imagePROGRAF PRO-300 colors are coming out dull.

[shadowzero26]

I make art prints of my art and the Artisan was a constant headache.  I finally got it set to print consistently with the colors that appeared on my color corrected Wacom drawing monitor.  The colors I would make in photoshop would match professional CMYK and RGB prints in books and on fliers and such. 

Unfortunately it looks like there was a printer head problem and there was constant banding and bleeding so I bought the Canon Pro 300.  The quality of printing seems good however the colors are drab.  Dull, washed out, faded, low contrast, earthy, bland.  Except yellows.  Yellows are extremely pronounced, at least next to the very dull other colors.  I should say I am using Epson Ultra Premium Presentation Paper Matte. 
I would like to know if there is a way to duplicate the colors that I am looking at on my screen since my screen is color corrected with a Color monkey (I don't remember the specific name of the model I got, x something) and, again, photoshop MATCHES with professional factory print so I do not want to adjust it because then I would have no bearing.  I need the canon printer to produce the colors on my screen, which, again, is color corrected and matches with photoshop.  I have tried the following:
Printing directly from photoshop where photoshop manages colors and turning color correction to None
printing directly from photoshop where printer manages colors and using ICM profile AND driver matching.
printing with Professional Layout and Design using Canon IJ profile, Driver matching, and ICM profile for paper

The Canon IJ Pro was very dark everything else was washed out except Printing directly from photoshop using photoshop manages colors, which produces the by far best results but it is very warm and bright (color contrast is very nice, good for a nice print but not color accurate)

How can I get better color accuracy or honestly just more vivid colors?

[jrhoffman75]

Do you have an ICC profile for that paper and printer?

[shadowzero26]

no i am not sure how to get it.  i have a profile that i used on the Artisan 1430 that is names "Artisan 1430 ultra premium presentation paper matte" and it produced dull colors.  it was not bad just not very vibrant.  i might need help finding the ICC profile for it.  

[jrhoffman75]

It will likely be hard to find an Epson paper ICC profile for a Canon printer since boith companies provide paper and hardware. You could get a custom profile made. But first, try selecting a Canon media type of a similar paper. Since you are printing on matte paper select a Canon matte paper profile. Be sure you are printing on the correct side of the paper. Wet a fingertip and touch a corner of the paper. The print side will be tacky to the touch.

I am assuming you ran a nozzle check and are sure the printer prints OK on Canon paper.

[shadowzero26]

i ran the auto check but if you think so i will do a manual check .

The closest i get now is i set paper to plain, icc profile to Canon Premium Matte, and use Absolute color mode.  i have turned up cyan to 20, magenta -15, and yellow -10, brightness +4 and contrast +4, but its still a little too purple and yellow. the brown is also very dark and should be a tad more orange

It would be nice if there were some custom curves for downloading to use with the Print Layout tool.

With print shop pro i think it's called for the pixma 100 it worked like magic.  i set the icc to epson ultra premium presentation paper matte and that was it.  no settings needed other than that.  this is the same profile im using but all the other options seem to be getting in the way

[shadowzero26]

i cant really test anything because i cannot get the printer to print anything

it keeps telling me the width is wrong but of course everything is the same.  i turned the detect paper settings off and shut it off for a minute and yadayada

so, people really use this thing?  i cant get it to print true colors, the print layout tool is miserably difficult to use and has no custom presets, the only way to print on paper seems to be to trick it, and just flat out will not print whenever the wind decides to change direction

amazing i didnt think any printer would ever be more difficult than the epson but here we are

[Hermi14]

I had a similar problem with no paper sizes matching my paper (11x14) so I went into the printer driver and added a custom paper size. I named it but the name doesn't properly show up in the printer settings of Photoshop--however it works correctly (I'm printing 9x12 images). I also have the drab colors, though. But I haven't tried a coated paper yet, only a heavy bristol which I'm using the "cardstock" setting for.

[Leffelord]

I got a Canon Pro-300 the other day and the prints coming out of it are absolutely stunning. Would suggest to start with Canons own papers, Platinum Pro etc (comes with the printer).

After that try different papers out, matte papers are certainly more flat in terms of colours/contrast with pigment inks. Look at Hahnemule for example I am working my way through their test packs and each paper looks completely different from the next, William Turner is nice for colour, the rags and also satin finish is great for colour/contrast reproduction.

[Leffelord]

I would also suggest getting rid of the calibrated profiles etc. If you have a Mac there’s really not much need for it, unless you do it regularly with a high-end machine it often creates more headache than what it’s worth. I used to have a Spyder when I got in to photography and it was simply not worth it, messed up the colours more than it adjusted them for the better, no matter how many ICC profiles I did, was simply not worth it.