Printing - Arghhh!!!!

[cats_five]

Like 'Managed by Application' in this screen?


Color by Sal Woo, on Flickr

[Farmer]

Is there a "no colour management" option?  Like Nick, I'm not familiar with the HP driver terminology.  That is probably what you're after, though, if there's no option for "no colour management".

As to the media saying to use Hi-gloss film, well, I don't know what media you're using, but it doesn't sound at all correct.

[cats_five]

OK, I have uploaded another shot of the color tab in the print driver dialog, which shows all the colour management options:


ColorManagement by Sal Woo, on Flickr

As you can see, the choices are ColourSmart/sRGB, AdobeRGB, Managed by Application and ICM.  Since Photoshop should be doing the colour management, Managed by Application looks like the right one to me.

Hi-gloss file is a type of HP paper - their "glossiest inkjet film", and is nothing to do with films in the more normal sense, or with printing on OHP transparencies:
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/nz/en/ho/WF06c/A1-12771-215521-79226-79226-83310-16167.html

[Farmer]

Ok - Choose managed by application.

Now, for the "cheap" paper you're using, you should get an ICC profile for it - using the profile for any other paper will likely give poor results.  HP's horrible nomenclature notwithstanding, I'd still look at choosing something else unless the 3rd party paper specifically says to use that setting (in which case use whatever it specifically says to use, of course).

[cats_five]

I did use 'managed by application'.

I switched to trying Ilford Smooth Pearl as I used to get excellent prints using that with this particular printer.

I downloaded the Ilford ICC profile and that's what is in Printer profile in the setup page, there isn't anywhere else obvious to put it in the various driver pages.

[Farmer]

The profile doesn't get used by the driver, it gets used by Photoshop and that's where you need to choose it.

[cats_five]

The box labeled 'Printer Profile' containing the name of the ICC file (IGSPP9_HP8450_PHGF.icc) is in the print setup dialog from Photoshop.  Is that the right place?

[Farmer]

Yes, but if that's a profile for HP paper and you're not using HP paper then it's the wrong profile - you need one for the paper you're actually using.

[cats_five]

It's the name of the downloaded profile for the Ilford paper I am using.

[RobSaecker]

This may have nothing to do with what you're experiencing, but I reccently had a similar experience with my HP B9180. Despite all my efforts, all of my prints looked terrible. In my case it turned out one of the print heads was not applying any ink, despite the fact that the printer diagnostics claimed that the condition of the head was "fair". 

I'd suggest printing a test page to see what you get, if you haven't done so already.

[cats_five]

I did a test page when I revived the printer, after a couple of cleans it was OK.  Thanks for the thought though.

I've not had time to look further at this this week due to work (customer upgrade all gone pear-shaped, live box was toast, we had to substitute the test box), but hope to revisit it this weekend.

[Les Sparks]

This might be a long shot, but try the 8450 forum at photo-i. There are several threads about the 8450 there and one of them might help.
http://www.photo-i.co.uk/BB/viewforum.php?f=4&sid=bc19343548b228f68b197861780959bb

You might also get some suggestions from the review of the 8450 on the same site.
http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/printers/HP%208450/page-1.htm
Good luck.

Les

[cats_five]

An 8450 forum sounds very useful - I didn't manage to find one.  Thanks.

[cats_five]

And they have suspended new logins because of spamming problems...   

[Les Sparks]

If you haven't already looked at the HP site on color management for your printer,
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00286904&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&os=209&product=402150&rule=15619&lang=en&printable=no you might find something there to help.

I used to have an HP (not your model) and color management was often a problem.
 
Good luck
Les

[cats_five]

Thanks.  Sorry for the delay replying, I have had a very busy time at work and also a PC problem.

[luxborealis]

Here's a thought I don't think I saw expressed anywhere - are you using HP original inks? If not, or if only one of them is not HP original, or if you are refilling your own, all bets are off on producing consistent colour. Off-brands do not have the consistency standards required for high quality photo printing.

[cats_five]

Yes, HP original inks.