Posted by Howard Cihak on October 6, 2010 at 4:49 AM
I've been suffering through too dense prints on my Epson SP2200 (XP + CS4). I've paid for a custom profile, to no avail. I've just about concluded the problem is my monitor.
So, my question is ... which make/model of LCD monitor(s) have you had success with while printing on your own desktop printers?
Posted by John Mumaw on October 6, 2010 at 7:20 AM
Are you sure it's your monitor? I seem to recall that you were making succesful prints using your current monitor with an earlier version of PS.
One way to help pinpoint the problem is to have a print made at a commercial printer (e.g. Mpix).
Posted by Dan Baumbach on October 6, 2010 at 8:09 AM
I had the same problem when I switch to an LCD monitor. I changed my monitor calibration software to Eye One and that helped a lot. LCD monitors tend to be too bright.
- Dan.
Posted by Keith Bauer on October 6, 2010 at 11:38 AM
Hi Howard: You didn't mention if your current monitor is calibrated. That is a critical first step in a color managed workflow. If it is calibrated, what is the luminance target value? Dan is absolutely correct. LCD's monitors are WAY to bright out of the box and without proper calibration you don't stand a chance of getting prints that match.
Posted by Howard Cihak on October 6, 2010 at 12:38 PM
O.K., in reply ...
John, you're right. The problem didn't come up until I switched to CS4 for my 5D2, but it is present on two different LCD monitors, both of which had been calibrated. The real problem (I suspect) is CS4, but I don't know how else to deal with it.
Dan and Keith, I scrupulously calibrated my existing monitor and also tried out another monitor.
Frankly, guys, I'm at wits end. I may try Mpix for a test print, but that doesn't really address my problem. Yeah, I know Mpix and the like are actually cheaper than printing yourself, but I really enjoy the print production process. I guess it's all those years I spent in a darkroom. bad habits die hard.
You could be calibrating your monitor and not calibrate it to the correct settings. In particular the luminance setting you choose will depend on how bright the illumination of your print is. I highly recommend starting with what we call the "white paper" test. Open a blank image in Photoshop (with a white background) and hold up a sheet of your printing paper. If the white of the screen does not match the white of the paper, you will not have success getting the actual monitor image to match the print.
Posted by Howard Cihak on October 6, 2010 at 2:28 PM
Patrick, allow me to restate. I was able to produce excellent prints with the same monitor and same printer when using CS2. My problems began only after I upgraded to CS4. Frankly, I don't think it is the monitor, but I don't know what else to do after having a custom profile made and still encountering too dense prints.
The problem is mainly in CS4. It's been corrected in CS5. Monitors that are too bright also contribute to the problem however.
Posted by Keith Bauer on October 7, 2010 at 10:13 AM
The problem is mainly in CS4. It's been corrected in CS5. Monitors that are too bright also contribute to the problem however.
I'm not sure that what means. I've been through the last 6 versions of Photoshop and never had an issue with printing. The dialogs for printing have changed, but not the output from Photoshop (at least for me). I had and Epson 2200 in the mix along the way and it behaved just fine.
Posted by David Bostedo on October 7, 2010 at 10:26 AM
The problem is mainly in CS4. It's been corrected in CS5.
Care to expand on that Richard? I haven't heard of any issues with PS and printing except, I think, in certain versions of Snow Leopard on Macs.
Posted by Howard Cihak on October 7, 2010 at 12:08 PM
While I can't speak authoritatively about a problem with CS4, I can say this.
I got great prints from my 2200 printer using CS2. Only when I upgraded to CS4 did I start having problems. All my equipment was the same. My monitor was calibrated. My workflow (in writing) remained the same. I even borrowed another LCD monitor, calibrated it, and had exactly the same problem.
The only thing that was different was CS4. What conclusions do you draw from that?
Posted by mark miller on October 7, 2010 at 3:02 PM
Great idea about matching the paper white to the monitor in CS4,
I also upgraded to CS4 and got a LCD monitor which I've cranked way down so the calibrations are just about right. Still, my prints are too dark also, for which I have no answer, expept maybe by finding the right brightness setting under color management that can yield prints the way you like them, and then saving this as a custom function.
How about trying this: Take some of the older image files that yielded great prints with the older system. If they have not been since altered, open them in CS4 and see how they look. If possible, check them out on each monitor and compare, ie one variable at a time. Do they look too light or just right? Don't adjust anything, and then print them. Still too dark?
This might yield some clues.
I
Discussion
11 repliesSo, my question is ... which make/model of LCD monitor(s) have you had success with while printing on your own desktop printers?
One way to help pinpoint the problem is to have a print made at a commercial printer (e.g. Mpix).
- Dan.
John, you're right. The problem didn't come up until I switched to CS4 for my 5D2, but it is present on two different LCD monitors, both of which had been calibrated. The real problem (I suspect) is CS4, but I don't know how else to deal with it.
Dan and Keith, I scrupulously calibrated my existing monitor and also tried out another monitor.
Frankly, guys, I'm at wits end. I may try Mpix for a test print, but that doesn't really address my problem. Yeah, I know Mpix and the like are actually cheaper than printing yourself, but I really enjoy the print production process. I guess it's all those years I spent in a darkroom. bad habits die hard.
This issue has been so prevalent that we wrote a newsletter article on this a while ago:
http://www.colorwiki.com/wiki/My_Printer_Is_Too_Dark
Patrick Herold
Tech Support
www.chromix.com
Care to expand on that Richard? I haven't heard of any issues with PS and printing except, I think, in certain versions of Snow Leopard on Macs.
I got great prints from my 2200 printer using CS2. Only when I upgraded to CS4 did I start having problems. All my equipment was the same. My monitor was calibrated. My workflow (in writing) remained the same. I even borrowed another LCD monitor, calibrated it, and had exactly the same problem.
The only thing that was different was CS4. What conclusions do you draw from that?
I also upgraded to CS4 and got a LCD monitor which I've cranked way down so the calibrations are just about right. Still, my prints are too dark also, for which I have no answer, expept maybe by finding the right brightness setting under color management that can yield prints the way you like them, and then saving this as a custom function.
How about trying this: Take some of the older image files that yielded great prints with the older system. If they have not been since altered, open them in CS4 and see how they look. If possible, check them out on each monitor and compare, ie one variable at a time. Do they look too light or just right? Don't adjust anything, and then print them. Still too dark?
This might yield some clues.
I