Dull and washed out prints with Pro 100 on Mac

[TallCoolOne]

Hey all,

I have seen similar posts but this just starting happening to me recently and nothing I have tried fixes it. The prints from my Pixma Pro 100 are washed out now, they used to be great. I do understand how to use the color profiles etc, if I reboot into Windows with the equivalent printer settings it looks great still, just on Mac they are yellowish and washed out. I think it started after upgrading to Big Sur, I upgraded again to Monterey and it still has the issue. I tried resetting the print system and reinstalling the drivers, still washed out.

I have driver version 16.50.0.0. I usually print from Photoshop with PS managing color, and using the Canon profiles with the Canon photo papers. I also tried with ColorSync and the Canon profile, it was even worse.

Please save me from having to boot into Windows to print!

Thanks all!

[jrhoffman75]

I just printed a test print  - macOS 12.1, Photoshop 23.1 and the 16.50.0.0 driver. Results are perfect.

I have found that after any macOS update i need to remove and re-install the printer. I also reinstall the driver.

[TallCoolOne]

Thanks for the reply John. I tried that multiple times with no luck. I reset the printing system, reinstalled the drivers, then the printer using the canon driver. Faces come out yellow and the print has a washed out look. 

I’ll try on an older Mac and see if it is normal.

[jrhoffman75]

I'll ask just because others have had this problem - when you re-added the printer you have the Canon IJ Series version of the printer and not AirPrint, correct?

[TallCoolOne]

Yes correct. And I do get all the Canon settings for papers, etc. I wonder if the color settings are messed up. I can select the color value sliders etc in the print dialog settings. I though those should be disabled when photoshop is managing colors. It must be getting multiple color correction applied for some reason. 

[jrhoffman75]

Ps should set it correctly, but verify that it is set for ColorSync and not Canon Color if you want Os to manage color. What happens if you have printer manage when you are using Canon paper?

[TallCoolOne]

I can change the setting, it is disabled and set to ColorSync, but IIRC the color settings sliders were disabled before too. Are yours?

Printer manage looks different, maybe not as washed out but the colors are clearly off. I never thought that looked good though.. 

[TallCoolOne]

Meant to say I can’t change the setting.

[jrhoffman75]

Yes, both the Color Sync button and the color sliders are disabled.

Let's try this:

1. download the test image from this link: 

https://1drv.ms/u/s!ApNpngg2Z6dbhIYEVaNQBuYp2nUaWg?e=4ENDYO

2. open the file in Ps. Don't make any adjustments to the image, regardless of how it looks on your monitor.

3. print the image and see how it looks.

[TallCoolOne]

Thanks John, 

I printed it, the only thing I selected was the right media type and the correct canon profile for the glossy II paper I used. Here is a phot of the printed picture, it's hard to tell here as the phone has clearly added some color to it, but overall it is darker and the red looks orange in the color swatched/bars and the strawberries lack the red punch that the original picture has. The phone picture shows a deep red but it looks nothing like that on the paper, it's orange and the faces have a yellow tint look to them. But honestly this one is not as bad as the kids Santa picture I was trying to print, but that one had a lot of red which seems to be the weak spot in the prints.