ix 6820 printing photos in purple instead of black

[TarynPlatt]

My Canon ix6820 printer has started having problems recently with printing black. It now substitutes all black in photos for a dark, sometimes pastel purple color, except for when I am printing documents/shipping labels, etc, then it prints in black. Only when printing photos does it do this. 

It's worked great since I got it last year. I noticed the problem started after I tried printing a resized document through Photoshop (which up until then, I only printed through the software included with the printer) And it's been doing this every time since. Now when I use the printer's software, it's the same results. 

After I started getting purple prints, I tried changing the print settings through photoshop, but the best I could get was it to print in an undersaturated grey (and it only worked when I checked the box for Photoshop to handle colors, not the printer. Even so, none of the prints I've made have had accurate colors. 

All the cartridges are brand new and full, I did a nozzle test and the test sheet was fine (it printed in black) but it keeps printing in purple. 

If anyone has any advice for how to fix this, it would be very appreciated! I use this printer for art prints and really need to get back to work.

[Patrick]

Hi TarynPlatt,

Did the nozzle check that you printed match the example below:

Please open the cover to your printer.  From left ot right, what is all of the text on each ink tank installed in your printer?

[TarynPlatt]

Yes, the nozzle test looked like that. It came out clear, and all the colors were clear and vibrant without any purple where the black should be.

The ink cartridges are in this order from left to right: Magenta (251), Black (251), Yellow (251), Black (250, larger tank), Cyan (251) 

They're the same cartridges I had in the printer when it was working fine. Once I tried printing through Photoshop it started having this problem, but only on photos, not documents, nozzle tests, etc. 

[Michael]

Hello.

If the all of the colors are printing on the nozzle check, the printer would appear to be working fine.  The issue may be related to either the image that you are printing or your software.  Try printing a different image from different software to narrow down the cause of the issue.

[TarynPlatt · Accepted solution]

I ended up getting it sorted last night. The problem was caused by Photoshop's color management settings. I ended up going ahead and installing the most recent driver for my printer and it seems to have overwritten whatever PS had in place because it's printing in black again. 

[Joel_CatheySue]

Hi tarynPlatt, I'm facing a similar issue. Seems like you found a solution. Could you describe a little more in depth of what you did to solve it. Here's what I've tested so far. My Canon Pixma G3260 can print black just fine. I printed a test page from my computer and it came out perfect. However when I try to print a black image through photoshop, word, or from my phone. The black will come out as a dark purple instead of black. What is really confusing me is when I try to print the same image to a different printer, the black image comes out perfectly. So I believe the issue is happening somewhere within the print settings of my canon. I've changed as many variables as I could think of that may play some form of relevance to my issue but I still haven't came up with a solution. If you have any ideas it would be most appreciated, have a great day!!!

[TarynPlatt]

Hey there! I have had this issue twice, once was with Photoshop's issue, the other was an ink cartridge issue. I have detailed both:

For the photoshop one, from what I can remember, (I haven't used Photoshop since this incident two years ago, so my memory of it may not be the best)  Photoshop comes with its own built-in color management system, so when you print something through the app, (at least on desktop, never tried it from my phone) it overrides anything the printer has in place to tell it what colors go where. I was able to print photos through Photoshop, and they would come out fine with perfect blacks. But if I opened a photo from my documents and tried to print it through photo viewer or any app that wasn't Photoshop, it printed all blacks as purples. 

The only thing I found that fixed the issue was overriding Photoshop's settings again. The best way I found of doing this was going to Canon's website, looking up my printer, and reinstalling (or updating to) the latest software. That seems to have corrected the issue. I never tried printing from Photoshop again after that, so I am not sure how to use them together harmoniously without causing issues with each others' software. 

The other fix I found last year when the problem resurfaced. This time it was because of the ink cartridges.  I looked up your printer model, it looks like you use bottled ink instead. I am not familiar with those, so I will detail mine as best as I can and you can see what matches yours. 

Does your printer also have two black ink cartridges/reservoirs? (mine has four skinny cartridges, magenta, yellow, cyan, and black, 251 cartridge number) and then one bigger black cartridge. (250 cartridge number) a total of five cartridges. 

I couldn't find info on it anywhere for why the printer needed two blacks. I had let the skinnier black cartridge run out since I had the bigger one, didn't know why the printer needed two. As it turns out, one cartridge, the skinnier of the two black ones, contains ink only compatible with glossy papers. The other one, the thicker "page black" cartridge, is intended for printing on basic copy paper, like documents and such. So, since I was trying to print on glossy paper settings without both black cartridges installed, the printer was trying to account for the missing ink by printing black as purple instead. 

Every time I printed on glossy paper settings, it was purple. (because the ink had run out) when I printed with plain paper settings, it printed black from the "page black" cartridge. 

Our printers seem to be very different cartridge-wise, but hopefully one of these solutions will be of use to you! Best of luck going forward, printer problems can be such a headache. 

Taryn