topic Re: New Pixma iP8720 printer prints dark photos. in Desktop Inkjet Printers

New PIXMA ip8720 printer prints dark photos.

ejjacobs — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 11:59:51 GMT

I recently purchased this printer back in May and I have been happy with the printer for the most part, however it seems to print every photo considerably darker than what I am view on either my laptop or iphone. All of my printing is done via wireless and I have printed directly from my iphone and my laptop, as well as printing from Lightroom. In all cases the photos the printer creates tend to be on the dark side for the most part. Any suggestions, ideas on how to resolve this would be greatly appreciated.

Re: New Pixma iP8720 printer prints dark photos.

shadowsports — Sat, 24 Oct 2020 17:08:36 GMT

Greetings,

Monitor or screen calibration will likely help. The color or screen profile the printer is using might not be correct or a match. This means what you see on the screen, might not be what the printer will output.

Example. Set your screen brightness to 10 or 100%. Super dark or super bright. Now print a photo. The output will be the same since the printer is using the same profile regardless of what you see on the screen.

Re: New Pixma iP8720 printer prints dark photos.

Kadman59 — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 20:34:48 GMT

I too have noticed my 8720 prints darker than how my pictures look on ALL of my various desktop/laptop monitors. The fact that my previous Canon printer IP6600D did NOT have this issue points the problem to the 8720 as opposed to a monitor screen calibration issue. That said, it is true the appearance of pictures on your monitor MAY differ from their printed appearance depending on how you've set your monitor's brightness and contrast settings. I print from THREE different desktops, a laptop and two phones and in EVERY case the 8720's printed output is darker, and at times significantly darker. With both of us experiencing the same issue, I believe there may be a problem with the printer driver's embedded color profiles in conjunction with the photo paper being used. I am using the most current driver and ALL of the paper I am using are current Canon brands...PP-301, LU-101, PT-101 and MP-101. ALL of these papers are exhibiting this darker issue. My sole workaround has been to use a photo editing app to lighten the photos before I print them to the 8720. Note further my Canon TS9120 printer does NOT exhibit this problem. Perhaps someone from Canon Tech support would care to chime in on this?

Re: New Pixma iP8720 printer prints dark photos.

ejjacobs — Wed, 04 Nov 2020 16:35:27 GMT

Thank you for you input! I am not at all convinced this has anything to do with screen calibration, but rather an issue with the 8720 as you have observed as well. I too try various differing apps to lighten the picture prior to printing, however it is not exact and sometimes requires more than one attempt to get it right. If there is a Canon rep on this forum their thoughts/insights would be greatly appreciated. BTW, I use ONLY Canon paper and have the latest driver for my Pixma iP8720.

Re: New Pixma iP8720 printer prints dark photos.

Kadman59 — Wed, 04 Nov 2020 17:27:09 GMT

@ejjacobs, Thank you as well! Just last night while printing a photo for a wedding gift and as you stated, I spent HOURS attempting "...to get it right." And another NEGATIVE consequence of this issue is how COSTLY it has become...in having to throw out the many FAILED attempts at getting "...it right.", I'm using far more photo paper than I should have to. Using my IP8720 has become much less an excercise of enjoyment and much more one of FRUSTRATION. Canon...what insight have you to share with us?

Re: New Pixma iP8720 printer prints dark photos.

Hector — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 21:41:04 GMT

Hello Ejjacobs,

If the images are printing darker than what you see on the screen it can be based off of screen calibration or the color management options selected when printing. To test the hardware, you can try printing a nozzle check using the steps provided in the link provided HERE to see if there are any problems with the way the ink is getting to the paper. If any of the colors are missing or printing with lines thought them, you can try a cleaning use the steps provided HERE.

If the nozzle check is fine, I would need some additional information to assist further, If you can reply to this message with the information below, we can provide further assistance.

What version of the Mac or Windows operating system are you using on your computer?
Which specific Canon paper are you printing on?
What paper settings/color management settings are you selecting when printing?
What program are you printing from?
Is your screen calibrated and have you soft proffed any of the images from the computer?

Re: New Pixma iP8720 printer prints dark photos.

ejjacobs — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 21:54:33 GMT

Hi Hector,

Here are my answers to your questions...

1. Windows 10

2. Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy II and Canon Photo Paper Pro Platinum

3. I am selecting 'Photo Printing', 'High Quality', and then one of the paper types listed above

4. I mostly print from Lightroom on my iPhone, but also from Lightroom on my desktop and directly from my desktop without

Lightroom

5. No my screen has not been calibrated; I have utilized the soft proof feature in Lightroom without much luck

Re: New Pixma iP8720 printer prints dark photos.

Kadman59 — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 04:47:26 GMT

hi Hector,

Thanks for jumping in to the thread. Re screen calibration, I've NEVER performed any kind of screen calibration that'd be relative to a printer, ie I've adjusted contrast and brightness of my monitors from time to time and of course I'm aware that in doing this, the photo's appearance on the monitor may differ slightly from that of the photo's printed hardcopy. That said, the darkness I'm observing is NOT consistent with ANY adjustments I've ever made to my monitors. To explain this in a slightly different fashion, I can print the same photo from the same app onto the same Canon Glossy II plus paper to both my IP8720 and my TS9120 printers. The photo's hardcopy printed by the 8720 is significantly darker than the same photo's hardcopy printed by the 9120. And the 9120 hardcopy is almost identical to how the photo displays on my monitor. This behavior is 100% consistent with EVERY photo I've performed this "test" with. I have not altered ANY of the printer settings ie setting custom colors for example...as a rule I go with the factory defaults of every device I've ever used, as much as is possible to provide the desired end result, in the over 30 years of time I've spent in the IT profession. Moreover and lastly, I have NEVER observed this type of "behavior" by any brand-new right out of the box Canon or other brand of printer.

Re: New Pixma iP8720 printer prints dark photos.

jcm744 — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 06:18:10 GMT

I set up a new iP8720 today and I am experiencing the same dark prints as described by others in this thread. My "old" printer is a Canon Pro-100 and I never had a problem with prints not matching what is on my screen. With the ip8720, the prints are MUCH darker than what appears on my screen.

Would someone from Canon please respond to this thread and let us know how to correct this issue? It's not right to have to artificially brighten an image before printing just to make it look like it should. I am satisfied with everything about the new iP8720, except for this dark printing issue. I did run the nozzle check and the printout of that looks good.

I am running the latest drivers for MacOS Big Sur.

Re: New Pixma iP8720 printer prints dark photos.

5SpeedGuy — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 02:38:24 GMT

I have same issue with NEW 8720. My all-in-one Canon printer is great.

Re: New Pixma iP8720 printer prints dark photos.

Niki70 — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 16:57:11 GMT

Perhaps it is too late to add to this topic. My canon pixma iP8720 has been printing photos that are much darker than what is on my computer screen. I have used 3 different computers, windows 10 and 11, adobe photoshop and affinity 1 and 2. Until I came upon this thread, I didn't realize there were some possible solutions to try. However, I do choose the proper paper to match the paper I am using. I will try some of the other suggestions, I am not very optomistic they wil work based on what previous posters have said. Has ANYONE at canon come up with a real solution to this problem?????

Re: New Pixma iP8720 printer prints dark photos.

Kadman59 — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 17:41:39 GMT

Hi Niki70,

Canon support "Hector" replied once to ONE post in this thread and then disappeared. His suggestions were followed but failed to resolve the issue. At SIX years into this issue, I can all but assure you Canon will not be providing any fix or workaround. IMHO this dark photo printing issue is rooted in the printer's firmware as multiple driver updates I've performed have NOT resolved it. I've been a Canon products enthusiast for decades but this experience has ruined Canon for me. To say I'm disappointed would be an understatement...I am frankly really pissed off at Canon and it's highly unlikely I'll be buying my next printer from them.

PS...I found somewhat of a workaround that doesn't require manipulation of the photo being printed. In the printer settings, set the color setting to manual, then within those settings manually change the color setting to "Light"

Re: New Pixma iP8720 printer prints dark photos.

DerrickL — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 17:51:27 GMT

Problem can be caused by your printer, or monitor or settings or all three. First thing is to calibrate your monitor, this is really important when printing photos

How to Calibrate Your Monitor in Windows

Calibrating your monitor is essential for achieving accurate color reproduction and optimal display quality. Here’s how to do it in Windows.

Basic Calibration Steps

Open Display Settings
- Go to Settings > System > Display.
Access Calibration Tool
- Select Calibrate display color to open the calibration wizard.
Adjust Settings
- Follow the prompts to adjust:
- Gamma: Ensures balanced grayscale.
- Brightness: Adjust until details are visible without washing out the background.
- Contrast: Set to see details without bright backgrounds.
- Color Balance: Use sliders to achieve neutral gray.
Finish Calibration
- Once satisfied with adjustments, save the new calibration profile.

Causes of Dark Prints from Canon iP8720

The Canon iP8720 may produce prints that appear darker than the images displayed on your screen. This discrepancy is primarily due to differences in how colors are represented on monitors versus printed media.

Key Factors Contributing to Dark Prints

Color Representation Methods: Monitors emit light, making images appear brighter, while prints reflect light, which can result in darker appearances.
Monitor Brightness: If your monitor is set too bright, it can lead to incorrect expectations for print brightness.
Incorrect ICC Profiles: Using the wrong ICC profile for your printer and paper can cause significant differences in print output.

Solutions to Improve Print Brightness

To achieve prints that more closely match your screen, consider the following adjustments:

Adjustment Type	Recommended Action
Monitor Calibration	Calibrate your monitor to a brightness of 80–120 cd/m². Use a calibration device for accuracy.
ICC Profile Management	Ensure you are using the correct ICC profile for your specific printer and paper combination.
Color Management Settings	Choose either your editing software or the printer to manage color, but not both simultaneously.

Re: New Pixma iP8720 printer prints dark photos.

Niki70 — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 23:18:21 GMT

Thank-you for the suggestion to change printer settings to light. I will give this a try.

Re: New Pixma iP8720 printer prints dark photos.

Niki70 — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 23:22:04 GMT

I went through the steps to calibrate my monitor. Strangely, there is no way for me to adjust contrast. I'm not sure how to check the ICC profile, but I do choose the correct paper when printing. I understand about choosing either printer or photo editing software to manage color. Thanks.

Re: New Pixma iP8720 printer prints dark photos.

Niki70 — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 23:26:11 GMT

By the way, prior to this canon printer, I used an Hp wide format printer for 17 years with no problems, until the part that moves the ink cartridge back and forth broke. I took it to be repaired, but it would cost almost as much as buying a new printer. I would have stayed with Hp, but they were all much more complicated than I wanted. Keep it Simple! The Hp I had used ONE Three color cartridge and made 13 x 19 inch beautiful prints.

Re: New Pixma iP8720 printer prints dark photos.

Kadman59 — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:31:01 GMT

Please let me know if the "light" printer setting OR your calibrating your monitor helps to resolve the darkness issue for you. Re monitor calibration, while I appreciate the 3rd-party response detailing this procedure, I don't believe monitor miscalibration is causing the dark 8720 printer output. Because if it was, I'd expect to see the same issue with my smaller "all-in-one" Canon printer but I don't. As I'd previously posted, I printed the same photo, from the same computer and from the same app/app settings on the same Canon paper as I specified in the respective printer settings. All other printers' driver settings, ie quality, color management etc were the same but only the photo printed by my all-in-one Canon was fine...not dark at all. As such, I stand by my conclusion that the 8720 dark issue is rooted in this specific printer's firmware OR its driver or both.

Re: New PIXMA ip8720 printer prints dark photos.

DerrickL — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 13:56:43 GMT

My MG3620 does not print photos on glossy paper darker than I want them to be. My previous Brother printer did. So I tweaked the image using a photo editor, I have a lot of them and any one did the same thing for my image. I simply adjusted the contrast and the brightness which may have looked too bright on my monitors but did correct the final printed image.

Re: New Pixma iP8720 printer prints dark photos.

Niki70 — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 01:45:31 GMT

Thanks for the suggestion to change the printer setting to "light. This did help quite a bit. By the way, calibrating my monitor seems irrelevant when using Affinity photo two, since I can't find any way to chose my monitor's color profile to print with. There are two choices. The printer (ip8720) or other. if I choose other, I get a browse button that takes me to an empty folder that is supposed to have icc color profiles in it for affinity photo 2. Hmmmmm. Choosing the correct paper is also a dilemma, since I am not using canon paper (gasp!), but either Hp or staples!