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JPLondon
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Printing with a LED Colour Laser Printer - No CMYK support?

May 11, 2012 8:14 PM

Tags: #color #cmyk #printing #printer #laser #led

Greetings.

 

I bought an Oki A3+ printer (C9655) three weeks ago to output a large amount of images for the editing and proofing of a book project. The results I am getting are pretty bad as Lightroom cannot see their profiles so they cannot be loaded (they can be seen & loaded in Photoshop CS3 or InDesign CS3). Their technical support is saying that Adobe Lightroom doesn't appear to support their profiles which are CMYK. Although the results are pretty good via Photoshop or InDesign, I really don't want to have to import 100's of images into another app just to print a decent quality preview hard copy.

 

What I expected would be straightforward in printing whatever DNGs I select from a collection via the Print module is apparently not possible.  Is it really true that Adobe won't support CMYK in Lightroom? And if so why?  There are threads requesting CMYK support that go back to Lightroom 2 Beta.

 

What about printing cards on thick board? What about printing a preview of a book project? It doesn't have to be inkjet RGB all the time. (Admittedly quality really looks "photographic" on inkjet but at too high a cost for previews).

 

LED Colour laser printers like the one I bought using 4 blocks of toners are becoming more accessible & popular.  Surely there will be an increasing amount of users who expect like I do to be able to output directly to the printer without convoluted workarounds.

 

Adobe, could you please get Lightroom to talk to Colour Laser Printers that work in CMYK and manage the colour? Getting the printer to manage colour really gives poor results. The colours are pretty good but the shadows and blacks seriously lack density making the result just unacceptable. I am frustrated I have not been able to do the outputs I bought the printer for and it appears that the solution lies in Adobe supporting CMYK outputs.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated in getting a solution soon.

 

Thanks.

 

(Mac 10.6.8)

1268 Views   6 Replies   Latest reply: Andrew Rodney, May 14, 2012 6:22 AM
 
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  • JimHess
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    1. JimHess,
    May 11, 2012 8:34 PM   in reply to JPLondon
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    http://forums.adobe.com/thread/354249?tstart=0

     
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  • JPLondon
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    2. JPLondon,
    May 11, 2012 9:41 PM   in reply to JimHess
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    Thanks Jim

    I read that thread and posted in it before posting here. The last post was July 2009 on LR2 so I am hoping there might be some progress since then.

     
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  • Andrew Rodney
    1,130 posts
    Apr 16, 2009
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    3. Andrew Rodney,
    May 12, 2012 9:45 AM   in reply to JPLondon
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    Anything CMYK centric is kind of off limits with Lightroom. You really need to be working in Photoshop. The CMYK data you have in the catalog is converted to a variant of Prophoto RGB for any processing which alone is going to be an issue for proofing.

     

    While technically this is a CMYK printer (it uses a subtractive color model as all such printers do), there is no reason to be sending it CMYK data and in fact that can often cause more problems with color. Unless you are using this as a proofing device (show me what my CMYK data going to a press will look like on this Oki), you’d be better off sending it RGB data through and RGB profile and let it handle the black box conversion to CMYK.

     

    For the book project, you can still do a CMYK to RGB conversion, and proof that but in the case of Lightroom, you don’t have access to the Absolute Colorimetric table necessary for proofing. Photoshop can do this and Photoshop can deal with the CMYK data you feed it and make this direct CMYK to RGB conversion. LR can’t. It probably never will due to it’s strictly RGB processing path.

     
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  • JPLondon
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    4. JPLondon,
    May 13, 2012 7:08 PM   in reply to Andrew Rodney
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    Thank you for your prompt response Andrew

     

    Please forgive me if I wasn't clear. I don't actually have any CMYK files in my catalogue. Nearly all my files are DNG's that were imported from RAW (if they are edited in Photoshop, it's usually in ProPhoto RGB). What I want to do is output collections directly from Lightroom to paper on the Oki. With hundreds of images to print, I really don't want to use Photoshop. The way I understood it, the printer needed CMYK data to be able to print an image but I think I got it wrong (maybe because Oki only supply CMYK profiles?).

     

    From what you say and from looking at the printer settings options, there must be a way to get Lightroom to send data over to the Oki in a language it fully understands (which I think is by letting the Printer manage colour). I have experimented with different options in the Printer settings, but so far all the results are wrong. I'm now looking at loading profiles in the "Graphic Pro" settings. It looks like they need to be loaded with an installer app and it looks like the only way to be able to use them is by storing them on the printer - which unbelievably means paying over £300 for their hard drive!

     

    Hopefully there is a simpler solution. I'm getting the impression the printer has great capabilities but I'm missing out on them because I can't work out how to get the settings right. What I thought would be pretty straightforward (printing a preselection of images from Lightroom) has turned into weeks of complication and frustration.

     

    If you have any more advice to spare, I would be delighted to read it!

     

    Thanks again.

     
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  • Jeff Schewe
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    5. Jeff Schewe,
    May 13, 2012 9:14 PM   in reply to JPLondon
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    Actually you can import CMYK files, what you can't do is print anything other than RGB using RGB ICC printer profiles or printer managed color. There's no way to see, load or select a CMYK profile in Lightroom. So, while you could prolly make a custom RGB profile for your CMYK printer (which is what I think you are going to have to do) currently there's no way to print to your printer using a CMYK profile.

     

    If you can figure out a way to send RGB image to the printer, then you'll be able to print–assuming the printer is savey about accepting RGB image data. If it isn't I think you are out of luck. Sorry...

     
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  • Andrew Rodney
    1,130 posts
    Apr 16, 2009
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    6. Andrew Rodney,
    May 14, 2012 6:22 AM   in reply to JPLondon
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    What I want to do is output collections directly from Lightroom to paper on the Oki.

    You can do that. But you’ll need RGB output profiles for that printer.

     

    The way I understood it, the printer needed CMYK data to be able to print an image but I think I got it wrong (maybe because Oki only supply CMYK profiles?).

    It should be able to be feed RGB data. Now IF you are trying to use that as a proofer (simulate CMYK going elsewere), well you need CMYK data and that isn’t going to fly here. I’m not familiar with this printer or the driver but I suspect it should be able to accept RGB data. If not, well LR isn’t going to fly here for printing, it doesn’t support CMYK profiles.

     
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