Canon Pro-100 : Immediate, severe color fading on glossy paper

[icemane]

I've set up the Canon Pro-100, and it prints great on matte paper after I changed the printer's color settings to 'manual' (i.e. turning off printer color control).

When I print on Canon brand glossy photo paper, it looks great initially when it comes out of the printer.  However, once the ink dries, the prints show severe color fading (the blacks become grey, blues take on a brownish tint, etc.)

I specify in the print settings that I am using 'Glossy' paper, and again, the prints look perfect when it comes out of the printer.

Any ideas or suggestions on what the issue/solution might be would be much appreciated!

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

When I print on Canon brand glossy photo paper, it looks great initially when it comes out of the printer.

Hi,

Which Canon glossy paper do you use? They've have different ones  for photographic image output.

Cheers,
Bart

[AlienAl]

Sounds very bizarre.  I don't know the Pro-100, but the Pixma Pro9500 and Pro-1 that I've used are basically similar, pigment-based systems, and I have never seen any fading on any kind of paper - fine-art matte, matte, luster, glossy, or baryte type.  (The baryte type papers mostly have an annoying metallic reflection in the shadows, but that's another matter.)  Glossy might be a teeny bit darker in the shadows the moment it comes out of the printer, just because it's still a bit wet, but no there's no dramatic change when it dries.
Sounds to me you might have a bad batch of ink, or possibly a weird batch of paper that reacts strangely with the ink.  (Or it might have something to do with the wrong black pigments being channeled for your glossy paper, though that would probably give you a print that looked wrong from the start.  Likewise, a wrong color profile or bad color management.)  Still, I don't see why anything should fade anywhere near this much.
good luck, Al

[enduser]

Are the inks the correct original Canon products?

[icemane]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your comments!  Just to confirm what's worked and what hasn't to date, paper wise:
- Canon Photo Paper Glossy: colors fade/become muted after the ink dries, and lose their vibrancy.
- Canon Photo Paper Pro Luster (semi-gloss): works fine! Colors look great pre and post-drying.

The ink cartridges are the original Canon starter ones that shipped with the printer.

Sounds to me you might have a bad batch of ink, or possibly a weird batch of paper that reacts strangely with the ink.  (Or it might have something to do with the wrong black pigments being channeled for your glossy paper, though that would probably give you a print that looked wrong from the start.  Likewise, a wrong color profile or bad color management.)  Still, I don't see why anything should fade anywhere near this much.
good luck, Al

Thanks AI.  I agree, at first I thought it was a matter of using a different color profile, but it actually prints out "perfect" - there's just something about the drying process on the glossy paper that seems to sap away the black and saturation.  Very weird!

I've contacted Canon Support as well, and will update here if they have a solution!

[Wayne Fox]

sounds strange.  It is a dye based printer, so some papers may not work as well as others, but I would think the canon paper would work OK.  Maybe bad batch of paper, or a bad profile?

[mburke]

this might sound dumb, but are you printing on the correct side of the paper? That is something I might do.

Mike

[icemane]

sounds strange.  It is a dye based printer, so some papers may not work as well as others, but I would think the canon paper would work OK.  Maybe bad batch of paper, or a bad profile?

I tried another type of glossy paper (not Canon) as well, but it had the same issues.  I played around with the color profiles too, with no success; the colors also look bang on when the prints come out - before the ink dries - which in my mind seems to point at the ink (which is official Canon CLI-42) or the paper (of which I've tried both Canon and non-Canon glossy paper).  Very perplexing!

this might sound dumb, but are you printing on the correct side of the paper? That is something I might do.

Yes, I confirmed that it was on the right side.

[GrahamBy]

I've not experienced anything like this with mine.

[MHMG]

If you are referring to Canon's "Photo Paper Plus Glossy II" product, I was also disappointed with the Pro-100 output on this glossy paper. While I wouldn't characterize the outcome as severe fade, the print colors do indeed shift rather strongly towards a duller and somewhat brownish cast. It's especially obvious with B&W prints (note the Canon Pro-100's B&W mode is still effectively full color managed via ICC profile output).  B&W comes out of the printer on this glossy paper at first neutral but then turns a very noticeable warm brown tone as the dry down proceeds.
 
None of the other recommended Canon photo papers, ie. the luster, semi-gloss, pro platinum, do this with Canon's supplied profiles.  I concluded that Canon made a bad generic profile for the glossy II, one that failed to account for the dry down shift, so I built a custom profile for this paper.  I now get great results on the Glossy II media. Others have also complained in various forums that some of the earlier production Pro-100 printers were defective. They complained of this brownish cast issue as well. However, I can't confirm or dispel the possibility that there's more to the story than just a bad profile. Building my own profile fixed my issues with the Glossy paper, and my Pro-1oo now prints well on any photo media I have used.

cheers,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com

[icemane]

I concluded that Canon made a bad generic profile for the glossy II, one that failed to account for the dry down shift, so I built a custom profile for this paper.  I now get great results on the Glossy II media.

Hi Mark, thanks for your post!  It gives me hope I can get this working, as Canon Support has not been responsive.  Would you be so kind as to share your color profile with me?  Or some advice on how to account for the downshift?  Thank you in advance!

[drmike]

At the risk of being tarred and feathered have you tried printing through the Canon Studio Pro add in? It seems to do a good job and then you are using all Canon all the way.

Maybe not sophisticated but it may get the job done.

[Mark Lindquist]

Sorry - but there's something screwed up with your printer.  Most Canon Pro 100's are pretty much bullet proof, particularly when printing on Glossy papers.

To prove my point, I just now got a sheet of HP Premium Glossy Photo Paper and ran it through with a known image, printed hundreds of times before.

This paper has been sitting in its box for over 15 years and it came through as a gorgeous image.  I did NOTHING special - used all the settings for Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy II and the print is flawless.  Colors were a little shifted, as would be expected, but an acceptable print, overall.

I just re-read one of your posts where you said you did use another brand of glossy paper and the results were the same.  That being the case, I believe you've got a printhead issue.  If you do what Mark suggests and make your own custom profile (presumably you'll have to buy one unless you have the equipment to do it yourself) and it works, then you'll be good to go.  But if it comes out the same, I really think it is in the printhead.

I just ran a sheet of Canon Photo Paper Glossy II through and it's perfect - no issues whatsoever.

Printhead.  Just saying.

-Mark

[b_rubenstein]

At the risk of being tarred and feathered have you tried printing through the Canon Studio Pro add in? It seems to do a good job and then you are using all Canon all the way.

Maybe not sophisticated but it may get the job done.

I've used this plug-in/program with the Pro-100 and an earlier version with the 9000II. So long as it can find the porifile for the paper being used, all the appropriate profiles are chosen and prints come out very close without tweaking any settings. Printing the same same file on Platinum Pro, Canon SG and Epson Premium Luster (seems identical to Cannon Luster) produced identical looking prints aside from the paper finish. Much more consistent with the Pro-100 than the 9000. This should make it possible if the issue is due to the printer or the profiles being used.

[drmike]

It also has that very neat feature of printing 16 or so thumbnails with slight variations of the settings so you can see what's best. Call me Mr Lazy if you like but it does seem one of the better bits of software around for me anyway.