Are all printer profiles created equal?

[Marni48]

I want to get a few profiles done for my Epson R200 printer. I am using a few different papers, Costco and Kodak and using a CIS system for my ink. Love the CIS and the profiles they gave me are not really too bad, but I think they could be much better. I just purchased a Spyder 3 pro to calibrate my ViewSonic VP930b monitor and that should get here in a few days. Looking at different sites for printer calibration I am finding them from 35.00 to 100.00. Are they all that different? They seem to have the same source for the calibration. What would I look for to make sure I am getting a good profile?

[pixelzombie]

find someone that is willing to use more than 1 target when making a profile..i alway use a minimum of 3 targets, i throw away the worst one and then average the rest...

[Sweetlight]

Hi,
Pixelzombie is correct but I will add this.
I am an Epson user, true blue. I have 4 of them. Just remember that printer profiles are pretty vanilla and we all shoot differently, re: exposures, lenses, cameras, etc. For example, most people freak out when they see that my normal exposure is usally about 2 stops under but it's how I have shot since I was "born" and works for me. Who knows why but back to the printer.
One of my printers is the 2200 and I used up tons of my Hahnemuhle paper attempting to calibrate it via their instruction, live and written. All I know was the profile from my R320 was dead on out of the box so I dropped that profile in my 2200and "BAM" perfect. I hope this helps.
Chris

[Marni48]

Thanks for your responses. I am just an amature, in the process of restoring a lot of old photo's for my family, so I don't need perfection, just really close. Pixelzombie, where do you get your profiles done? I am not sure what you both mean by averages or more than one target, please forgive me but could you explain a little more about this? I noticed that all the sites have a download that you are supposed to print out without any color management going on and then send it to them. They are supposed to send back the proper profile for your ink and your paper? Am I missing something? Thanks so much.

[pixelzombie]

i make my own profiles, i have access to all the hardware and software at work..i print more than 1 copy of the color patches that are used for making profiles..i have found that the epson profiles work really good with their paper even if you don't use their inksets...