Correct Epson 3880 printer settings for calibration targets?

[dwnelson]

I have been trying to create printer profiles for my Epson 3880 but I end up with weird colors. I am running OS X Lion 10.7.2 and my printer driver is version 8.64, the latest from Epson.

I am using a rented ColorMunki Photo, but after I generated the first profile, the prints had poor color - definitely not calibrated!

I got really frustrated burning through ink and good paper, and I didn't want to mess with that anymore, so I will just use Eric Chan's service.

So, I am trying to print Eric Chan's targets with Adobe Color Printing Utility v1.0, following the instructions on http://people.csail.mit.edu/ericchan/photos/rgb_profile_instructions.html

Everything I have ever read says to disable all color management. Yet this is not an option! See the first attached screen shot, which has forced me to accept ColorSync (and without telling me what profile I am being forced into).

The second screen shot shows the options for Print Settings. Here Color Settings are forced to be Off.

The final screen shot shows that Epson Drive Color Management is Off.

Why is ACPU forcing me into an undisclosed ColorSync profile? I don't want to print the targets, pay $30 and get another bad profile because my settings were off.

Please help.

[howardm]

on the rented ColorMunki, you should have used Epson Color Controls, not Colorsync.

When printing Eric's targets, use the Adobe utility and select the media type and some other settings but you do not have to worry about the color controls.  You can always email him and ask questions.

[dwnelson]

I originally used ColorSync when printing the ColorMunki Photo targets, realized my error, then corrected it to use Epson Color Controls. The colors were much closer, but they are still far too green... which is when I gave up.

By comparison, I used the paper manufacturer's profile and settings with my printer, which gave a very warm print (too warm in my opinion, and when comparing with my calibrated monitor).

[madmanchan]

Hi Dan,

When printing the targets with ACPU, the Epson driver dialog box's "Color Matching" section should actually show grayed-out controls, with ColorSync selected. (I just checked on my system and that's what I'm seeing here, also with a recently-installed 3880 driver.)

I am not sure why the targets/profiles came out strange.  The only explanation I can think of is an improperly-installed driver (which can sometimes happen during a OS X update).  Usually when these anomalies happen, I just remove the driver, download the latest Mac OS X Common Updater and printer driver from the Epson site (2 separate downloads), and re-install.

[dwnelson]

I recalibrated my monitor and I calibrated three different papers, all with the ColorMunki Photo. Everything looks all right now.

Thanks for the tips on the Adobe printing utility. Pretty confusing when everything is grayed out and you're forced into ColorSync, right? It's counter intuitive, but I guess it works.

Now that I have things calibrated well, the Epson 3880 is turning out to be a really nice printer!

[digitaldog]

Pretty confusing when everything is grayed out and you're forced into ColorSync, right? It's counter intuitive, but I guess it works.

Some software products are using a private (undocumented) SPI called kPMApplicationColorMatching which you see in Photoshop, ACPU and Lightroom. When you set Application Manages Color, the area of the driver that controls Colorsync will alter the radio buttons such they are grayed out. This SPI is also now in X-Rite’s i1Profiler (good) and hopefully will migrate to their other products. It certainly makes printing a big easier by minimizing options that should not be used.