1. How do I get my monitor to match my prints (or how do I get the Icon’s prints to match
    my monitor)?

The Icon follows industry standard color management procedures. This insures that our prints match the color, as defined in your files, up to the limits of the output device used. However, we have no control over your monitor – you should ensure that your monitor is calibrated so that Photoshop can show you color that is an accurate representation of the color defined in your files. This means that you should invest in a system that calibrates your monitor to industry standards if you hope to achieve color consistency throughout your entire workflow.
Fortunately, there are many options available and we encourage you to look at solutions from Colorvision, X-rite and Integrated Color. After calibrating your monitor you should also set the preferences in Photoshop appropriately.

2. What size print can I make from my 6 (8, 10, 12, 16.) megapixel digital camera?

The megapixel rating of your camera is a measure of how many pixels there are in your camera files. This is not the same as “megabytes” which is a measure of uncompressed file size on disk. Megapixels = total number of pixel sites on your camera sensor in millions. Thus, 12 megapixels = 12 million pixel sites.

The relationship between file sizes, megapixels, pixel dimensions and print sizes can be seen in this chart. Digital camera files at 16 megapixels and larger can often tolerate much larger print sizes through interpolation of pixels past 400% enlargement. This depends on image content and on Photoshop techniques  like expert sharpening. For the most part interpolating digital camera files by 200 – 300% will yield high quality prints that do not show any evidence of pixilation or other digital artifacts. When in doubt – do a test – different people have different requirements.

3. How big a scan do I need to make a 30x40 ( 8x10, 11x14…) print?

Film should be scanned at the pixel dimensions which accommodates the largest print you anticipate needing. The following chart offers some guidance. At a certain point it is unnecessary to scan at 300 ppi for large print sizes because there is no additional information obtainable from the film. 35mm originals will not deliver more information past 100 megs in a scan. Roll film will reveal maximum image information at approximately 300 megs, while 500 megs is more than enough for 4x5 film images. Higher resolution scans generally only offer better resolution of the dye coupling layers in the film emulsion and can’t really offer additional image detail.

4. What workspace should I be using to edit my files and/or what workspace does the Icon use.

The Icon standardized on “Adobe RGB” as a working color space mostly because that is the most popular workspace for photography. Most current printing processes are closer to sRGB in overall color gamut and Adobe RGB offers the best compromise for color achievable in Inkjet and Chromogenic (photo-chemistry based) processes. Ultra-wide gamut color spaces like “ProPhoto RGB” are becoming more popular with the idea that the photographer can encode more of the colors that are visible in the real world but do not provide practical advantages for production workflows.

The truth is that the vast majority of photographic images only contain colors that fit nicely inside the Adobe RGB gamut and many of the data points available in ProPhoto RGB are wasted on non-existent or invisible colors, leaving fewer data points for the remaining real-world colors.  In addition, only the most expensive monitors can show the full gamut of Adobe RGB and no monitors are yet capable of showing the full gamut of ProPhoto RGB. So, if you choose to edit your colors in ProPhoto RGB you run the risk of pushing colors beyond what you can see on screen. More subtle color edits are possible in gamut constrained color spaces like sRGB and Adobe RGB because the data points are closer together and small moves in Photoshop result in small changes – the same moves in ProPhoto result in more dramatic changes so you run the risk of moving a color past where you want it to end up.

Wide gamut color spaces have advantages for color calculations and mode changes – that’s why RAW converters generally do color calculations internally in larger color spaces. The Icon has not found a significant advantage to rendering digital camera files into larger color spaces so we don’t recommend this as a regular practice at this time.

5. Can the Icon print from 16 bit RGB files?

The short answer is yes but there doesn’t appear to be any special benefit to printing from 16 bit files. The Icon has done numerous tests using our Imageprint RIP to Epson 9800 printers and we have been unable to see any difference in printed results. We can print from 16 bit files if requested but it does slow down the printing speed and we have to charge more for the prints as a result. Unless you really want to pay more for the same quality output we don’t recommend printing from 16 bit files. Recently there has been a suggestion that printing through the Epson printer driver in Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) allows for better quality when printing from16 bit files. We have not been able to verify this. Just because it is possible to print from 16 bit files does not mean that it is better. All images printing to the Lightjet must be converted to 8 bits – please convert before you send us files.

6. Do you have any tips for preparing my files to print at the Icon

The easiest single thing you can do to ensure better prints (after good color management) is to set proper white and black points for your print files. In most standard RGB workspaces you will get optimum results if you set black to R=15, G=15, B=15. The lightest textured white (a white that is not a light source or specular highlight) should be placed at R=245, G=245, B=245. Try not to have white clothing or anything painted white go to 255. Check to see that anything you feel should be neutral gray is equal in all channels just as your white and black points should be neutral. Check these numbers using the eyedropper tool in Photoshop – don’t trust your eyes to judge.

After that it’s very simple. You can get more information on preparing files for direct-to-print here.