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Al wrote:
> I had some prints made at shutterfly and a third of them came out to
> dark I sent shutterfly customer service a detail email expalin what
> was wrong with the print. I also mentioned that I calibrated my
> monitor with Monaco Optix xr.
> They agreed to reprint my images. But they said that may images may
> appear ligter than they actually are. Because LCD are brighter. This
> did not sound right to me. I think Monaco Optix would take my LCD
> Monitors brigtness into account when it calibrated the monitor.
>
> I check one of my slides with a 10x loupe and the image on my monitor.
> They matched. But the print was definitely darker. I include the reply
> from shutterfly below and part of my original email. What is your
> opinion on this?

I think the statement they are making about LCDs being brighter is pretty
much true. When you first set up an LCD monitor you generally have to crank
the brightness down to get something bearable. Have a play with the
brightness on yours to see. Of course, if you cranked up the brightness on a
CRT, it would be too bright too!

In general, LCDs are not as good for colour matching as CRT monitors, so
many photographers doing there own digital printing will avoid them.

In fact, best option for the perfectionist is to get a good inkjet printer
and print your own. You can then use ICC profiles to get a very accurate
reproduction of your original image on the printer. These profiles are
designed to balance printer, paper and inks using a supplement to your print
driver.

For a little more info on this, take a look at www.papermilldirect.com and
click on the ICC logo at the bottom right of the page.

HTH

Martin