Dark Prints from Epson R800

[david_williams11]

Hello,

 

I've been doing some printing on my R800 and I am getting very dark

prints compared to the proof views on screen. My system is

calibrated, and the colors on the print are accurate, it's just that

everything is dark. I let Photoshop take care of the color

management and I have CM turned off in the printer driver. I'm

pretty sure everything is set up properly with respect to sending the

image from Photoshop to the printer. I have been using the profiles

provided by Epson but have also tried a custom profile - still dark.

 

My monitor is calibrated to G2.2 6500 K with Colorvision Optical.

I've looked at my prints under daylight, light bulb and 5000K light

and still dark.

 

I am confused. Has anyone else had this experience?

[john_dingelstad2]

David,

 

Unfortunately I can't answer your questions but as an owner of the same printer I'll be interested if others can. It could be useful to know whether you use the "print with preview" option in PS and whether you selected the correct profile in the color management section. In addition, which paper type do you use?

 

Myself, I'm quite satisfied with the profile for Epson Premium Glossy Paper (although Epson doesn't deliver them with their printers in Europe and one has to download them selves). On the other hand the results I have with Epson's Matte Heavyweight are quit bad. I'll loose lot of detail in the black and greens. Like to know whether this could be solved with a custom printer profile or whether the R800 is indeed not that good on Matte papers as Dry Creek Photo mentions. I appreciate any comments on this as well feedback on using Lustre type of papers.

 

John

[christopher_newkumet]

I, too, have been getting dark prints from my R800... At first I thought it was due to a poorly calibrated monitor -- at the time I compensated simply by boosting the brightness of an image file just prior to printing. But last week I calibrated my LaCie monitor with the Eye1 Display system. While balancing the color, that also seemed to boost the brightness of the monitor even more. As a result, the prints still are too dark, sometimes by a lot. I've been meaning to take another shot at calibrating (perhaps I did something wrong) but haven't gotten around to it. Sorry I don't have an answer for you, David, but we seem to be dealing with the same issue.

[don giles]

I have found if you choose perceptual printing intent with black point compensation turned off gives the best results. Let me know if that helps..

 

Don