Epson 9880 print preview shifting colours

[NickCroken]

I recently purchased an epson 9880 and am having a bit of a problem with my colours on canvas.  I am printing using qimage after editing the image in LR3 and CS5 (where the colours are spot on).  Even when I import the images into Qimage and place them on the canvas they are looking true.  The issue arises as soon as I click print preview.  My colours and contrast go through the roof and do transfer through to the print. 

I've tried creating a new profile for the canvas (epson premium matte) using a 700+ colour patch sample using a spyder and the profile was created successfully.  My monitor is a NEC Spectraview 2690wuxi2 which is calibrated every few days.  Trying different settings in my printer options such as relative, colormetric and perceptual do nothing to change the color.  The only time I can get close to accurate color is when I turn printer color management off.

I'm losing my mind trying to figure this out!

- Nick

[Mark D Segal]

I recently purchased an epson 9880 and am having a bit of a problem with my colours on canvas.  I am printing using qimage after editing the image in LR3 and CS5 (where the colours are spot on).  Even when I import the images into Qimage and place them on the canvas they are looking true.  The issue arises as soon as I click print preview.  My colours and contrast go through the roof and do transfer through to the print. 

I've tried creating a new profile for the canvas (epson premium matte) using a 700+ colour patch sample using a spyder and the profile was created successfully.  My monitor is a NEC Spectraview 2690wuxi2 which is calibrated every few days.  Trying different settings in my printer options such as relative, colormetric and perceptual do nothing to change the color.  The only time I can get close to accurate color is when I turn printer color management off.

I'm losing my mind trying to figure this out!

- Nick

If you have "Photoshop Manages Color" ON, then you must keep Printer colour management OFF, and it should all be fine.

[NickCroken]

Where is that option? And, should that affect what happens in Qimage?

I tried applying the icc profile in photoshop and then printing but the print preview was still weird.

[Mark D Segal]

Where is that option? And, should that affect what happens in Qimage?

I tried applying the icc profile in photoshop and then printing but the print preview was still weird.

Sorry - skipped my mind you are using QImage. As a RIP it should be taking over the printing process. I don't use it, but it would make sense to me that in this case as well going into the Epson driver and turning Printer Color Management OFF is still necessary. As you may know, the basic idea is to NOT have conflicting colour management from two different sources.

[NickCroken]

I've tried with both off.  I have attached an example of what is happening.

[Mark D Segal]

Isn't QImage a Windows-only program? If so means you are on Windows. If so means the Epson Preview (presumably that's the one on the LEFT is NOT colour-managed. Never was and isn't now. Presumably the Right image is what you see in QImage. If so, presumably that is colour managed. If so, and if QImage is behaving and you have only it managing colours, providing your display really is properly calibrated and profiled for your working and print viewing environment, there should be a decent match between the Right image and what comes out on paper. If there isn't, something else is wrong. If there is, ignore the Epson Preview on the Left if that is what it is. Not meant for anything more than checking that the print is sized and positioned the way you want it to print.

[Czornyj]

If so, and if QImage is behaving and you have only it managing colours, providing your display really is properly calibrated and profiled for your working and print viewing environment, there should be a decent match between the Right image and what comes out on paper.

That's right, Qimage - contrary to Epson Preview - is colormanaged.

[na goodman]

If you are printing out of QI you still need to set up your Epson print driver with size, media and color management turned off. Then in QI under Edit go to Preferences/Color Management and pick your paper profile and rendering intent. If you still continue to have problems you may want to post on the QI site. They have some excellent people that respond quickly to the forum.

[NickCroken]

Thank you everyone.  The image is coming out looking like the print preview which is the bothering part.

[NickCroken]

I believe I have fixed the problem.

Upon closer inspection both the printer drivers and Qimage were trying profile for the paper.  As soon as I turned off the printer profile in Qimage and loaded my substrate profile into the print driver the images are matching up perfectly.

Thank you everyone for your help.

Nick

[Mark D Segal]

That's great - glad you found where the double colour management was happening and fixed it.