Luminous Landscape Forum
Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: markhout on April 11, 2006, 07:41:47 am
-
I just swapped my trusty 1280 for a 2400 printer. Out of the box, I found that the printer prints too light, about 1 - 1.5 stop lighter than my Photoshop or Illustrator image. I did some tuning, and found that the print matches the Print Preview - i.e. the preview is too light as well.
I tried all possible variations, I think, and need some help. The print nicely matches the preview, so I believe that it must be something in the driver or setup. I was thinking of gamma, but thought that that only applies to display calibrations, and could not find any reference to it in the driver.
I am using Powermac MDD 2x1.42 Ghz with 2GB memory, the latest version of Tiger, and the printer is connected through USB. The display is a calibrated laCie 22blueIV.
Many thanks for your help!
Mark
-
The other thing I might think to check is whether you're using a good profile for your paper/ink combination. A wrong or poor-quality profile could cause both the preview and the print to look similarly poor.
Lisa
-
Thanks Lisa, will continue to check the link between the paper choice in the driver and the profile used in Photoshop / Illustrator.
I've asked this to Epson support too and I'll report back to the forum if I've found a solution.
Mark
-
I have the same problem...just received my 2400 yesterday. Similar system G4, OS 10.4, 23"moniter, spyder calibration. The prints match the preview...which is light. Mark if you figure it out please email me. I will do the same. I was able to get reasonable prints by letting the printer color manage, but this certainly is not ideal.
sincerely,
Paul
-
Possibly Mac gamma (1.8) versus PC gamma (2.2)? Although I can't see how this could be the cause if your previous 1280 prints were satisfactory with calibrated monitors.
Paul
-
I found the problem. I was not using the most recent printer driver..... I thought I was, I even downloaded it from Epson and following the onscreen prompts thought I had properly installed it. But alas, it was not so. Now with the correct drive (version 2.53), all is well and WYSIWYG. The preview still "looks light" but the print is correct.
Cheers,
Paul
-
Good stuff Paul. Imasleeper too, but will try this tonight ;-)
-
Gamma settings isn't the issue (at least not in Photoshop). The ICC profile you've built for the display system can be either 2.2 or 1.8 or for that matter, anything and Photoshop will compensate based on the profile. Note you should calibrate a Mac to 2.2 (but that's another discussion).
You also should consider HOW you're viewing the prints! You have a CCT 5000K light box set to the correct luminance (a luminance that matches the display or is dialed in to match?). Are you using Photoshop's Customize Proof Setup and loading the output profile there? Have you tried playing with Ink Black/Paper White? Is the output profile a good one? All of the above can affect the quality of your screen to print matching.
-
OK, I've got it now down to 'a little too light' and 'a little too desaturated and yellow'. Thanks for the note, Andrew. Will check my display calibration and otherwise it's up to proofing.
Thanks again to all.
Mark
-
Did anyone ever get a resolution to this problem?
I just switched to a Mac Pro from an XP machine, and am seeing this "too light" problem with my formerly trusty 2400. I've got a calibrated (to gamma 2.2) monitor, and using a profile for, say, Epson Enhanced Matte, I get too-light prints, and corresponding too-light print preview.
I've got the latest driver from the Epson site (never installed any other one, so I'm guessing it HAS to be the latest), but I can't get the problem to go away. Following the standard flow: Print with Preview, Photoshop manage colors, EEM profile, No Color Adjustment in the printer dialog.
No matter what I do, though, I get worthless, light prints.
Thanks for any input.
-
I just switched to a Mac Pro from an XP machine, and am seeing this "too light" problem with my formerly trusty 2400. [a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=88784\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Welcher,
I am considering making the switch from PC to Mac and also own a 2400. Is this "too light" printing problem happening only with images processed on the Mac or also with the photos previously processed on the PC?
What do you use to calibrate your screen?
Paul
-
Welcher,
I am considering making the switch from PC to Mac and also own a 2400. Is this "too light" printing problem happening only with images processed on the Mac or also with the photos previously processed on the PC?
What do you use to calibrate your screen?
Paul
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=88830\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Hi Paul,
The problem happens with every image I try to print using a color managed workflow on the Mac, no matter the origination.
My monitor is perfectly calibrated using an eye-one, and, as markhout mentioned, the problem shows up in the print preview, too. So there's a perfect match between the print preview and the final print! I don't think it's a problem with my monitor.
I'm starting to think it's a problem with the driver. I've seen about 4 or 5 complaints on the net, starting from back in April, about this very thing, and as far as I can tell, it's all folks with Intel-based Macs. So far, no responses from anyone as to whether the problem has been solved.
Very, very frustrating.
-
Welcher,
Thanks for the quick reply, I was also wondering if it was a driver problem. I think I'll wait before making a decision about switching.
I wonder if running XP under Boot Camp or Parallels and printing from the Epson's window driver solves the problem? What a PITA that would be. Although the OP was using a PowerMac so Intel might not be the cause.
Best,
Paul