printer calibration

yooperdooper

the photos comming off my new r1900 epsom photoprinter are consistently darker than the photos on the monitor before printing.I bought a huey pro and there is software for the monitor as well as the printer.Which method should i use to correct the problem?thank you

jfriend

yooperdooper wrote:

the photos comming off my new r1900 epsom photoprinter are consistently darker than the photos on the monitor before printing.I bought a huey pro and there is software for the monitor as well as the printer.Which method should i use to correct the problem?thank you

Calibrate your monitor properly first. Then, when you print, make sure you are specifying the right type of paper for your printer in the print dialog. If you do both of those well, the two should match pretty well.

Tee Why

I've found the same problem when I tried the Epson RX 580. I made some adjustment to the printer so it would print lighter but it was never consistent.

So I made a change back to Canon printers and things are fine now.

What program are you using to print? I found MS's document viewer to print more close to how the image looks on the monitor than Canon's DPP program as well.

So you may want to make sure that the monitor is calibrated for photo editing, that the printer and paper profile is correct, and that you try the MS document viewer to print.

Good luck.

colourbox

Another piece of advice seen on other forums is to make sure you haven't calibrated the monitor too bright. Today's LCDs are so much brighter than the old CRTs that they can lead you to think you can print something too far beyond the brightness paper can achieve. The advice is to aim for 90-120 cd/m^2 where you set the luminance in your calibrator, with some saying even 120 is too high. They say it depends on your ambient lighting conditions too.

kingpan

hey. at my school we can take out the eye1 kits which are really nice and rather accurate at getting constant colors throughout ones monitors and printers. yet they can be rather costly.

another way is to keep brightness down. the brighter the screen is the brighter the color when in actuality it might be a darker color . so doing a little correction and turning down the brightness of your monitor and then making some tweaks in brightness on the image might produce a much closer output via printer. without even having to buy a very expensive color correction kit.

have fun and hope things can be corrected.

Freezframe

R280 Same thing !!!
Just made switch from Canon 6700D ...Notice prints are at least 2 steps darker...( Maybe more !!) I'm going to recalibrate LCD ,and try playing with setting for optimizing my results at printing ....I'm also not using epson paper which could be a factor .The Canon software had an adjustment for luminance of printout ,but haven't found setting on Epson yet....

Brady

Tee Why

Freezframe wrote:

Just made switch from Canon 6700D ...Notice prints are at least 2 steps darker...( Maybe more !!) I'm going to recalibrate LCD ,and try playing with setting for optimizing my results at printing ....I'm also not using epson paper which could be a factor .The Canon software had an adjustment for luminance of printout ,but haven't found setting on Epson yet....

Brady

I noticed the similar darker image when I changed from Canon to Epson printer.
You should calibrate your monitor as a first step and just to let you know, Canon and HP papers are not compatible with Epsons. If you are using another company's paper, often their site will give a profile to use with your specific printer. Epson has a feature to adjust brightness in the advanced setting options IIRC.

Freezframe

Fuji Paper and Monitor calibration !!!!

Tee Why wrote:

I noticed the similar darker image when I changed from Canon to Epson printer.
You should calibrate your monitor as a first step and just to let you know, Canon and HP papers are not compatible with Epsons. If you are using another company's paper, often their site will give a profile to use with your specific printer. Epson has a feature to adjust brightness in the advanced setting options IIRC.

Thanx Tee Why: It was Fuji paper that I was using ......The software that came with the R280 is not the standard software that I have found on the net .Ofcourse less manual settings shown or given....I've put it on the boys PC for now.Will look for this IIRC setting in which you speak of..Note: I'm using no colour management from printer ! I Calibrate my monitor every 2 weeks with good success with Canon profiles PR1-2 etc...

Thanx Brady
No IIRC in this software !!!
Note under Printer-settings-advance-Color management-color control / There are settings for brightness/contrast/ saturation /cyan /magenta/etc..but won't these settings be for manage by printer only????

Brady ????

OffTopic

Freezframe,

IIRC = "If I recall correctly" (or "If I remember correctly")

So TeeWhy was saying that to the best of his recollection Epson does have a brightness setting.


Gotta love internet slang.


I just didn't want you to go crazy looking for the IIRC setting. Sorry I can't help with the rest of the conversation.

Tee Why

Freezframe wrote:

Thanx Tee Why: It was Fuji paper that I was using ......The software that came with the R280 is not the standard software that I have found on the net .Ofcourse less manual settings shown or given....I've put it on the boys PC for now.Will look for this IIRC setting in which you speak of..Note: I'm using no colour management from printer ! I Calibrate my monitor every 2 weeks with good success with Canon profiles PR1-2 etc...

Thanx Brady
No IIRC in this software !!!
Note under Printer-settings-advance-Color management-color control / There are settings for brightness/contrast/ saturation /cyan /magenta/etc..but won't these settings be for manage by printer only????

Brady ????

I think Epson does not have a menu system like a Canon's. That brightness setting you are talking about is the thing to turn up.

I got tired of wasting time, paper, ink with making small proofs to get the contrast and brightness right, so I ended up going back to Canon printers.

Take a look at the fourth image on this page. In the main menu, there should be a mode, if you pick "custom" you can adjust brightness and if you want to, save the settings so you can recall it.
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRINT/E1280/E1280A6.HTM

jogle

everyone talks about how important it is to profile your monitor, but forgets that it's just as easy to profile your printer, and makes just as big a difference.

I bought the print-fix from the same people that make the spyder monitor calibrator. every different paper needs profiling, and I find that each printer is a little different, just like every monitor is.

Since I started profiling my Canon i9950 (a3+ printer) there has been no guessing in terms of colour, density or brightness. Even when using Epson paper.

Freezframe

I guess I need one of those V8 Slaps !!!

Tee Why wrote:

I think Epson does not have a menu system like a Canon's. That brightness setting you are talking about is the thing to turn up.

I got tired of wasting time, paper, ink with making small proofs to get the contrast and brightness right, so I ended up going back to Canon printers.

Take a look at the fourth image on this page. In the main menu, there should be a mode, if you pick "custom" you can adjust brightness and if you want to, save the settings so you can recall it.
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRINT/E1280/E1280A6.HTM

I say this setting in advance ,but didn't think it was for profile adjustment.....I took it that it was for printer control management !!

Brady

Rustydiva

I have the hp photosmart c7280, all of my prints make my subjects look like they have a sunburn!!!! why!!!
I use photoshop elements 6 to retouch, how do I know if my computer monitor is calibrated correctly?
They look good on the monitor but scary on paper...:(

jfriend

Rustydiva wrote:

I have the hp photosmart c7280, all of my prints make my subjects look like they have a sunburn!!!! why!!!
I use photoshop elements 6 to retouch, how do I know if my computer monitor is calibrated correctly?
They look good on the monitor but scary on paper...:(

The two most likely possibilities are:

1) Your monitor is not appropriately calibrated and when you adjust a color to something you like on your monitor, you are introducing errors in the colors of your document in order to make it look good on an inaccurate monitor.

2) When you print, all the software involved in the printing (your app, the OS and your print driver) is not adjusting colors properly for your printer. There are a bunch of reasons this could be such as: wrong print driver, double color correction (both app and print driver doing color correction), wrong paper profile selected in the print dialog, settings in the print driver messed up, etc...

One thing you could do is to have some people who have calibrated monitors look at your images. If the images look very different from your monitor display, then the first thing you need to do is to calibrate your monitor. If they look similar to your monitor, then the issue is likely in the printing software and configuration.

yooperdooper

dark prints
I was on the phone with epsom as well as adobe systems for hours and i have determined that the dgrin forum advise is much better .but i got so much advise from dgrin that i need to sort things out.for example where do i find the setting for 90-120 cd/m^2? or,where do i find the setting for printer-settings-advance-color management-color control.or where do i find the ms document viewer?forgive me for my lack of knowledge on this.you guys have been great.thanks. ps please keep in mind that my only intention at this point is to increase the brightness of the prints.i am satisfied with everything else.thanks again

CatOne

yooperdooper wrote:

I was on the phone with epsom as well as adobe systems for hours and i have determined that the dgrin forum advise is much better .but i got so much advise from dgrin that i need to sort things out.for example where do i find the setting for 90-120 cd/m^2? or,where do i find the setting for printer-settings-advance-color management-color control.or where do i find the ms document viewer?forgive me for my lack of knowledge on this.you guys have been great.thanks. ps please keep in mind that my only intention at this point is to increase the brightness of the prints.i am satisfied with everything else.thanks again

Use a calibrator. The Eye One 2 has the option to measure the luminosity output in the advanced mode.

There really is no hope without using a calibrator. End of story.

pcbermagui

PCbermagui
I've just gone through this circus with my R1000. Now its sorted. Brilliant.
Used advance profile with my I1. Found my LCD screen was far brighter than it should have been. Basic profile in I1 doesn't tell you!
Downloaded printer profile from Image Science www.imagescience.com.au
followed their instructions to the letter and printed target for Premium Semi Gloss & archival Matt. Gotta have individual profiles. Mailed target prints. Got email back with profiles and installed them again following instructions.
First print came off the printer & couldn't believe the quality. OK the profile cost me a bit but hey how many dollars have I wasted in the past on ink & paper.
Cheers - pcbermagui

colourbox

CatOne wrote:

Use a calibrator. The Eye One 2 has the option to measure the luminosity output in the advanced mode. There really is no hope without using a calibrator. End of story.

Yup. I plug in the Eye One (earlier version), and one of the first questions the software asks is what target monitor brightness I want, so that the calibrator can help me set it. I choose the level from a popup menu and then it goes on to the rest of the steps.

yooperdooper

custom calibration
i am going to take pcbermagul's lead and get a custom calibration for $75 for my printer.is there much of a difference between 3-star and 4-star epsom photo glossy papers.is the r1900 epson printer rgb or cmyk?thanks john

pcbermagui

Papers Profiles Calibration

yooperdooper wrote:

i am going to take pcbermagul's lead and get a custom calibration for $75 for my printer.is there much of a difference between 3-star and 4-star epsom photo glossy papers.is the r1900 epson printer rgb or cmyk?thanks john

If you've got a R1900 you're taking you printing seriously. Pick the papper you like and stick to it. I like Epson Premium Semi Gloss, I exhibit and people buy prints they want to last. Not familiar with the star ratings you mentioned. Main thing is to be consistant. - PCbermagui

yooperdooper

dealing with printer problem
After going round and round with this problem I found that the best way to deal with it was to set the appropriate "lightness" in the photoshop editor,run a 4x6 test print and if it looked good then go ahead and run the big print.Since my printer naturally prints darker than what is shown on the monitor I made the the picture a little lighter than usual in the editor-notice that I said"lighter" and not "brighter".Using the brightness control washes everything out.Using the "lighten shadows" or exposure or midtone contrast features are useful.I had no luck with icc printer profiles.There is more than one way to deal with this problem,this is what worked for me.This wouldn't aplly to all printers.thanks for the support,john