imagePROGRAF PRO-1000 - Printer printing wrong colours - particularly blue

[sallymason]

My Canon Pro 1000 printer has suddenly started printing colours incorrectly. The colours are generally muted and  particularly noticeable with blues / turquoise.  Whatever compensation I make in the edit, just makes it worse.  I'm on a Mac and use Lightroom.  The same thing happened a couple of years ago and an OS upgrade and re-installing the driver resolved the issue.  This time I've tried the following to no avail: checked ink cartridges (genuine Canon), Print head alignment, Nozzle check, monitor calibration, upgraded from Ventura to Sonoma, removed printer, deleted printer driver, reinstalled printer driver, reinstalled printer, restarted laptop - but still the print colours are incorrect.  I have also spent 2 hours on the phone to Canon and had my case escalated - with no solution. The guy at Canon seemed to think there was a compatibility issue with Sonoma and that it was an Apple issue, but the problem arose when I was still on Ventura after 2 years of working perfectly, so that's not the issue with me.  I'm at my wits end, so any help or advice would be greatly received.  Thanks in advance.

[jrhoffman75]

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@sallymason wrote:

This is exactly what my printer displays when I select Manage by Printer.  I just printed using this setting and selected Matt Photo paper (with a Fotospeed matt paper loaded) but the colours were completely different (wrong) again.  However, as the Pro 1000 allows me to import 3rd party ICC profiles I always use them and don't select Manage by Printer.  That then greys out Canon Colour Matching and Color Sync is selected.  Yes, I do use Canon OEM inks.

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I will be interested to see how the test image prints.

[Lithoman]

That could be it. Canon media is specifically coated to work with the inks. I have seen odd results from non-Canon branded stuff. But if you have been using it prior and know the output that can be less likely.

[sallymason]

I've been using Fotospeed and Hahnemühle papers for 2 years + and all has been fine.

[jrhoffman75]

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@sallymason wrote:

My Canon Pro 1000 printer has suddenly started printing colours incorrectly. The colours are generally muted and  particularly noticeable with blues / turquoise.  Whatever compensation I make in the edit, just makes it worse.  I'm on a Mac and use Lightroom.  The same thing happened a couple of years ago and an OS upgrade and re-installing the driver resolved the issue.  This time I've tried the following to no avail: checked ink cartridges (genuine Canon), Print head alignment, Nozzle check, monitor calibration, upgraded from Ventura to Sonoma, removed printer, deleted printer driver, reinstalled printer driver, reinstalled printer, restarted laptop - but still the print colours are incorrect.  I have also spent 2 hours on the phone to Canon and had my case escalated - with no solution. The guy at Canon seemed to think there was a compatibility issue with Sonoma and that it was an Apple issue, but the problem arose when I was still on Ventura after 2 years of working perfectly, so that's not the issue with me.  I'm at my wits end, so any help or advice would be greatly received.  Thanks in advance.

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Going back to the beginning:

"My Canon Pro 1000 printer has suddenly started printing colours incorrectly." When you say suddenly does that mean with no changes to macOS or updates to software?

[sallymason]

Correct.  I performed all the upgrades AFTER it started printing incorrectly.  

[jrhoffman75]

The last thing I can think of to try. Download and print this test image. Just open it in LrC; no adjustments regardless of how it looks on screen. How does the print look?

PrinterEvaluationImage_V002_ProPhoto.tif

Here is my screen capture:

 

[sallymason]

I just printed this using the ICC profile I regularly use.  It's not awful, but the colours aren’t as vibrant as expected, and there seems to be a magenta tint.  I’ve noticed that some images are more affected than others. I’ve been printing from a test image that I know well and can easily compare (it has a lot of cyan). This helps me determine if the print is coming out as it should.
I'm not sure what else to do but I want to thank you very much for all your help, John - I do so appreciate it. 

[jrhoffman75]

I’m at a loss. Sorry I couldn’t come up with a solution. You have checked all the boxes on things to try. 

[jrhoffman75]

One more thing I thought of.

What if you tried this: 1. You said you got good prints using Printer manages and plain paper. The printer would be using the profile it contains in the driver for plain paper. What if you try printing on plain paper and select an ICC profile for Canon Photo Paper Pro Luster, which is nice white Canon photo paper.

I did that and got the same results for both prints (on plain paper). Did the same thing but then printed on Canon luster paper. Better print because of the surface but similar colors.

If they are not the same it could indicate a problem with the profile engine.

[sallymason]

Ok...I just did two prints on plain paper back to back.  The first, I selected Colour Management to be Managed by Printer and selected Plain Paper in Media.  It printed the correct colours.  The second, I selected the ICC profile for Canon Photo Paper Pro Luster and selected Plain Paper in Media.  The colours were all wrong.  So....it would seem the problem lies somewhere in the Colour Management / ICC profiles.