different colors so it is advisable to make CC in proof mode before off loading to printer. I regularly use Epson backlit film they make two kinds one is for posters (so to speak) one for photos you should demand a small dura for testing and view on a light box to confirm the profile was used correctly. but you can never get the dura to print like you see on screen as far as the saturation of color and brightness. So when I print my duras I always increase the brightness to a point that you would not like what you see on screen but youll love the final film.
 

thrice

Active member
Useful feedback hmm... They sent me samples prior to printing but the samples didn't have the brown shift.
eg.
Duraclear1.jpg
I was ok with the slight green shift overall.
 

thrice

Active member
Yeah local labs that do Duratrans are telling me that degree of shift is not right. *sigh*
 

pfigen

Member
Yeah local labs that do Duratrans are telling me that degree of shift is not right. *sigh*
This is basic color management, but a little more complicated. Your lab *should* have custom profiles for their Duratrans media, but they are a LOT more difficult to make than your run of the mill reflective paper profile and often need to be tweaked after the fact to make them as accurate as possible. The biggest issue you have here, well, your lab's issue, is process control. There are internal calibrations on the printer itself which need to be done several times a day, AND there is process control on the RA4 processing line, which needs to be kept running to the tightest standards with as little variation as possible. Hell, I've even seen the *color* of a black and white shift from neutral to cyan over from one side of the print to the other, just do do auto replenishment in the line. If you spent thousands on these prints and you approved their tests, and the final outputs did not match, I'd be having them re-do until they got them right and not let them get away with anything. THAT will teach them to get their **** together, which will save them time and money in the long run. I've also seen pro labs go out of business due to the very lack of process control. Good luck.
 
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