Hello. First post!

I'm having calibration troubles and am desperate for help. I'll try and keep this as brief as possible while at the same time giving you helpful folks as much info as I can.

I'm trying to resurrect my sleeping Epson 2200 and I did the following:

1: Bought the Color Vision PrintFIXPRO Suite which includes a Datacolor 1005 Spectrocolormeter and a Spyder2 Colormeter.

2: Used the Spyder to calibrate my new Apple 20 Cinema HD

3: Printed out a target test print via the Spectorcolormeter software and created a profile for the 2200

4: Opened a photo in Adobe RGB 1998, turned on softproofing for my new profile and adjusted my image to look like what I wanted

5: Printed it with the latest Gutenprint (what use to be GIMP) driver (I use this because the my Epson driver seems to messed up and I can't download a new one from Epson's site for some reason.) I've double checked that I'm not "double correcting" and that I have all the settings right.

6: Got a crap print out of my printer

Below are a series of image that represent what I'm seeing. Any thoughts on what might be going on?? I ran out a sample image via the calibration software when I was done creating the profile and it looked very close to the screen. Is something going on in Photoshop??



Thanks so much for any help you can provide.

Best.
/G

Did you set Gutenprint to "Uncorrected" ?

The Gutenprint UI is very very confusing, in most modes it seems to do some color processing of its own.

Edmund

I'm sorry, where would I do this. I don't recall seeing this option (which means I probably didn't).

Thanks!
/G

What happens when you do not correct your softproof to match your unsoft-proofed screen image, and then print?

It looks like you are applying corrections twice.

I also have never seen colours shift that much from my regular screen image to my softproofed image in PS with my 2200.

Richard

If I just print it without correcting for the softproof view it still looks off. It looks different than the corrected view and still far from close.

I can't see where I'd be applying corrections twice. I've got the Color Management option set to "No Color Adjustment" when I print with the Epson driver.

Here's another piece to the puzzel. I tried printing out images to the 2200 from a variety of applications with a variety of settings. They all produced horrible results. I also tried printing from PS without any color correction (ie. "let printer determine colors). Terrible. Could it be that the printer is just fried. I bought it when they first came out.... like 4-5 years ago. I have the latest driver, 4.5. What else could it be?

I spent 7 hours yesterday fooling with it. My time is money and I've already spent a new R2400 on this :-)

Thanks again.
/G

Please open a support ticket for this on the ColorVision web site, and we can go over your procedure (including having a look at your measurement values, to make sure that something isn't going wrong there). That's the proper place to ask for help...! :-)


Best regards,

David Miller
Senior Software Developer, Digital Color Solutions
ColorVision

You do understand that if you print the chart with the Epson driver then you will have to print the images with the Epson driver, if you print the chart with Gutenprint, you will have to print the images with Gutenprint ? The profiles "describe" the driver you use.


Also, there is a simple procedure to debug the 2200, before playing with exotic options like Gutenprint, and I am surprised no one has indicated it to you, before you chose to come to this forum:

1. Download and reinstall the latest Epson drivers cleanly. Phone Epson tech support if you don't know how to do this.
2. Use the Epson utility to check the Nozzles.
3. Clean the nozzles until step 2 above indicates the printer is printing clean.
4. Load known Epson media.
5. Print an image via the Epson driver to check that it actually works ok with the Epson-supplied profiles. The Epson profiles work, they're just not as good as custom profiles.

Custom Profiling is only of use if steps 1-5 work.

Last, not least, most of those who come here have paid money to a printer manufacturer, and to a profile tool vendor, but they then expect other users of this forum or the color consultants who participate here to solve their problems for them. This is the wrong attitude.

You consult the printer vendor tech-support first, and/or the color-management dealer or manufacturer, that's what they have got paid for when you bought their product, and as the post by David Miller above indicates they take their responsibilities seriously.

Edmund

Done. Thanks!

BTW... I really think my problems stem from my Epson 2200 being fried. I tried a variety of printing behaviors/processes (including the Epson driver workflow that Eronald mentioned) with more or less the same results. Even with color management turned off or printing a color file from Preview or Word gives me crap prints.

Thanks for your help.
/G

You're welcome!

Just out of curiosity, did you do a nozzle check, etc. to make sure that everything is firing correctly?