Best lighting for home printing?

mikeypotter

Hi all:
New member here, just got into Smugmug and loving it.

I'm buying a new house and I'm wondering about the lighting that will go in my office where I'll be printing photos. I've noticed here at my current home that prints look very different when printed at night vs. during the day, with sunlight coming through the large window to the right of the computer monitor. I am hoping that the right light setup in the new office will help solve that problem.

What type of light / lightbulb will make my prints look closest to my calibrated screen when I'm printing after the sun goes down (sometimes as early as 5 PM here in the winter.)

Thanks,

Mike

colourbox

mikeypotter wrote:

What type of light / lightbulb will make my prints look closest to my calibrated screen when I'm printing after the sun goes down

In the printing industry it is done the opposite way. You pick your output media first, then you run your calibration to similar specs. For example, if your proofing standard is D50 on a certain paper, then you calibrate the monitor to the same color temperature (5000K in theory but whatever matches between 5000K and 6500K in practice), and as close as you can get on the monitor brightness (90-110 cd/m^2). Those specs are what you enter into your calibration software. One thing you will find is that paper is just not that bright under room lights and your monitor will probably have to be dimmed a bit to match. Some cheaper monitors can't be dimmed far enough.

For more details about room lighting and calibration, here are some articles just found on Google:
ColorWiki: Monitor to Print Matching
The Darkroom Makes a Comeback (part 1)
The Darkroom Makes a Comeback (part 2)

SloYerRoll

colourbox wrote:

In the printing industry it is done the opposite way. You pick your output media first, then you run your calibration to similar specs. For example, if your proofing standard is D50 on a certain paper, then you calibrate the monitor to the same color temperature (5000K in theory but whatever matches between 5000K and 6500K in practice), and as close as you can get on the monitor brightness (90-110 cd/m^2).

I don't doubt you for a second CB. But what type of printing industry do you speak of? I was in a high end digital and traditional printing for a few years and never matched a print to monitor. The entire proofing session was all done on full size prints. There was literally no difference between the proof set and the final run besides quantity.

Like I said, I don't doubt you, but am interested in what kind of solution would require someone to proof on a monitor and expect it to look the same on print.

colourbox

OK, first its already clear that you have a lot more practical experience in this area. But second, I don't think I said anything about matching a print to a monitor. I thought (or hoped) that I said you first establish a proofing standard and then everything, including the monitor is calibrated to that.

In the print jobs I've worked on, the printed proof rules everything, but the monitor is calibrated so that you get good enough visual feedback that you can hopefully get the files are as close as they can be before having to spring for the proof. So get the monitor set up appropriately for the output, then edit on the monitor as best as you can, then see a printed proof to find out how far off you still are, then try to close the gap from there.

SloYerRoll

colourbox wrote:

OK, first its already clear that you have a lot more practical experience in this area. But second, I don't think I said anything about matching a print to a monitor. I thought (or hoped) that I said you first establish a proofing standard and then everything, including the monitor is calibrated to that.

In the print jobs I've worked on, the printed proof rules everything, but the monitor is calibrated so that you get good enough visual feedback that you can hopefully get the files are as close as they can be before having to spring for the proof. So get the monitor set up appropriately for the output, then edit on the monitor as best as you can, then see a printed proof to find out how far off you still are, then try to close the gap from there.

Makes perfect sense! I just misread what you posted

SloYerRoll

Hey Mike,

Sorry for derailing your thread. I'll attempt to get it back on track

Ott-Lights are a great cost effective place to start. They provide the closest thing to 5500K w/o breaking the bank.

HTH
-Jon

sanaka

I was doing the same research last year, and Solux is where I ended up. Many folks swear by them, and I'm thrilled with mine.

These guys sell Solux bulbs, and good fixtures with correct and adequately rated transformers to run them, for far less than the Solux brand fixtures.

Peace,
Sanaka