I’m trying to implement monitor/print color management, but it’s not quite working. In short, to get a monitor-to-print match with a D50 white point for my monitor, I need to use a 6500K (vs. 5000K) lamp for viewing my prints. This is okay, I guess, but I’d be happier if I understood what might be wrong with my system (or my approach). (My understanding is that the viewing lamp's temperature setting should "match" the monitor's white point. As in D50 monitor <-> 5000K viewing lamp.)
My “system”:
- Monitor: Dell U3011 (purchased in 2012)
- Printer: Epson 3880 (purchased in 2015)
- ColorMunki Photo (new)
- Viewing lamp: Filex V70 LED (new). It’s a lamp, and not a booth. But it’s switchable among 3000K, 4000K, 5000K, and 6500K. And dimable. Positioned next to my monitor.
- Two monitor profiles: one at D50 (my preference to use), and one at D65. Both with the white luminance set to 80 cdm, based on ColorMunki’s reading of ambient light conditions (with the Filex lamp on, but other lights fairly dim, and no close-by windows).
- Lightroom CC soft proofing. Both with a paper-specific Hahnemuhle icc profile, and alternatively with one that I created (for the Hahnemuhle paper) with the ColorMunki. For my test image, there are no out-of-gamut colors for the paper I’m using.
The issue:
With the D50 monitor profile, my prints best match my monitor (soft proof view in LR) when I have the Filex lamp set to 6500K. If I put the Filex to 5000K, the prints are significantly less blue (in sky/clouds) than the monitor. With the Filex set to 6500K, it’s a decent match. (If I select the D65 monitor profile instead of the D50 profile, the monitor is of course even bluer, which makes the monitor-to-print discrepancy even more pronounced.)
I was expecting the best match to be with the lamp at 5000K, vs. 6500K, given that I’ve set my monitor’s white point to D50.
And this monitor-is-bluer-then-the-print condition occurs with both the Hahnemuhle printer profile, and for the one I made with the ColorMunki.
My question:
I’ll stick with using my D50 monitor profile and 6500K setting on my lamp, which seems to “work.” But if anyone has ideas what might be “wrong” with my system or approach, I’d appreciate the insights.