Epson 2200 problems!

AG
Posted By
Audrey_Gardner
Jul 23, 2004
Views
252
Replies
10
Status
Closed
I am running Elements on Mac G5 and G4, both running OS X.3+ (maybe .4?). I’ve been shooting with a Nikon D100, using the Nikon Adobe RGB. I was printing successfully at first, using Epson paper, but now everything is GREEN! Beginner’s luck? I set up perfectly good profiles that worked fine, both in the printer and for the monitor. The monitor is still good — but prints look awful. I’ve tried every possible color management combination, cleaned heads, checked ink levels — what is UP with this? Any ideas??

thanks,

Audrey
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ML
Mark_Levesque
Jul 24, 2004
Could you possibly be applying color management twice? When you elements, you should have color management turned on. When you print, you should use a profile for the printer and paper combination which you are using. When you get to the printer driver itself, you want to select no color management. If you have the printer driver manage color, it will be managing an already managed color profile, which can lead to some hideous color casts.
RW
Robert_Wagner
Jul 26, 2004
Hi Mark:

I’ve been having a similar problem with my Epson 900N, so your response was intriguing. But I didn’t quite understand what you meant by ‘When you get to the printer driver itself," I finally realized (I think) is this: In the Print Preview dialog, select Color Management, but have Print Space set to "Same as Source."

Did I get that right? (It certainly has reduce the excess greenness, though it still prints a LITTLE bit greener than when printer from Apple’s Preview.

BTW: Are you the Mark Levesque from Portland and Silver City? If so, how’re you doing?

TIA >> Robert
ML
Mark_Levesque
Jul 27, 2004
Well, I’m not really sure how things work with Macs, but on a windows machine, when you go to print there is a first dialogue box in which you make your PE print parameter selections. After you tell it to print, control is shifted to the Epson printer driver, where there additional selections you can make (like choosing paper, DPI, and color management. When you get to the Epson driver, you need to make sure it is not trying to manage the color for you in the driver itself.

And no, I’m from the northeast. 🙂
RW
Robert_Wagner
Jul 27, 2004
Yes, it’s (pretty much) the same on the Mac.

Now the question is: How to set it up so that the "double profiling" doesn’t occur automatically. The Epson printer driver dialog (i.e., the second dialog) always defaults to "Color Management" set to "Color Controls:Photo-realistic" (with sliders, all set at their midpoint, for changing colors, brightness contrast, and saturation). That being the case, is it supposedly equivalent to leave that, but select the option in the PE dialog which DOES NOT apply color management? And, is that option the one labelled "Same As Source"?

Finally, I’m also confused about what profile to choose when I OPEN an image. Usually I get the following dialog:
——— (Text from dialog box) ———
The document XYZ.JPG has an embedded color profile that does not match the current RGB working space.

Embedded: Generic RGB profile
Working: Adobe RGB (1998)

How do you want to proceed?
O Use the embedded profile (instead of the working space) O Convert the document’s colors to the working space
O Discard the embedded profile (don’t color manage)
——— (End of text from dialog box)————-
Which should I choose?
Does the choice affect the displayed image, printer result, or both?

TIA , Mark (or whoever responds). If the answer to any of these questions are in a FAQ file or user manual somewhere, please point me to same.

Robert
AG
Audrey_Gardner
Jul 27, 2004
I tried all of the above: couldn’t change my embedded profile (Nikon Adobe RGB in RAW files) and tried "same as source," turning off all color management in the Epson.

However, and this is a fix unique to the Mac, I did finally find a driver for OS 10.2 and above (I have 10.3.4, and a lot of drivers haven’t been re-written just yet for it). I downloaded and installed it, and my color results have improved. I still, however, don’t have quite the vivid results or color dynamic range that I had before, and my results still do not match my (well-calibrated) monitor like they did before. I’m planning on trying another type of Epson paper before I give up completely.

Of note is that I called the Epson support people, and they couldn’t tell me anything that I’d not already tried, saying "it’s not the printer." Yet I’ve seen on other listserves that the Epson doesn’t take kindly, for example, to being left on all the time, nor to hot weather (I live in Los Angeles with NO air conditioning). Short of replacing ALL my ink cartridges (which is a possible future step) I’m not sure what else to do.

I am planning to take my files into my digital store (the camera store where we bought both the Nikon and the printer) and asking them to print on their Epson — they do this all the time for demo purposes. Results should be interesting!

Thanks for the reply, Mark. We’re a relatively new Mac household, and I’m finding just how fundamental the differences between the Mac and XP are!

Robert, my Adobe (Elements) does not give me the option of changing the document’s colors to working space — but it should be OK to have working space "same as source." That’s why this problem has been so frustrating, since matching working space, source, and turning off all printer management should have given me the results I’m looking for!

Try the new driver; it’s on the Epson site and mine was specific to Mac and to the 2200. Good luck!

Audrey
R
RobertHJones
Jul 27, 2004
Audrey,

Don’t replace your ink cartridges just yet. The main problem with leaving your Epson all all the time is that the print head is exposed and the nozzles can dry out and get plugged. When it’s turned off, the head parks on a landing pad where the heads are covered thus minimizing the problem. You can use the Epson nozzle check tool to verify whether or not you have a plugged nozzle. Since you already cleaned the nozzles, this probably isn’t the problem though. Inks can go bad when very old but if you are using your printer regularly I doubt that’s the problem either.

If your monitor is calibrated (and you said it was) and the image looks correct on the monitor, you should be able to get pretty close to that when you print. If you can’t the problem has to be related to the printing process. Mark’s recommendations are sound.

I would not use "same as source" for the printing profile. Some people get perfectly satisfactory results that way though. Selecting that will effectively turn of Elements processing of the profiles. If your printer driver color management is also off, you have no color management processing at all. This option is usually used if printing an image that has already been converted for print (not likely with Elements) or if you are printing color swatches for use in a printer calibration process. It isn’t intended for normal use. If you have established a profile for your specific printer and paper combination you should use that.

When you click the print button, you should get a print dialog box where you can specify the printer. Click on the properties button to examine or change the printer driver options. Epson drivers usually have a "custom" mode, select that and click the advanced button to set color management settings. If your driver doesn’t have this, look for something similar that will let you set the color management options. There should be a selection under color management that says something like "no color adjustments". select that and save the settings. Print driver color management should now be off.

If your selected printing profile is correct, you should get decent prints.

If you haven’t looked at Ian Lyons site, you probably should: http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps7_print/ps7_print_mac.htm He wrote this for photoshop but much is directly applicable to Elements.

Bob
ML
Mark_Levesque
Jul 28, 2004
Robert-

I’d choose "convert the profile to the working space". This way you are always working with the same color profile.

Audrey-

You should definitely turn the Epson off when you aren’t actually printing since it likely has piezo electric print heads. They have extra small tubes, which have a tendency to close up with dried ink. It’s the one real aggravation of my 785 EPX. When you turn off the printer, it "parks" the heads as described by Bob, mitigating the dried ink problem.

Almost always, clogged nozzles can be diagnosed by looking at the prints (but confirmed by the utility.) If your prints look good except for a color cast, it’s almost always a software issue.
AG
Audrey_Gardner
Jul 28, 2004
Unfortunately, my "day job" has kept me too busy to sit down and work this out. I’ve pretty much ruled out the mechanical. The new driver has taken that "color management" pull-down out — there’s "ColorSync" but that’s either "standard" or "full custom" which takes it totally down to the numbers. I’m certainly not ready for that!

I’ll not have time to work on this, probably, until about Friday morning. I’m going to try with different paper, too, on the off chance that I have a bad batch. Somehow the prints are "muddy" and that can be paper that’s bad, at least in conventional printing.

thanks, and I’ll look up that site!

Audrey
ML
Mark_Levesque
Jul 29, 2004
I’d bet you want to go "full custom" as you should have the option to select "no color adjustment" as one of the options. On the 785 EPX driver, you have to select "advanced" to get there. You most definitely don’t want automatic.
AG
Audrey_Gardner
Jul 29, 2004
well, what I’ve done is to check the "custom," making sure that each level is set at "0" (from my reading this means NO change to working profile.

Still haven’t had a chance to try with other paper, but maybe Friday!

Thanks for helping me sort this one out, Mark,

Audrey

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