12 Replies Latest reply: Oct 17, 2011 4:32 PM by Joe@Moomtaj RSS

    Prints too Dark in CS5 But Not in Other apps

    Joe@Moomtaj Community Member

      Prints from CS5 to Epson R1900 are too dark. The monitor is calibrated and soft proofing looks fine. I let CS5 manage colors and use Epson profile that matches the paper. If I print the same image using a different Windows application, the output is a reasonably good match to the monitor. My assumption is that if the image (a standard printer calibration image) is OK when printed from Windows, then it’s a printer driver / color management issues, not, for example, monitor brightness set too high.

      Any suggestions how to tackle the problem?

        • 1. Re: Prints too Dark in CS5 But Not in Other apps
          Silkrooster Community Member

          Just a thought, but it could be possible for the printer's profile to be corrupted.

          • 2. Re: Prints too Dark in CS5 But Not in Other apps
            napbump Community Member

            Try "let printer manage colors."

            • 3. Re: Prints too Dark in CS5 But Not in Other apps
              Joe@Moomtaj Community Member

              Thank you.  Espon driver check indicated it was up to date, but I did not consider a corrupted profile.... I reinstalled the driver and basic ICC profiles. Initially it had no impact. I had to switch to a different profile and go back to the one matching the paper in order for the updated one to “catch”. Did not know that profiles are cached.

              Now soft proofing indeed shows a darker image.  Cranking up brightness to 35(!) produces a good proof image and the print matches the monitor image. 

               

              I guess I’ll need to add this to the workflow or adjust the printer profile.  I’d appreciate any advice about managing the workflow.

              • 4. Re: Prints too Dark in CS5 But Not in Other apps
                Joe@Moomtaj Community Member

                CS5 does not let me print using the printer color management engine.  I set Printer Manages Colors and turn on ICM in the printer settings dialog box.  When I close the dialog box the color handling is changed back to Photoshop Manages Colors and the ICM in the printer settings dialog  box is set to "off (no color adjustment)". Used to work fine in CS3.

                • 5. Re: Prints too Dark in CS5 But Not in Other apps
                  JJMack Community Member

                  You may be getting double profiled.  You need to set let Photoshop manage colors and go into the printer setting and  set no color management

                  PrintSetting.jpg

                  • 6. Re: Prints too Dark in CS5 But Not in Other apps
                    Joe@Moomtaj Community Member

                    Thanks for the quick response.  ICM is turned off. In fact, I cannot turn it on in the Print Settings even if I want to, as I described above.  Now that I can get the print to match the soft proof image and subsequently to original, I think that my color management setting is OK.  Before I am ready to print I will need to use the soft proof image to boost brightness.  But there should be an easier way to have the printer/paper profile  apply the needed boost automatically.  Or am I missing something?

                    • 7. Re: Prints too Dark in CS5 But Not in Other apps
                      JJMack Community Member

                      Look at the above image is "O Off (No color adjustment)" set in the device driiver setting from the CS5 Print dialog

                      offNoColor.jpg

                      Often when things print to dark in Photoshop its because the images is too dark but looks OK in Photoshop because the Displays brightness is set to bright.

                      • 8. Re: Prints too Dark in CS5 But Not in Other apps
                        dbletap_ed Community Member

                        I have the same issue when CS5 controls the colors. However, if I let the printer control the colors it looks fine. I have followed the help screens and everything above and have about given up on letting CS5 control printing.

                        • 9. Re: Prints too Dark in CS5 But Not in Other apps
                          Joe@Moomtaj Community Member

                          Thank you all.  The whole point about color management is to be able to manage it from CS5, especially when you use different media and want better control over colors. If you want to soft proof before printing, you need CS5 to apply the correct paper profile. I agree that for general purpose printing the printer driver is fine.

                           

                          It appears that the Epson profiles were corrupted, not installed properly, or something. Once I reinstalled and forced CS5 to reload them, everything seems to be working correctly.  More testing to come...

                           

                          I reported earlier that I was not able to use “Printer manages colors” from CS5 even when I wanted to because it was always reset to “Photoshop manages colors”. It’s a different topic and I’ll start a new thread.

                           

                          Thanks again.

                          • 10. Re: Prints too Dark in CS5 But Not in Other apps
                            napbump Community Member

                            The tech guys (uber smart guys) at Orange Coast College Photography

                            department use CS5 to manage color with Epsons. They use the printer to do

                            that with canon printers. That is what works well there. You may be correct

                            about a bad driver/profile for your Epson.

                            I have a Canon and when the prints do not look as they should, I need to

                            clean out the jets with the maintenance function. Maybe it applies to your

                            problem? I have now reached my competence level and am not giving more hints

                            for fear of causing great damage to my ego and your machine.

                            • 11. Re: Prints too Dark in CS5 But Not in Other apps
                              MarcusWard1970 Community Member

                              Not sure if this helps!

                               

                              Had a similar problem with an older Epson printer (can’t remember the model number!) Basically, I found the color depth would vary if the printer had been switch on and not used for long periods, typically after several hours.

                              • 12. Re: Prints too Dark in CS5 But Not in Other apps
                                Joe@Moomtaj Community Member

                                napbump, Marcus: Thanks for the suggestions.  In my case the issue was not with the printer itself:  I could print from another Windows app with good results (within the limited color processing of the app).

                                The newly loaded profiles seem to have done the trick. I have not had a chance to do more thorough testing, but the few test prints of a color target seem to match the calibrated monitor and the original target.