topic Re: Pro 100 prints dark and unsaturated in Professional Photo Printers

Pro 100 prints dark and unsaturated

Burgmark — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 13:50:30 GMT

My sister asked me to print a family photo that was taken at her grandson's wedding by their wedding photographer, who supplied them with a jpg file of the photo.

I use a Dell XPS 15 (latest model) and have a profile created with Spyder to calibrate the screen and I have specified that profile in Photoshop and specified that Photoshop control the printer. Then in the main tab I chose the manual control and the none option.

The photo looks great on my screen, bright, well exposed and saturated. But the print is dull, dark and unsaturated. I even tried to fool the printer by overexposing and oversaturating the photo in Photoshop, but the darker areas still come out dark and unsaturated and the whites are blown.

I may give up and go back to my i9900.

Re: Pro 100 prints dark and unsaturated

Patrick — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 17:52:50 GMT

Hi Burgmark,

What is the type of paper that you are using and who is the manufacturer?

Please note, Canon's Forum is not intended for immediate help, but a place to allow for the Community to give you assistance and feedback. For a quicker response, please use the link below to reach our friendly Technical Support Team:

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Re: Pro 100 prints dark and unsaturated

Burgmark — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 18:13:22 GMT

I'm using Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy II. I also only use Canon ink.

Thanks,

Mark

Re: Pro 100 prints dark and unsaturated

jrhoffman75 — Thu, 18 Jul 2019 03:06:45 GMT

Are you possibly selecting the monitor profile in the print module?

You need to select the paper profile.

Re: Pro 100 prints dark and unsaturated

Burgmark — Thu, 18 Jul 2019 13:01:52 GMT

I think I am selecting the monitor profile, I thought that was the way to tell the printer to print what was on the screen. How else does one have a color managed workflow? I use a Spyder to calibrate my screen, how else do I tell Photoshop to use that profile when printing?

I will try to change it to the paper and see if that works, as soon as Amazon delivers my ink.

Thanks,

Mark

Re: Pro 100 prints dark and unsaturated

jrhoffman75 — Thu, 18 Jul 2019 17:24:01 GMT

The monitor profile ensures that the image you see on the screen correctly reflects the data in the image file.

The paper profile ensures that the image you see on the paper correctly reflects the data in the image file.

A color managed workflow is when you have both profiles in play; then the image on the paper will reflect what you see on the monitor. Never exactly, but close.

The printer doesn’t need to know your monitor profile.

Here's a good resource:

\http://www.outbackphoto.com/printinginsights/pi049/essay.html

Download the test image, open it in Photoshop, don't make any adjustments to the iamge, regardless of how it looks on screen. You should get a perfect print if the printer is functioning properly.

Re: Pro 100 prints dark and unsaturated

Burgmark — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 12:29:30 GMT

I did everything you suggested and there is no change to the photo, it still comes out dark and unsaturated. I had to get these couple of photos done and so I manipulated the image to produce the print I desired. I'll need to work with the printer more to see if I'm missing something or if there is another issue. I tried printing in both Lightroom and Photoshop and get the same result, and the result I get is not that much different whether I attempt to have Photoshop control the printer or let the printer control. It sure was not this difficult when I was using my i9900, which I may go back to.

Re: Pro 100 prints dark and unsaturated

jrhoffman75 — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 12:32:55 GMT

If the Outback test image is coming out dark and unsaturated with no intervention on your part you should call Canon support at 1-800-OK-CANON.

Re: Pro 100 prints dark and unsaturated

Burgmark — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 14:32:01 GMT

Thanks, I'll try that but I've just been too busy lately to spend any time with it. Frankly, it should not take hours to get a printer to match my screen.

Re: Pro 100 prints dark and unsaturated

jrhoffman75 — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 15:07:55 GMT

I agree. But if the Outbackphoto image isn’t looking good I suspect a printer problem; that’s the whole purpose of the test image. It’s a known good property.

I forgot to ask earlier- Mac or PC?

If Mac, are you using the IJSeries driver (not the AirPrint driver)?

Re: Pro 100 prints dark and unsaturated

Burgmark — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 16:16:59 GMT

I'm using a Dell XPS 15 (newest version).

Re: Pro 100 prints dark and unsaturated

jrhoffman75 — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 16:57:05 GMT

OK. One last suggestion would be to try using the Canon Print Studio Pro plugin, but I don’t think that’s the issue - you have a Canon printer that apparently works properly.

I think calling Canon is required. Sorry I couldn’t be more help.

Re: Pro 100 prints dark and unsaturated

Burgmark — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 18:07:33 GMT

John, I really appreciate your help and suggestions.

Thanks,

Mark

Re: Pro 100 prints dark and unsaturated

Burgmark — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 23:23:16 GMT

I was able to print the Outbackphoto image and it came out good. I first printed it by just double clicking in Windows File Explorer and printing from the Windows photo viewer. It looked good except that the greens were too dark. So I opened it in Photoshop and converted it to 300 dpi and printed from Photoshop and the result is pretty close to what I see on my screen. So, it is not the printer. My working colorspace is sRGB and that is the only difference between my own photo and the downloaded photo. I'll do some more experimenting by converting the color profile of my photo to see if that makes a difference in the print.

Re: Pro 100 prints dark and unsaturated

jrhoffman75 — Thu, 01 Aug 2019 00:10:01 GMT

That’s good.

I am am not a Photoshop user (I use Lightroom), but from what I have been led to believe the recommended approach in Photoshop is to use the Prophoto RGB working color space.

I don’t really know anything about when to convert image color profiles. I generally shoot RAW, and if I do shoot JPEG I set sRGB in camera. Lightroom doesn’t provide any capability for changing profiles.