Customer Reviews

ColorMunki Photo - Monitor, Printer & Projector Profiler

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

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.

(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.

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

Several issues with this product, all software related. I haven't gotten far enough to qualify the icc results. First of all, the CD you receive has nothing on it except a small application that downloads the actual software. So, no internet connection, no calibration. I was installing on a laptop, and luckily was at home. Second, you only get three machine activations of the software.. after that I guess your Colormunki becomes an expensive paperweight. Good thing my camera isn't restricted to 3 machines, or I'd really be in trouble. You also need that internet connection to "activate" your software. Under OSX it seems to only activate it for a single account. Thirdly, I was only able to calibrate one of my two monitors, the software produces an errors for the second. I'll finish testing, but the 3 machine software installation limit for an expensive piece of hardware is asinine, and will most likely result in a return... especially since I have 4 machines at home.

Alright, no one wants to listen to me ramble or wax poetic, so here it is, short and sweet: I have used other monitor profiling hardware in the past, and all of them work to some extent, but nothing, regardless of cost, can compare with the X-Rite ColorMunki Photo. It is the most accurate and predictable piece of equipment like this I've ever used, and if all it did were accurately profile my dual displays, so that they finally matched for the first time since being purchased, that would be reason enough to be completely satisfied.

However, the real reason that I love my ColorMunki is that it also accurately profiles my Epson large-format printer. For the first time since buying this expensive puppy, what I see on my monitor actually appears on the prints that I produce. Regardless of whether the paper is watercolor, semi-gloss, glossy, or professional velvet, when the appropriate profile is created and then selected, the results are always 100% accurate and predictable. When you're spending approximately $15 out-of-pocket for every print that comes out of this machine, mistakes are costly and amount to considerable money very quickly. In the first month since acquiring it, I have easily paid for my ColorMunki in paper and ink savings alone, to say nothing of the enormous amount of time and frustration that has been saved. Recently, I created a dozen large-format prints that I had orders for using only twelve sheets of paper. Previously, I would've used between thirty-six and forty-eight to end up with perfect final products. That means, from this one print job alone, my ColorMunki saved me between $360 and $540!

Buy your X-Rite ColorMunki Photo with absolute confidence, but don't second-guess the setup or calibration procedure in any way. Follow the steps exactly as they are outlined in the extremely simple onscreen tutorial and your results will always be spectacular.

First off, I'm no novice to color management, monitor profiling and ICC profile creation. Previously I had been using Monaco EZColor which was a great product with fantastic personalized tech support until X-Rite bought them and gutted both the product and support.

Anyway, I was really looking forward to ColorMunki so that I could get away from EZ Color's need for ITT target scanning and the laborious process required to create a monitor-paper profile. While the software installed easily and the proces of creating a monitor-paper profile went smoothly, the results were horrible on my new Canon Pixma Pro9000. Greenish casts to every profile, and worse, the default profile created for my monitor distorted all the colors. Unlike EZ Color, when you create a monitor profile with Munki, it does not use the RGB sliders found on most higher-end monitors, so there is no way to compensate for under or over bias on one color.

Calling X-Rite, while easy enough to get through, was a joke. The only positive I can say about the experience is that the call seemingly stayed in the US, but the tech support guy was essentially useless. When asked about how to correct my profile when using Photoshop CS3 he replied with the scripted answer that X-Rite does not support the use of their product with third party applications! Well, what good is making a profile if you can't utilize it in your post-processing software? He did take my e-mail and promise to send me some urls that might be pertainent to PS CS3 but as expected, the e-mail never arrived.

All in all, I was tremendously disappointed with ColorMunki. I had high expectataions that were dashed, surprsing for a $500 not-necessarily entry-level product.

ADDENDUM: In all fairness, I have to report that X-Rite read the above and contacted me by e-mail with an offer to assist me with the installation and usage of ColorMunki. And, interestingly, the next day I did receive a response from the original T.S. person (who I may have unfairly maligned in the above review) with a link to some assistance for CS3. I am away on a photo shoot at the time these e-mails arrived, so I will have to wait until I return to try out their assistance.

I am new to color management - but not to software engineering and release having done support, engineering, test and release since 1982 in the retail and enterprise space.

I think I am one of the CM's target market segments being a part time wedding and portrait photographer. I am using an Epson Stylus pro 3800.

Downloading and installing version 1.05 at 364 MB and using it as my base install on a Vista home premium, x64 SP1 system here are my observations:
Tehe install requires .net and java - making it quite long to install and cluttering up your machine - this was on a new dual core 3 Ghz system, it took about 42 minutes to install.

1. monitor profiles do not stick, they disappear after UAC or on resume from S3 standby. This has been a known issue since at least mid 2007, based on threads across multiple boards and product lines.
X-rites supports comments - " it's a Vista issue - not our problem". -

That's poor response - they could have a work around for it, instead of making me figure out what do do on my own by searching the internet.
I've temporarily solved it by placing the CM gamma icon on my desktop and after resume rerunning it.

2. Per CM support the patch reading process is iterative and there are rounding errors on each successive pass of reading.
X-rite has no hard and fast rule - surprise ! But I have been told that no more that four or five at most optimizations can be read without inducing errors. and there is no way to determine when a color profile has become unusable.

I have a profile that has gone far green blue - at eight optimizations using Epson Ultra Premium Photo Luster I sent it into technical support to get a comparison to a known "good" profile and got told to go purchase their professional services.
On the Luminous Landscape, other users reported that they also were told to purchase X-rite's other solutions as the technical fix.

3. I am used to a customer is right attitude, or maybe a don't care attitude, but typically support being helpful, off the bat and from the beginning I have to say they have referred me to third party vendors and third party online forums, told me to go buy their three thousand dollar solution, and then go puchase training and support from then, all for profiling Crane Museo Rag and the above Epson pper - what a crock ! they have been quite antagonistic maybe they have knowledge - but interaction of some tech support stinks to put it mildly.

I will say when I changed technicians - I got a different one who was more civil and answered some of the questions rather than giving me a run around.

4. the profiles generated are not visible in the Epson control panel version 6.50 under vista x64 the answer I got after switching technicians after 5 email rounds was that Epson does not read version 4 of the ICC profiles - although Photoshop, Lightroom 2.1, Qimage all seem to just fine, and Epson support states that they read icc version 4 profiles just fine.

5. The Colormunki made profiles do seem to get rid of some of the color casts from the stock factory profiles, however the shadow detail seems to be somewhat compressed, this may have something to do with the way in which they read and sample colors - but I really do not know.

Overall I would not recommend this product to anyone who was not aware of the technical hurdles and problems in this segment of the industry, compared to support from Canon, Epson, DDI, or about any other vendor I've seen this was quite poor.

The amazing thing has been the utter and total arrogance exhibited that bordered on plain hostility, well now I'm hostile.. and I'm usually able to put up with a lot from flaky drivers and know nothing tech support.
The problem here is they do know something about color and I do respect that, - but literally X-rite thinks that there is not a single solitary problem with their product and that you should be grateful to have it.

I fist called them as I became concerned while waiting for the ColorMunki as some threads had commented on the vagueness of the instructions - asking what the exact steps were to turn off color managment for my printer. There are three major manufacturers Canon, HP, and Epson, There are two operatings systems and a few variants - if you laid out a table and multiplied it by versions of drivers it's probably about 48 or so maximum that would cover 90% or better of the target market - truth be told probably 16 screenshots / Kb articles would probalbby cover 99%, so I thought hey - just e-mail me the KB because I could not find it on your site........

Oh heck no, instead I started getting a rather snooty lecture from the tech support guy on how this was not their responsibility and impossible to do. I am sorry - in 4 weeks or less and documentation writer - or technical support staff could have knocked this out.
Besides any compotent quality assurance staff would have done this testing already and just could have taken the screeenshots and passed them along to a writer.

I should have just returned the device then, but I kept plugging along... figuring that all this great hoopla would show how great the device is.

The ColorMunki has defects in its USB driver were coming out of S3/ S4 hybrid standby it wont always be recognized on multiple different hubs and directs connects - instead of working with me X-rite has ignored me.

The device appears to not have any way to increase the accuracy of its black and white printing - or the gray tones - which so many of us with multiple inksets native in the printer for black and white printing want to use.

This was the quoted recommendation,"You may also find that you are aiming at a result that would typically require the feature set of our professional level programs, Monaco Profiler or ProfileMaker."

Some more from X-rite support:
4: Profile adjustment and editing is not something that is central to the ColorMunki feature set. The types of prints that you are attempting to do are very specialized and grayscale profiles are not specifically addressed by the program. Many fine art companies have devoted considerable effort to create grayscale procedures for users such as yourself. I'd suggest checking out Nash Editions, or Luminous Landscape to see what suggestions they can provide.

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WHAT ???
Bruce - can you please clarify this statement you are telling me that CM cannot be used to make professional level prints, either color nor greyscale and are recommending I go look on BBS's for support ??

You indicate you are using Qimage for printing. Our support department will have no information on this program, and although it might well produce excellent results, we would recommend contacting their support department for any print related issues.
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So X-rite doesn't support the product with screenshots or workarounds to known issues , there are rounding errors that mean that a profile cannot be optimized more than some unknown unset standard, Drying times for full color maturity will not be something that X-Rite will provide any specific guidance on. X-rite's software is involved with making profiles, and we provided the suggestion that you increase your drying time based on the findings of many end users who report that their profiles improved on some papers when they left them to dry longer. You are free to make the call for your papers and length of time needed. Further information may be obtained from Epson, Crane or other paper manufacturers.

hey it's my three cents.- or more like four hundred dollars plus a box of crane rag and Epson paper - ouch.

Tried calibrating 4 times with same results...poor. Have used Spyder2 in the past with no problems but was hoping this would help me with print too at a reasonable price...but not to be. 2 rating is because it is very easy to use and a nice design but the bottom line is the calibration was way off so ease didn't much matter.

I recently recieved the ColorMunki Photo as a gift from my wife.
Being that I just got into the whole color management thing I was a little intmidated by the thought of creating my own printer profiles.
Well, the Colormunki software walks you through the whole process. It even make the changes in Photoshop so when I print all I need to do is soft proof it then hit print! I also used it on my Apple cine. display and it never looked better....

I just purchased the Color Munki. I installed it without any errors. I then checked for upgrades and installed it as well. I went thru the processes as stated in the instructions. I had no problem with scanning the test charts. I did have a problem when calibrating my monitor it asked me to adjust the brightness levels but I could not figure out how to lower the bright levels on my monitor so I continued. Once I got to the end my monitor looked horrible. Even though I printed out a picture using the print profiles generated my the color munki the picture looked great but my monitor looked over blown with contrast and brightness. So I went thru the processes again and this time I was able to adjust the bright levels on my monitor and the final results were outstanding. I printed out several pictures and much to my amazement they looked just like the monitor. As of now I'm very pleased with the operation of the color munki. I would recommend this to anyone who takes pride in getting the picture right the first time.