Disabling Color Management on MacOS 12 for Canon drivers

[francescogola]

Hello!
I want to profile my Canon PRO-300 using the Calibrite ColorCheker Studio (so basically i1Studio) but I'm struggling in finding a way to disable color management not to get alternate color results for the printed patches.
Neither via ccStudio app nor using Adobe Color Print Utility I have access to the color management options of the printer drivers. (see attachment)
Does anybody have an idea how to do that?
ccStudio/ACPU is not turning off by default the color management as results are definitely affected by that and the ICC profile is unusable.
Thank you!

[digitaldog]

First, you should be able to  print without color management using "ColorCheker Studio" just as one can do with i1P, ACPU etc.
Nothing I see in your screen capture shows anything related to not doing so that I can see.

[francescogola]

Hello, and thanks for the reply.
No, I can't print from ccStudio, or at least I have no control over managed/not managed colors
The screenshot is to show that there is no a section for color management.
You mean it's disabled by default?
I don't think it's like that also because the profilation result is terrible (real print test), while the canned icc profile from the paper manufacturer provides an almost great screen match result..That's why I started to suppose that the ICC generated by ccStudio was done under the wrong conditions (color management active via driver)

[digitaldog]

I don't have ccStudio but I do have i1Profiler and it does print targets directly from that application without applying color management. Can you do the same?
And ACPU and the ColorSync Utility will print targets without color management. That's the first and most important area to configure.
Most print drivers on Mac I've seen have a setting called something like "Color Matching" which I do not see in your driver. And if you print from the products I've outlined, Color Matching is correctly and automatically set there too. Your print driver doesn't appear to have that setting which is odd.

[francescogola]

Yes, it's quite odd especially because it's the brand new Canon PRO-300
What I can confirm is that from ccStudio I can't configure anything to disable it, as the last pop-us before printing is still the printer driver, so same screen of ACPU without "Color Matching" 

[digitaldog]

Yes, it's quite odd especially because it's the brand new Canon PRO-300
What I can confirm is that from ccStudio I can't configure anything to disable it, as the last pop-us before printing is still the printer driver, so same screen of ACPU without "Color Matching" 

No, there is nothing in ccStudio that will affect the driver nor is that necessary per se. The application will, unlike say modern versions of Photoshop, send the target data 'as is' without a profile or color management.
Next is the driver. It may or may not have additional settings, you'll have to take that up with Canon and make sure:
1. You have the newest driver from them and....
2. It has or doesn't have some additional settings to control anything to do with color management. It may not.
3. Yes, the last thing you'll see and 'configure' before hitting print IS the driver and the non color managed data from the applications we are talking about can and will send the patch data without any conversions first.

[francescogola]

Ok I think it's confirmed that there is something strange..
I found this official guide from Canon for PRO-300 for macOS drivers:

https://ij.manual.canon/ij/webmanual/PrinterDriver/M/PRO-300%20series/1.0/EN/PPG/dg-c_color_correction.html

Basically, as you can see from my screenshot I don't have "Color Matching" from the pop-up menu of the Print Dialog.
I think I'll submit a ticket to Canon but if there is anybody out there with a PRO-300 and a mac, it would be more than appreciated a check
Thanks!

[Richard.Wills]

Did you install the Canon drivers, or did Apple help you? Just wondering if this is airprint taking it's cute and cuddly approach to protecting us from the traumas of a manufacturer's nasty evil print dialogue.

[digitaldog]

This is what you're looking for and, with X-rite and Adobe's ACPU, it should look like this (or you must select it, if an option is provided):

[francescogola]

@Richard: that's a VERY good point..honestly I don't remember, but now I'll definitely try to force the install of the Canon drivers. EDIT: checked, they were already Canon ones. Reinstalled them but nothing changed. The only "strange" thing I see it's that the printer is listed as "Airprint" (check screenshot, near "kind"). I don't know if this is reflecting the driver used, but no chance to modify t apparently

@digitaldog: Yup, but as you can see from my screenshot I don't have that section

[francescogola]

Ok, I think the issue may be related to the fact that that printer is forced to use AirPrint (please check screenshot).
If it's like that, does it means it's somehow bypassing Canon drivers to use the Apple canned ones?
Bad news it's that it seems to be impossible to disable AirPrint for the printer..

[Richard.Wills]

Only mac driver I can find is https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/support/details/professional-large-format-printers/professional-inkjet-printers/imageprograf-pro-300-13-professional-photographic-inkjet-printer?tab=drivers_downloads, which isn't rejected by my mac (M1, BigSur).

I'd try removing current printer, download and install from Canon, and when you go to add the printer, see if you can select this cups driver rather than the AirPrint.

[digitaldog]

AirPrint is a deal breaker. You've got to get a driver from Canon that is the right 'type' and it should have the Color Matching area.

[francescogola]

Ok, I really don't know what happened, but tonight when I opened "Printers&Scanner" under Settings, I found 2 printers: one listed ad Airprint (as usual), and another one, this time not listed as Airprint!
Checking the details, I noticed that the Airprint printer was running under a "Driver version 3.0", while the new one found is listed correctly with Canon driver downloaded from their website (22.2.0.0)

I really don't know why it happened and I definitely can't replicate how I got it, but now if I select this new listed printer, I finally can find the "Color Matching" section!

Unbelievable..

[neil snape]

This is a good topic.
I need to test my new Calibrite ccStudio.
Recently I reloaded Adobe Printer Utility and was able to print to my HP Z9 a chart (TIFF) from i1 Profiler. That finally worked as all other methods failed with the HP print drivers. The Apple supplied drivers a good or good enough now, before they definitely would have problems such as missing color controls if set to AirPrint.
However I have not been able to  directly print a correct chart from i1 profiler, ever. I did so the other day, and same as always there is some conversion in the printer. The only thing I found that worked somewhat was tag a chart with Prophoto  and print it to the same which causes PS to scream at you, and rightly so.
Glad to see the Adobe Print utility from 2010 still working if you apply / allow security permissions. It really should't as it is 32 bits in a 64 bit world.

I'll try the new Calibrite ccStudio in the next days, hope it can work directly.
I'd prefer to have a sheet fed printer by Canon or Epson to make this easier!

[francescogola]

Hello Neil!
If you're able to bypass somehow the Airprint driver, you should be able to print without color management directly from ccStudio.
Here is a screenshot from ccStudio where you can see the color management section is greyed (as it would be in Adobe Print Utility).
I'm printing right now the new patches and even if I have to wait tomorrow to get the ICC to test it on a real print (I'll let the patch dry overnight) I can see visually that they are different from the ones of the first failed attempt with Airprint..so I believe we have good chances that now it's working fine.
Still no clue on how I got the printer listed finally with USB and not with Airprtint in my printers list..
Fingers crossed.