I am using a PowerMac G4 running OS 10.4 and using Photoshop CS2. I have always had wonderful success printing with an Epson 1280. But what has now happened is that whenever I print to Premium Glossy Photo Paper, or some other papers(I haven’t tried all of them) I get a nasty magenta cast as if it was double profiling. My CS2 color settings are set to North American Prepress 2 and I set the printer profile in the Print with Preview dialog. If I let the printer determine colors or turn off color management in the print with preview dialog I get OK prints, but no matter what I do, when I let Photoshop determine colors I get the nasty results. Any idea what the problem is or how I can correct it? Like I say, I am doing everything just as I have for a long time and in the past always got wonderful results, but now it’s gone wacky.
Thanks for the reply Bruce. Judging from the link you posted there isn’t a fix other than to revert to CS2 9.0. That’s a major hassle. Since I originally bought version 2 I think it was, and upgrades from there I have to go back to a previous version if I am not mistaken and go through the series of upgrades. I think however that the version 7 upgrade I bought was actually a full install which didn’t require a previous version so I may have to only go back that far.
Are you the same Bruce Fraser that wrote those amazing Real World books? If so, thank you. I learned a TON from them when I first started working in Camera RAW. And if you are him, I also assume you are pretty close to the Adobe people. Is there an update in the works that will fix the CM problem? I can deal with using a colorsync workflow or printer controlled color method for printing for awhile if something will fix the problem soon rather than hassling re-installing I’d prefer to wait. But if it will be awhile I may have to bite the bullet and revert to CS2 Version 9.0
I updated to 10.4.7 today and still have the magenta cast problem. I can print fine a number of ways, but using CS2’s CM to an Epson 1280 with a stock paper profile doesn’t work. Maybe the new OS only fixes it if you upgrade to CS2 9.0.1 AFTER ungrading to 10.4.7?
Thanks for the links, unfortunately they didn’t help. I use the same color management set-up that gballerd talks about, and the same settings in the Epson dialog. All my settings are correct, I have been using them for a long time with no problem. I can’t say what may have changed, perhaps the update to CS2 9.0.1? But that was awhile back and I think I have printed since then. Maybe a recent OS X update> To 10.4.6 that is. I don’t know. Again, it acts like it is double profiling. Maybe the Epson print dialog is ignoring the "No Color Adjustments" radio button? But I trashed all the Epson stuff and re-installed and it made no difference. Besides, I can print using the same settings in the Epson print dialog with other applications with no problem. It’s only using Photoshop. Here’s a link to a screen cap if you want to see what it’s doing. I used the "Preview" button in the Epson print dialog to make the frame that shows the red cast. <http://www.pbase.com/sthuman/image/64354018>
I’m running 10.4.7, my monitor has a fresh (yesterday) calibrated profile (Spyder 2) I am using Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper and the profile for it that comes from Epson. Since the cast is visible in the preview it rules out a mechanical printer or paper problem.
I put some more screen caps up, this should show everything
One more thought. The Epson driver "Presets" often get corrupted or become non-sticky. Try selecting "Standard" and checking all other settings in the Epson driver manually, one by one.
Perhaps. But I trashed the entire Epson folder in Library>Printers and re-installed it from the Tiger install disk and reset the printing system and added all the printers in again and I still have the problem. I have been going through and deleting various Epson preference files, both in my user library and the root library but nothing has made a difference yet. I really think the problem is with Photoshop. I suppose I’ll have to trash and re-install the whole thing, but that’s a big hassle. Maybe I’ll phone Adobe and see if they are any help.
We are playing message tag. I posted the last one before yours came through. I already did what you suggested. I had several presets, but I only have that one now, which I set by starting from Standard and then saved.
Here’s another thing I tried. I also have a C60 printer (for general use stuff so I don’t put wear and tear on the more expensive 1280 for general junk). I did the same set-up in Photoshop, except choose the C60 in the appropriate places. I made a preview window by clicking the Preview button in the Epson dialog and got the same magents cast I did when set to use the 1280. If I am thinking right that pretty much rules out anything printer driver specific. So I am still on my thought of Photoshop itself being the culprit.
I made a preview window by clicking the Preview button in the Epson dialog
When you invoke the "Preview" from the Epson Driver you are in fact involving Apple’s non-color-managed Preview application. If you then print, then you are printing through Preview rather than Photoshop.
I would stay away from the "Preview" thing in the Epson driver.
What you see in Apple’s Preview or in Photoshop’s Print with Preview (the thumbnail in the Print with Preview dialog box) is NOT color managed. It’s there for placing purposes ONLY.
Yes, I was just using the preview button because it showed the same results as when I actually print. I don’t print from that preview window. I used the preview feature only to save paper and so I could do a capture and shw you what it was doing. Since it is giving me the same results as actual printing I figured I could stop using paper up like mad.
That’s the same thread Bruce Fraser posted right after my original post. Reading that entire thread is where I came to the conclusion that the real fix is to revert to version 9.0
I know this is probably silly … but did you do a nozzle test? You probably did but I didn’t see it mentioned. Sometimes (with me) its the simple things… George
I didn’t mention it because he says he can print fine from other, non-color managed applications, which would rule out a clogged nozzle. Also a clogged nozzle would have zero effect on soft proofing.
George, Thanks for the suggestion. It would be wonderful if someone posted a simple overlooked answer, but unfortunately that’s not it. I can print fine if I let the Espon driver manage color, just not Photoshop. Since my Colorsync Utility doesn’t work right (No Preferences tab) I think G Ballards idea that the operating system is the problem is the next avenue I’ll look into.
Gary, Thanks, I’ll see what I can do. Unless I delete some back-ups I don’t have room for another volume install, despite having 5 large hard drives. (Having 100,000 digital photos uses up a lot of space) I’ll probably delete one back-up set on one drive and install a system on that drive. Then I may try picking and choosing files to exchange on my normal system to fix the color sync problem and printing problem. I sure wish a re-install of the OS was easier. Since the OS has been upgraded since installing from the Tiger disk, it won’t let me re-install saying a newer system is installed. And with as much extra stuff as I have an archive and install isn’t a very good option either.
You can do an "Archive and Install" of the OS over your current install, regardless of what version is installed.
If you are short on hard drive space, that may be the problem that is corrupting your OS. Once a drive is 85% full you are in trouble. Figure on 30GB to 50GB for a scratch disk, and make sure you have 20% of the drive free after that.
Yes, but an archive and install doesn’t put all my other crap in the new system. And I have lots. I did it once before and it took me forever to get everything back to normal.
I do have enough free space on the drives, though not near as much as your suggestion for a scratch disk. But if I install a new system on any of them I will drop below the 85% figure.
I don’t think so. Doesn’t "Archive and Install" create an "Old System" folder with all the third party stuff in it and not copy or place any of that third party stuff in the new system? I’m not talking the stuff in my user folder, but the extensions and files needed by other programs that reside in the Library or System folders at root level of a disk. I’m 99% sure that’s how it works. Did they change it recently (in Tiger in other words)?
The old system is just that the old system Except for one or two things maybe, everything is moved to the new system. It has been this way since Jaguar.
My point was to Erase and lay down a new OS…takes less than an hour, and if that’s not it that’s all you lost, but if it is it, then you’re back to work.
PS
[I] have a hard time trusting something I have to install over, but you may get lucky.
Yes, I understood that. Installing an OS on another volume and installing and testing Photoshop on it will no doubt work just fine. But I will still face the problem of either doing an archive and install or re-installing all the other software that installs extensions and components in the system and reconfiguring everything. And it’s a lot. If all I used this computer for was Photoshop it would be easy, but unfortunately I use it for a lot of other stuff too.
I am not too comfortable installing over what I have either. Though a couple have said an archive and install moves everything from the old system to the new, I am still not so sure. Hence why I want to try to do a pick and choose approach to repairing the existing OS. So probably what I will do is install an OS on another drive and replace pieces in the old system until I find the problem file. And hey, I’ll learn which file was the cause of my problem.
Are you sure of that? It’s been a long time since I did an archive and install, but when I did it simply made the old system into a folder, and made a whole new system that used the existing user folders and all the existing settings. But any third party stuff I had installed was left in the "Old System" folder, which meant moving it all to the new system. The problem is there are thousands of files to be moved.
I hope you have already backed up and moved your data files to other disks where they belong.
I see the options as you can either start from scratch now and be done with it or keep dinking around with it in the hopes of getting lucky (and be worse off at the end of the day, or end of the week).
If the install is toasted, what’s to lose with an Archive install (except time)?
Archive and install gives you a fresh system takes about 45 minutes and you are up and running. It is much faster that a clean install. But if you have half a day to waste do the clean install. then you have to install all your apps and depending on the the speed of your box could even take all day.
a full Erase, install everything from scratch is hardly a waste of time here — in fact, it is usually an opportunity — and the straightest line at the end of the day
if you’re paying someone to dink around with a sour install, I hope s/he is charging hourly 😉
