[Openicc] [argyllcms] Re: Helping with colord

[edmund ronald]

A modded version of this instrument that could compete with Huey would
cost about $8 to fabricate in China - I got quotes.
Prototypes cost me Euro 60 each to make by hand and assemble and test
in the center of Paris (!).
Add marketing, packaging, software development, after sales and 50%
retail margins, and you get the retail price of a calibrator.

With another (cheap) mod my design should be fairly precise, much
better than Huey. However, if I really wanted to  go low-price there
are alternatives; very low cost calibrations is perfectly feasible and
this is the reason why I never continued my design - I would prefer to
make a product at a much lower price point even if accuracy were
lower.

Edmund


On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 10:24 AM, Richard Hughes <hughsient at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 7 March 2011 09:14, edmund ronald <edmundronald at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Of course I didn't :)
>
> Heh :)
>
>> However the technology and calibration issues are the same as with any
>> colorimeter; I wouldn't expect any surprises, other than the perennial
>> matrix issues. In fact, I would expect my design to perform better
>> than Huey, which at the time I did this was the low-cost instrument to beat.
>
> Right, and I guess the Huey is still the low cost instrument to beat.
> It's certainly what I advise people who ask to buy.
>
>> My guess is that the technology I used was intended for, and will be
>> or is found in some self-calibrating screens, where of course the
>> calibration issues can be solved at manufacture time, and later by
>> remeasuring with a spectro.
>
> I guess if someone was to manufacture the devices in small quantity
> they should just calibrate them at manufacture time with something
> like a ColorMunki. I assumed you wanted to post the PCB and BOM online
> and let people make their own colorimeter, open source style.
>
>> I should stress that I did the hardware design myself, and had some
>> protos fabricated, and wrote the Mac instrument drivers, I did not
>> write full calibration software.
>
> Right. It sounds like you could commercialize this and make a bit of
> pocket money, on the assumption you can undercut the huey by a
> significant enough margin for production volumes < 1000 or so. That's
> the tricky bit.
>
> Richard.
>