printing problems

[sandancer]

Hi guys,i have been lurking around this forum for a while now and most impressed by the pics. and also the advice i`ve utilised,but now i have a problem with home printing ----someone must have come across before
I just purchased the Olympus e510 twin lens kit with the fl36 flash unit and have, generally speaking been very pleased with the iq of this setup but when I print out at home (Epson CX6600) the majority of prints are quite dark.
Pictures usually look fine on the camera back and on my lcd monitor but are too dark when printed out through my computer.
Is there a simple strategy so that what you see is what you get without having to print multiple copies and constantly adjusting levels

[dazza74]

I spent quite a while looking into this whole subject and these are my conclusions and the processes I use for my printing. One of the first things I read was to reduce the brightness of your monitor I run mine at around 30% brightness. Not cheap but maybe invest in a colour calibrator for your monitor I've the got the eyeone display 2. Not sure whether you have this option but if you have when it comes to printing I always let photoshop manage the colours and turn off all colour management at the printer end.

[Biscuit761]

Printing is the bane of my life, why use one bit of paper when you can try 5 times and still not get it right !

Its all about profiles - people write books just on those !

Bill

[baldrick]

The optimum is full colour calibration of your whole system. I've got the Huey Pro for my screen but I'm undecided whether to get some kind of printer calibration. X-Rite make a package that includes a colour reference card and a calibration software the idea being that you scan the card and the software can create a profile for your scanner. You then print a copy of the card, scan it into the calibrated scanner and the software can then build a profile for your printer.

The only glitch here is that the process is dependent on the accuracy of your scanner....

I am tempted by this as a lot of my prints have a magenta tinge. That said I really need to take the time to ensure I've got the latest drivers etc...

[dazza74]

Originally Posted by baldrick

The optimum is full colour calibration of your whole system. I've got the Huey Pro for my screen but I'm undecided whether to get some kind of printer calibration. X-Rite make a package that includes a colour reference card and a calibration software the idea being that you scan the card and the software can create a profile for your scanner. You then print a copy of the card, scan it into the calibrated scanner and the software can then build a profile for your printer.

The only glitch here is that the process is dependent on the accuracy of your scanner....

I am tempted by this as a lot of my prints have a magenta tinge. That said I really need to take the time to ensure I've got the latest drivers etc...

I'd personally find a company that provides custom Icc profiles and get them to do it. I think you just printout a couple of test pages on your printer send it back to them and for around £20 they'll generate an icc profile.