imagePROGRAF PRO 310 colors faded.

[CMOYNIHAN]

I have a new PRO-310. I recently printed a picture from Adobe Photoshop onto heavy artist paper. The print was beautiful with deep saturated colors. When I tried to print another, the colors were faded. I printed two more with different settings and they came out identically faded.

[SignifDigits]

So you're saying you printed from the exact same application with the exact same settings on the exact same paper on the exact same printer and got different results, correct?  Specifically,  faded colors?

[CMOYNIHAN]

yes

[CMOYNIHAN]

Actually, I'm not sure about the exact same settings. I printed 5 different copies of the image and maybe tried different settings. All four of the last copies were identically faded from the first copy.

[SignifDigits]

OK, so I think the best think to do is to start eliminating potential issues.  It could be either the printer or the software at this point.  Hopefully you have or can get some inexpensive Canon paper.  I keep Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy II 4x6" 400 sheets for this purpose.  Less than 15 cents a sheet and not a lot of ink.

First, of course, run a nozzle pattern check from the maintenances menu on the printer and make sure it looks proper.  You didn't mention the length of time between the first and second print, but it's good to run one of these at least a couple times a month to keep the ink flowing properly.  It's a lot cheaper than the nozzle cleaning routines which use a lot of ink.

Provided that looks ok, then I suggest you print directly from Canon Professional Print and Layout software onto a Canon paper.  You could use the PPL plugin for Photoshop, but I'd suggest running PPL standalone first.  If the results aren't satisfactory you will have 100% Canon hardware, software and paper in the workflow.  If you're still having the same problem in this scenario then you should contact Canon support via the site that you registered your printer with Canon.

If that step works properly, though, your issue is likely to be in PhotoShop setting or the paper profile.  Others on this site would need to assist you with PhotoShop as I do not use Adobe software in my workflow.

I realize it must be frustrating and the steps that I've suggested will take some time, and if you're like me you'd like the solution a lot faster than that.  But I believe these are the best steps to ensure that things are working properly on the Canon side of equation.

[CMOYNIHAN]

Thank you for the suggestions. I will try them. I'm not sure it's a Canon printer problem. I working on it from the Adobe Photoshop side too. 

[CMOYNIHAN]

Actually, I'm no longer sure it's an Adobe problem. The Canon is printing all my images in a murky, graded down, faded tone, regardless of source: whether I print from Adobe, Word, or cntrl-p from the web. The colors are very desaturated and gray.

[CMOYNIHAN]

the same is true when I print photos on Canon photo paper. they photos are faded.

[SignifDigits]

Again, I recommend printing from PPL, then you can more authoritatively say you have a 100% Canon problem when you call Canon service. (not absolutely, of course, as there is an OS in the workflow to consider - be sure you're up to date on OS updates on that score).

[CMOYNIHAN]

Thank you. Will try this.