Pixma Pro-100 printing very dark

[kmyers]

Hi All, 

I just purchased my Pro-100 and installed last night. I upgraded from an HP that was strictly CMYK (only 4 ink). I installed according to the instructions, but my prints seem to be coming out noticably darker than they should be. The lime greens are printing a darker kelly green. The bright blues are printing a darker royal blue. The bright reds are printing a very dark red. The pinks are printing a dark shade of pink. Skin tones are much, much darker than they should be. 

I am printing from Adobe programs (Illustrator, Photoshop, and Pro - all CS6). Am I missing a setting somewhere? On my previous printer, I would choose "preserve CMYK primaries" and it printed perfectly. Now, I can't seem to get my prints a normal shade. I'm not attempting to "match my monitor", just simply trying to get the colors closer to their true color. I've unchecked preserve CMYK primaries and checked to have the printer decide the colors, but neither of those options seem to be helping. 

I called Canon support, but they were unable to help me. He had me put my settings all back to default and test print. When that didn't work he stated "well printers vary per brand so theres really nothing we can do to fix it". I can't imagine that this great of a printer prints that far off on colors. 

Any help is very greatly appreciated!

[amhdesign]

These are the settings I have set up....

[amhdesign]

In ILlustrator this is the color management info I get ---It's this "Printer Profile" drop down that I think is the issue - but there's 100's of options - at one point I thought someone mentioned to have it selected as "display" which I've done with the same results......

[jrhoffman75]

Settings look OK. Give Canon a call at 1-800-OK-CANON.

[ebiggs1]

Been reading this but I am not a Mac uses so I have little to help.  But for sure, are you certain your monitor is not set too bright or the contrast is way off?  If you exaggerate the brightness in PS or Illustrator does it brighten the print?

Question, what are you testing with 13 x 19?

[ebiggs1]

What I was getting at, the printer may be doing exactly what you are telling it to.  Most of the people that I have helped with a Pro-100 or even the earlier versions were for 'print too dark'.  The overwhelming cause is the monitor set too bright.

[jh7404]

I have been struggling with this paperweight for 2 years. Called Canon Tech Support, have monitored this thread, searched the web, reached out to other users etc, etc...It just doesn't print correctly. Everything is dark and muddy. And I'm not even trying to match colors to my monitor. I'm using a Pantone book (Color Bridge Uncoated) and entering in the RGB swatch values of the colors I want via Photoshop. Nothing is even close. I even bought some Red River art paper and installed their custom profile in a last-ditch attempt to make this thing work. (Red River has great customer service, btw.)

Anyone live in the Kansas City area and want to buy a printer on the cheap? I am *done*.

[es396]

I am having the same issues and trying to follow the steps you provided but I do not know how to make sure the printer is not setting anything for me.

I am trying to print as acurate as possible pantone colors for class finals.

Thank you for any help you can send my way.

[jrhoffman75]

I don't know anything about pantone colors. See this for perhaps some help.

http://www.pantone.com/calibrated-printers

Doesn't look like the Pro-100 is suitable.

[natty328]

I know this is a slightly older thread but I am having problems with my new Pixma Pro-100 and I found most of you on this thread to be very knowledgable. I use Photoshop and Illustrator for design (not photography). I was using a laser printer before for my designs but my customer base has a growing need for larger prints (11x14 and 13x19) AND the prints on the laser printer were too dark/bold. So a friend (who is a photographer) told me about this printer: vivid, bright , accurate colors, wide format printing, etc. I don't know what I am doing wrong, but my prints are coming out light (not dark) and almost greyed out. I printed out the Printer Evaluation Image and the same thing is happening. Blacks are coming out almost charcoal? I switched the printer to manual mode, color handling is set to Photoshop managing colors, Printer Profile is set to "Canon IJ Color Printer Profile 2005", I am working in the Adobe RGB (1998) workspace (8-bit). I was printing on Cougar Super Smooth Bright White cardstock. I have no idea what I am doing wrong. Any suggestions? TIA

[jrhoffman75]

Is your paper surface glossy or smooth?

Instead of the IJ Profile select either Glossy Photo Paper or Matte Photo Paper. 

Can you get some Canon Photo Paper?

print the OutbackPhoto test image using that paper and the proper Canon profile. If that looks good then we know the printer is OK and you just need to select the proper media type and profile. 

Are re you on PC or Mac?