ColorMunki Photo - Monitor, Printer & Projector Profiler

by X-Rite

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 3 x 6.1 inches ; 1.3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00169N0BK
• Item model number: CMUNPH
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (91 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #73 in Camera & Photo > Accessories > Digital Camera Accessories > Accessory Kits
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Designed especially for professional photographers and passionate hobbyists, the ColorMunki Photo is an all-in-one spectrophotometer that allows you to adjust and match colors between devices. The ColorMunki is the only device you need to calibrate your computer monitors, projectors, and printers so that the color you see on screen is precisely the same as the color you'll get in print. With ColorMunki, you'll finally be able to stop wasting ink, paper, and valuable time with trial-and-error color correction, and enjoy the benefits of precise color from the beginning.

With ColorMunki, what you see on the screen is what you get in print.

ColorMunki measures your monitor's color display and records a color profile.

Scan a printed color chart to correct colors and match them to your monitor's display.

Optimize Your Colors to Perfection
As a photographer, you know perfect color is essential. But with today's complex digital imaging workflows, getting colors to match between devices can be a challenge. ColorMunki simplifies this challenge with its easy-to-use interface and self-guided system, streamlining the process while still delivering optimal results. In just minutes, you'll be able to synchronize your monitor's colors with the colors of your printer or projector.

Create and Store Color Profiles for Dependable Results
To calibrate your monitor, all you have to do is point the ColorMunki's sensor at the screen and allow it to measure the colors your screen displays. The device will then compare the measured colors with "ideal" colors, and create a color profile accordingly.

Printer profiling is easy, too. By using RGB and CMYK printer profiling technology, the ColorMunki is able to deliver a high-quality profile in seconds. Simply scan a printed test chart with the device, and ColorMunki will detect your printer's coloration tendencies and dynamically correct them. You can even use ColorMunki to optimize your color profile based on images for black-and-white, sepia tones, flesh tones, and more.

ColorMunki also features AppSet software, which allows it to interact with a variety of different design applications. Once you've finished creating a color profile, AppSet will automatically synchronize it with any of the following programs: Adobe Photoshop CS3, Adobe InDesign CS3/4, QuarkXPress 8, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4, and Corel Painter X. You'll be able to digitally manipulate colors with more confidence than ever before.

Share Your Art with the World
ColorMunki comes complete with software that allows you to customize your color palette, giving you maximum artistic control over your photos. It will automatically extract colors from any image you choose, then generate an accurate palette for you to work with. Alternately, you can manually grab colors with the spot color measurement function and create a palette of your own. Then, when you're ready to use your custom palette, ColorMunki will automatically synchronize it with your favorite design applications.

Once your images have been color-corrected, you can share them using ColorMunki's DigitalPouch feature. Simply drag and drop them into the pouch, "zip" it up, and send. The recipient doesn't need any special software installed: they'll be able to view the images along with the embedded color profiles in a self-contained viewing window. The program even provides a warning to recipients whose monitors aren't profiled, so you can ensure that your clients are viewing your work as it's meant to be viewed.

What's in the Box
Black ColorMunki spectrophotometer, ColorMunki profiling software, ColorMunki Photo ColorPicker and DigitalPouch software, Interactive Training DVD, ColorMunki protection bag/monitor holder, Quick Start Guide, and USB power cord.

Product Description

Designed especially for professional photographers and passionate hobbyists, the ColorMunki Photo is an all-in-one spectrophotometer that allows you to adjust and match colors between devices. The ColorMunki is the only device you need to calibrate your computer monitors, projectors, and printers so that the color you see on screen is precisely the same as the color you'll get in print. With ColorMunki, you'll finally be able to stop wasting ink, paper, and valuable time with trial-and-error color correction, and enjoy the benefits of precise color from the beginning. As a photographer, you know perfect color is essential. But with today's complex digital imaging workflows, getting colors to match between devices can be a challenge. ColorMunki simplifies this challenge with its easy-to-use interface and self-guided system, streamlining the process while still delivering optimal results. In just minutes, you'll be able to synchronize your monitor's colors with the colors of your printer or projector.

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

84 of 85 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Choice for Fine Art Printing, May 25, 2009

By 

Preston S. Page "Preston Page" (St. Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: ColorMunki Photo - Monitor, Printer & Projector Profiler (Electronics)

I've been giving the ColorMunki a workout for several weeks and find that it is easy to use and my print colors have never been more accurate. It replaces a first generation Pantone Colorvision Sypder I bought in 2002. My desktop is year old quad core PC from HP running Windows Vista Ultimate, an Acer Ferarri 20-inch LCD monitor and photo printer is an Epson Stylus Photo 2200 printer. I've seen a number of negative reviews here that leave me baffled, so I offer some advice.

1) Before you install ColorMunki software, be sure to un-install and/or disable other color management software, like Adobe Gamma. On Windows, I'd recommend using a good registry cleaner, like RegCure, to insure no color management applications are being loaded in the background.

2) Check to make sure your graphics card software is set to the defaults. Some games and photo editing software might "tweak" the color management settings.

3) The ColorMunki "Easy" mode calibration requires a good, late model graphics card and software controllable graphics monitor. For best results, use the "Adanced" mode and check both "Optimize brightness" and "Optimize Luminance" boxes.

4) Don't calibrate you in monitor in "Advanced" mode a darkened room. A fairly high level of ambient light is needed to set reasonable levels of brightness and luminance on your monitor. This is likely the source of comments that brightnees on iMacs and other LCD monitors can't be turned down enough to make the ColorMunki happy.

5) When creating paper profiles a) allow test prints to dry at least two hours before you scan them and b) make sure you scan the strips on top of a white card or stack of like paper. My fist calibration of Epson Ultra Premium Presentation Matte paper was a little off because I scanned it directly on my blonde wood desk.

6) Most laptop displays really cannot be calibrated adequately for critical color work because they use an integrated GPU with limited capability. Results are going to be disappointing if the laptop does not have a dedicated GPU, like the ATI Mobility Radeon X800 or nVidia GeForce 9600M GT and fully adjustable display. Only high end laptops meet this criteria, like the new MacBook Pro or HP Pavilion X16-1040.

7) Take your time. The brightness and luminance readings take about 30 seconds each time you make a change.

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good value for amateurs, but beware the software, December 16, 2009

By 

T. Hendrickson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: ColorMunki Photo - Monitor, Printer & Projector Profiler (Electronics)

(written after two months of use)

PROS:

* Probably the most reasonably priced spectrophotometer on the market. Colorimeters are cheaper, but inferior.

* Extremely versatile in its ability to profile screens, projectors, printers and measure ambient light intensity in a single piece of hardware.

* Color profiles produced are very accurate, even profiles I've made for one printer using aftermarket inks significantly different from OEM in gamut and intensity.

CONS:

* Design of hardware is stylish, but at the expense of being practical. Rotating wheel can be difficult to turn and it is very easy to depress the button unintentionally.

* Software too simplistic and not likely to change. There are no true advanced options. The only "advanced" mode exists in monitor profiles, where it will measure ambient light and adjust display intensity accordingly, in addition to the color profiling.

I have a case where my printed photo profiles, while accurate, are too dark for intended viewing conditions. There is no way to tell the software to use a different tonal curve or tweak anything else, such as ink density, when the profile is made. As a result, I have to manually adjust every one of these images in photoshop before printing, which is a huge hassle. Even after lightening in ps, sometimes images are still too dark.

Note that this problem I have seems to vary with media type. Some media profiles do not exhibit this problem at all; it appears to be most pronounced in coated glossy photo paper.

I also fear X-Rite will never make the ColorMunki compatible with any of their more advanced software to prevent competition with their more expensive hardware. After all, why would all but the most serious photographers spend 3x + more on the next step up profiling hardware for a small incremental improvement in the hardware itself?

* Printer profiles can only be made on 8.5 x 11 or larger media due to the way it prints swatches for measurement. If you have smaller media, such as 4x6, you need to purchase larger of the exact same paper to get an accurate profile. Unfortunately, with media such as CDs, you're out of luck. X-Rite should make media profiling more flexible in this regard.

* Printer profiles have to be created one at a time, and the software cannot be closed during the process. The printer profile process works as follows: you print the initial set of swatches (will always be the same for any media or printer), give sufficient drying time, read the swatches with the ColorMunki, print a second set of swatches automatically generated and based on the results of the first scan (these swatches will vary depending on media, etc. and can have slight variations even using the same media, printer and initial swatch printing), allow sufficient dry time for the second set then finally read this second set with the ColorMunki. The problem is if you are using media with very long dry times (or wish to provide long dry times) or need to profile many different types of media. The initial set of swatches can all be printed in advance, with appropriate dry times given, but once the second set has been printed, closing the application will require you re-print the second set; your progress cannot be saved and resumed later.

I suspect this was an intentional software design to prevent using this device for remote profiling, although anyone providing such services should be using high-end, professionally calibrated equipment.

* A minor quibble, but the zipper on the cloth zippered case with the counterweight broke two weeks after purchase. Since the case is somewhat necessary for monitor profiling (you can hold the device up to the screen, but must be careful not to press it on an LCD display). The case should have a more durable design, such as Velcro flaps for the enclosure and riveted hooks to attach the counterweight, rather than the (now broken) zipper.

56 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great device, but beware: color calibration is not for the meek, July 19, 2008

By 

R. Kaufmann (San Diego CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: ColorMunki Photo - Monitor, Printer & Projector Profiler (Electronics)

I've used a number of color calibration tools, and find the munki to be about the best for the money. (I use it on a Mac Pro with a 30" monitor and an HP B9180 printer.)

Color profiles are very tricky to use on the Mac, and even trickier on Windows. Basically, you need to make very, very sure that you're not correcting the image twice. In Lightroom, for example, there's a pulldown for whether LR or the printer manages its colors. Make sure your setting matches the printer driver's setup! (This is somewhat done for you on the Mac, but not on Windows.)

Lightroom is the easiest tool to use for printing, at least in my experience. Doing it from Photoshop is harder, and you often have to wrestle with the various settings to get it right.

Anyway, I believe this double-correction issue has more to do with the negative reviews than any problems with the device itself. The munki is very, very easy to use. A lot of stuff that would be a lot of work in other tools (e.g. color calibration targets) is all integral to the device, and well managed by the munki software. The profiles themselves are absolutely great -- at least for my setup.

Finally, if you care about getting photographs right -- both on screen and on paper -- a tool like the munki is essential. Editing photos on a well calibrated monitor will help ensure your photos will have a life beyond your current computer or screen. Imagine the trouble if you notice all your old pictures look a little greenish on your next computer. Which was right, your new machine or your old? And will you enjoy editing 5,000 pictures to fix the problem?

Bottom line: great tool for the dedicated amateur photographer. Everyone should at least calibrate their monitors. If a munki seems a little rich for your blood, then consider a Pantone Huey instead: Pantone huey MEU101