Epson R2400 producing dark muddy prints.

[eddieobryan]

I've had this printer for a couple years now, and I've had much success printing

with it in the past. Now, for whatever reason, the prints I'm producing are

consistently dark, and I cannot figure out why this could possibly be happening.

 

I've searched extensively throughout the photo.net forums, and there are many

posts from people with this exact problem. I've gone through every single one

of them, trying all the suggested remedies, and I still can't get past this problem.

 

My monitor is regularly calibrated (Eye-One Display 2), my working space is

Adobe RGB (1998). When printing with "Print with Preview", I let Photoshop

determine colors, I choose the appropriate printer profile (downloaded from

Epson's site) for the paper that I'm using. I'm always very careful not to

apply two profiles, by going into the printer's advanced settings and checking

ICM/No color adjustment.

 

By going through the various posts from people with the same problem, I

consistently check all the common variables that are repeatedly mentioned, and

still, no success.

 

Is there something that I'm unaware of? Some unforeseen variable?

 

In the past I've used Hahnemuhle paper, but until this problem is solved, I've

switched to testing with Epson's Premium Presentation Paper (Matte). I know

that one should test on the paper thats going to be used in the end, but in this

case, regardless of the paper I use, the results are consistently the same:

muddled. The shadows and highlights are entirely too dark.

 

My uneducated opinion, from looking at the consistently bad results from these

prints, is that perhaps two profiles are still being applied, despite my making

sure that that isn't the case.

 

Any help would be tremendously appreciated!

Eddie O'Bryan

http://www.eddieobryan.com

[William Kahn]

It looks like you have the proper workflow set up. I doubt that you have two profiles active at the same time. Here are some things you can check:

 

The paper selection in the printer dialog should match the profile selection in Print Preview.

 

Are you using Matte Black or Photo Black ink? If Matte Black, the profile you select in Print Preview should have the "MK" suffix, "PK" for Photo Black.

 

In PS, look in Edit>Color Settings and make sure that "North American Prepress 2" is selected.

 

Unininstall/Reinstall your printer driver.

 

I assume you've run the head cleaning/alignment routines.

 

Have you recently changed to third-party inks?

 

Those are all the easy fixes I can think of......

[eddieobryan]

William,

 

Thanks for the response! I went down the list of the things you helpfully presented, assuring each one was what it was supposed to be. After doing that, I also tried uninstalling the printer completely, and reinstalling it from scratch. The print problem still remains.

 

You assume correct -- I've done all the head cleaning and alignment routines. And no third party inks; I'm still using the standard inks for a R2400.

 

I'm not sure if this particular bit of information might be relevant, but upon closer examination of the bad prints, under very bright light, I've noticed strange discolorations in the shadows. On some prints, they look practically neon green. In other prints, the darkest part of the shadows looks pure blue. The effect is almost psychedelic, albeit very subtle.

 

Thanks again for the response!

[eric friedemann]

I occasionally get the same muddy results when I select settings to let my printer determine colors, but inadvertently choose to let Photoshop determine colors. Out of curiousity, have you tried allowing the other route of letting the printer determine the colors?

 

 

Here's a primer on setting up to print with Epson K3-ink printers and CS3 by John Paul Caponigro:

 

 

http://www.johnpaulcaponigro.com/lib/downloads/technique/NavigatingtheepsondriverCS3.pdf

[eric friedemann]

Here's what I was looking for, Caponigro suggests the too dark/too green problem is a result of no color management being applied in printing:

 

 

http://www.johnpaulcaponigro.com/lib/downloads/technique/DoubleorNothingCS3.pdf

[eddieobryan]

Eric,

 

Thanks for the reply. Interesting article. I read it top to bottom, then reversed everything like suggested, letting the printer dictate the profile instead of Photoshop. The results were the same.

 

I just tried printing using Quadtone RIP, with the same results. Muddy tones, dark, just overall poor looking.

 

I'm beginning to think that either my printer has 'gone bad', or has become possessed by demons. Perhaps burning some sage is in order!

[thirteenthumbs]

I'm on a P4 Pc, Win.XP, CS2, R2400, C66. Print with preview and preview selected in the printer settings all looked as it should until Print and the printer preview came up-maginta was cyan and cyan was cyan and print with any type of paper was true to the printer preview. I have Photoshop 7 installed on the same machine and the prints were true to the Photoshop image. <br>I tried control panel>add remove programs>CS2 repair/remove>repair but no help. I uninstalled CS2, manually deleted the CS2 folder in program files, defragmented the HD then wiped the free space and reinstalled CS2 and now prints look as they should on the R2400 via CS2. I suspect the problem to be in Photoshop caused by Windows update, Defender, or Kaspersky internet security inadvertently corrupting a file somewhere.

[custom film holders for fl]

How old are your inks? You can see when they were manufactured by going into the Epson printer dialog. I found I had some really old carts in my machine and was getting very odd results with color shifts. The color shift problem went away after I changed out a few carts that were old AND had been in the printer long after the 6 months rating. I don't know if there is a shelf life for unopened carts too. Just a thought for something you might want to check.

[eddieobryan]

Morning Doug,

 

After checking the date of all the cartridges, they all fall within the six month mark. None of them are too old.

[eddieobryan]

Charles Monday,

 

I thought to try the same thing. Because I'm absolutely positive that my workflow isn't the problem, I figured Photoshop must be the culprit, perhaps something went corrupt or was replaced. So I did a clean uninstall, rebooted, and reinstalled from scratch (both Photoshop and the Epson printer driver), still no luck.

 

After that didn't work, I tried using Quadtone RIP, because it prints outside of Photoshop and doesn't rely on the program. Still the same results.

[William Kahn]

It's beginning to sound like something has gone haywire with the printer. Have you tried Epson's customer support yet?

 

Oh, and burning sage is always in order. :-)

 

Good luck.....

[jan_tuma]

I had a similar problem with my R2400. After a period of consistent results my printer suddently produced prints too dark. Nothing seemed to help. Finally, I decided to invest in Eye-One Photo and build my own ICC profile for my printer/paper combination - problem solved.

[eddieobryan]

William, I am beginning to think you're probably right. I haven't spoken to Epson yet, as I'd imagine theres probably a better chance of me getting a professional educated opinion through these boards than through Epson's generic technical support. I just can't imagine what they'd suggest for me to try that I haven't tried already.

 

I'll burn some sage tonight. I've been trying to contact my printer via ouija board, no response yet. I did talk to my dead grandmother though, that was a surprise! (just kidding)

 

Jan, while I have all the equipment needed in order to make custom ICC profiles for myself, it still really bothers me that a printer could go from perfect to awful for no reason whatsoever. No changes in any hardware or software. Since I'm not solving the problem, just working around it, theres no guarantee that it wouldn't just happen again after I've spent all the time to make custom profiles.

[eric friedemann]

Eddie, if you're out of warranty, Epson generally has a steep charge for customer service. However, I recently called about another printing issue that wasn't my fault. The Epson lady was able to help me and didn't charge me.

 

 

Speaking of that, another thing you might try is printing through, say, Windows Picture and Fax Viewer- if your on a PC. That might help to further isolate the problem.

[al_davalle]

Eddie

 

I have seen your posts regarding the problems you have been having printing out of CS3. I am having identical issues. Have you found the fix??? I hope so as I am at the end of my rope on this. I have tried and talked to everthing and everyone I can think of.

 

Al

[DavidRabinowitz]

Eddie, just saw your post...i have the same problem with my Epson 2400...perhaps not as bad but the blacks aren't rich and are too dark when I print on matte paper...i have better results with luster finish...this happened after about 1 year...i've called technical support but their not so knowledgeable...maybe Epson should address this problem...