Topic: HP z3100 & 10.6 prints slightly dark? (Read 1614 times)

dkressler · « **on:** September 01, 2009, 02:43:54 pm »

i upgraded to 10.6 and have generally found that the new HP drivers are more user friendly and quicker to load. the long standing problem with the printer not sleeping on my network seems to have been solved with the new HP Utility as well. the problem is i have noticed that with 10.6 the prints are about a half stop dark. i have re-calibrated my monitor and the paper type. i have printed the same file from the same machine booted off the previous system, as well as another machine (both 10.5.

and get a normal density print. any one else notice this? i can always make an adjustment curve or print from the old OS, but i'm wondering what's going on since i haven't heard anyone else has noticed this.

-david

markhout · « **Reply #1 on:** September 01, 2009, 04:01:17 pm »

All I can think of at this point is the 2.2 default gamma in SL vs. 1.8 in Leopard...

dkressler · « **Reply #2 on:** September 01, 2009, 05:21:56 pm »

i've been exploring the gamma issue, but changing the gamma of the monitor shouldn't affect the print - should it? i'm printing from cs3 on both os's with exactly the same settings and getting different results.

Doyle Yoder · « **Reply #3 on:** September 01, 2009, 05:41:48 pm »

Quote from: dkressler

i upgraded to 10.6 and have generally found that the new HP drivers are more user friendly and quicker to load. the long standing problem with the printer not sleeping on my network seems to have been solved with the new HP Utility as well. the problem is i have noticed that with 10.6 the prints are about a half stop dark. i have re-calibrated my monitor and the paper type. i have printed the same file from the same machine booted off the previous system, as well as another machine (both 10.5. and get a normal density print. any one else notice this? i can always make an adjustment curve or print from the old OS, but i'm wondering what's going on since i haven't heard anyone else has noticed this.

-david

Make sure that your printer is properly registered in the ColorSync Utility. Removing printer and add it again should that care of that.

Doyle

dkressler · « **Reply #4 on:** September 01, 2009, 10:08:09 pm »

i have deleted the printer in the prefs, restarted and added it back. it didn't change a thing unfortunately. i may just have to start printing from my g4 instead.

howseth · « **Reply #5 on:** September 01, 2009, 11:49:00 pm »

In the meantime, why don't you stick with 10.6 and add a brightness/contrast adjustment layer in Photoshop with a slight increase in Brightness? ( to = 1/2 stop, if that is all the problem.)

Howard

neil snape · « **Reply #6 on:** September 02, 2009, 03:01:59 am »

IF it is the system level gamma of 2.2 causing this changing the monitor gamma will not change the print out. Even if you think changing monitor calibration gamma to 2.2 or back to 1.8 it is scaled in Photoshop anyway so the screen view still won't show a fault in output.
I don't have Snow Leopard yet, so I can't say. I can imagine it could be the new print changes that are somehow writing generic RGB with a new gamma different than the previous generic RGB. If reprofiling through 10.6 doesn't change this I don't know then. On the Colorsync forum Eric Chan detail some exceptions for sending raw rgb which isn't clear within the UI for printing charts.

dkressler · « **Reply #7 on:** September 02, 2009, 01:48:17 pm »

interesting new development - out of curiosity i decided to test print some adjustment curves to quantify just how far off the 10.6 prints were. turns out that a curve with 7 points pulled out of the middle more or less gives a normal print, although i feel like it still needs a little extra added back to the blacks. while i was playing with the adjustment curve, toggling the preview checkbox in the curve palette, i noticed that it wasn't reacting the way i'd expect. at first it was barely changing, and then not at all. if i apply the curve (as an adjustment layer) and then toggle it's visibility it works as expected. maybe it has to do with the change to open cl? aren't previews somehow generated through the video driver? i believe that my video card - ati radeon hd 2600 xt - is not supported by open cl. anyway - i don't know why this would affect printing.

i printed the same file out of lightroom 2.4 on 10.6 and it prints as expected. i just tried the cs4 demo with the latest patch to 11.0.1 - it prints dark as well. i'm cloning back my 10.5.8 system and shelving the big SL for now. i need to get some work done.

Author Topic: HP z3100 & 10.6 prints slightly dark? (Read 1614 times)