Printing way too dark & muddy

[mike67146]

I am well pleased with a Canon i9900 that I decided to upgrade to  Pixma Pro 10.  I have made several prints with the new Pro 10 and the prints are way too dark and very muddy looking. I have printed the same images on the i9900 for comparison and I still get the great quality with the i9900.  I have double checked everything that I know to do to no avail. The Pro 10 is brand new. Can anyone help me correct this issue? Thank you for your time.

[jrhoffman75]

Have you performed a nozzle check?

What program are you printing from?

Have you verified that you are using the correct media type and ICC profile?

[mike67146]

Thank you. Nozzel Check OK. Photoshop Elements v12, Corrrect media type and have tried both RGB & sRGB. Could it be my driver? I downloaded from the CD that came with the printer. Seems like there was a point in the download where I had to choose between two drivers for the Pro 10 models.

[jrhoffman75]

Hi. Are you on Mac or PC?

If on a MAc make sure you have the IJ Series version of the printer in Printers & Scanners section of System Preferences. 

You don't want the Bonjour version.  If you see Bonjour click the "+" again and wait until the IJ Series appears. It could take a few minutes.

When printing are you choosing printer manages color or PSE manages color?

[mike67146]

Thank you John. It's a windows system.

_(When printing are you choosing printer manages color or PSE manages color) Where do I find this information?

I found Bonjour in Programs & Features but there is no+ & I can't seem to get it to uninstall.

I went to printer perferences-color intensity/brightness & printed 5 test prints form 0 to 50 on the scale & also addjusted brightness to lighter and could see no difference in the test prints. When I printed a test print from my Canon i9900, I got a exact match to the screen view.  Thank you for your time. Mike

[jrhoffman75]

Since you are on a PC disregard the info about Bonjour.

Download and install this driver update:

Download and install Print Studio Pro:

Download the test image from this site and open it in PSE. Don't make any adjustments to the file, regardless of how it looks on the screen.

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

Print the image using Print Studio Pro. It should be in the File->Automate dropdown in PSE.

[mike67146]

John, This is very close to the print of the test  image. The problem when compared with his image is that mine just prints too dark. You will see that my dark grays extend much farther into the light area than his sample. As far as the colors & gradulations, I think they are probably OK, just too dark.  I printed one with my Canon i9900 and it looked identical to the sample image. You ake me to print  from Print Studio Pro from file-automate dropdown in PSE. I don't have this showing on my drop down. Thank you again for your help. Mike

[jrhoffman75]

Can you post a screenshot of the print dialogue you are using in PSE?

Find the Print Studio Pro folder in Canon Utilities folder and run the install plugin app.

[mike67146]

I installed Canon Studio Pro & the test piece printed even darker yet. How do I sent you a print dialog? It doesn't seem to want to let me copy & paste it?

[jrhoffman75]

Do you have a PrtScrn or similar key on your keyboard?

Do you have another photo app to try. What camera brand do you have?