Help with Calibrating Output Devices

I have a Canon i950 printer and Canon 9900F, both serve me quite well. However, I am not sure if I'm getting the best print output. I edit in Adobe 1998 color space and also print in the same (I let P-shop manage printing). I tried using Canon's ICM profile but the print quality wasn't very good. On the other hand, my scanner seems to produce more accurate color with its own built-in profile rather than using Adobe 1998 profile. I do calibrate my monitor using Adobe gamma ocassionally. I'm all confused about these profiles! Can someone recommend some literature on this? Thanks.
-Ben

1) Search this forum and the colour management forum.

2) Get a copy of Real WOrld Colour Management

3) Check this site out: <http://www.gballard.net/psd.html>

To answer some of your comments:

Of course your scanner gives better results with it's own profile, you have to _convert_ from it to your working profile and then edit the file. You then want to convert the file to your printer profile.

In short: Scanner profiles are for scanners, printer profiles are for printers, display profiles are for displays and working profile are to work on an image.

In opther words:

1) scan an image, assign the scanner's profile (this may be done by the scanning software)
2) Convert the image to your working space (in your case, AdobeRGB)
3) When printing, convert to your printer profile (this can be set in PS in the print dialog box) Meanwhile, the display profile will allow PS to properly display your file.

Ian Lyons has a real useful tutorial on color management which might help you visualize how the various devices ( and their profiles ), relate to each other. <http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps8-colour/ps8_1.htm> .

Wandering through his site, is a pretty good education.

:-)

Brent