Printer output problem

[mjwman]

I consider myself to be well informed about digital photography but this has me stumped. Can anyone help out there please?
I have a Kodak ESP3 and a Canon ip4850 printers.

The system is not calibrated but the Kodak prints fine and I get what apears on screen.
The Canon is very dark and magenta in comparison. My previous Canon ip3000 was the exactly same. (but I usually use the Kodak for photos only and the Canon for docs only, now I want to economically print a few off)

I am now using a Fotorite Continuous Ink Supply system ink in the Canon and nothing is different with its output.
It is the same printing from CS2, Elements10, Faststone, or direct out of windows from the file.

I did some tests:
I printed a jpg on the Kodak and it pretty well matched the screen image.

The Canon print was very dark and magenta. I printed using Photoshop determine colours, printer determine colours and also printed direct from the image file no Photoshop. I also printed using CS2 and the new Elements 10, I installed a week or so back and there was no change.

I then adjusted the image. I added +43 green, upped the contrast a lot and upped the brightness a lot. The screen image looks evil! Emerald green! The print though matched the Kodak output so that is something I suppose.
I have no idea what next. Anyone.....?


I feel that it must be due to a fundamental setting in the Canon software but what? Any ideas please?

If anyone has a similar printer I can send my file to check out........

Thanks and sorry for the long question. Better that than- "My printer iss crap what is wrong? " though! :)

[bazwillrun]

Is everything using the same colour profiles PS and the Canon

[mjwman]

yes

[Wak]

I don't know if this will help you but it may give you something to think about and possibly point you in a suitable direction as it sounds as if your printer settings are out of sync with the data sent by the screen.
Years ago I bought a Plustek scanner which came complete with a Micrografx Picture Publisher program. With this program you could change a printer's settings so that the print output was the same as the screen image ( or as near as possible!)
You did this by making a basic coloured print and then, via the program, altered the screen image to so that it resembled the printed image you had just made, i.e. if the print image was too greenish you made the screen image a similar greenish colour. When the images were similar, the data from the screen was reversed by the program (+5% green became -5% green) and OK'd into the printer and subsequent prints matched the screen output. The program also offered fixed settings for comparable printers, i.e. Generic Deskjet, Inkjet, Bubblejet and Paintjet, etc.
I now use a FREE Micrografx Picture Publisher program but it no longer contains the manual facility for changing the printer settings. It does, however, still give the fixed settings for the various types of printers (including a "NONE" setting) which do show a variation in brightness and contrast which can make a considerable difference to a printed image.
My HP Deskjet is set as a Generic Bubblejet at the moment and any printed image corresponds to the screen quite well.
In the past I have looked for a similar, separate program which would allow you to re-adjust a printer's colour settings, but no luck so far.
I hope the above might help in some way.

[mjwman]

Many and appreciated thanks for that. I will have a go tomorrow.

[mjwman]

I have sent Canon an email.

[mjwman]

Should anyone be interested. Canon sorted it.
They sent me an AdobeRGB1998 profile.
It was not quite right but a huge improvement.
I applied a fee minor corrections in the driver window and saved this profile.
Now I print through that profile when doing photos.
Simples!

[Wak]

Glad you got it sorted, MJ.