Pixma Pro's with iMac & LR 4.2

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schlotz
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p.1 #1 · Pixma Pro's with iMac & LR 4.2

I'm converting to the mac environment & I'm in the process of updating my old epson 2400 with a canon pro-series printer. Being new to mac, I'm a bit concerned in that under windows I could control the epson driver determining whether to use ICM or not, adjust the paper profile, quality etc.... Of course in windows I was using Qimage which unfortunately isn't available for the mac. Looking at LR on the mac I haven't found where to control the canon print in the same way (currently have a all-in-one 8120 wireless that is generally used for other type of printing that I'm testing canon's print control functionality). From within LR, you basically can either select having the printer control things or pick one of the profiles which are named so poorly it's nearly impossible to be sure which profile. Having not used LR (win ver) Print module before it appears a possible kludge would be to export a ready to print file from LR and manually print it after setting the defaults correctly on the printer from the the OS

Questions for anyone currently printing with Canon equipment on a mac:

1. Are you using LR for print output? If so, can you describe your print flow control ie, how do you set the profile, quality etc in the canon driver to ensure your output on a color managed system?

2. If not using LR to print, what software are you using and how do you manage the canon driver with it?

Matt

Jan 03, 2013 at 03:32 PM

colinm
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p.1 #2 · Pixma Pro's with iMac & LR 4.2

Canon doesn't give two shakes about the lower-end printers and makes color managed printing a nightmare with them. It will all be much clearer when you have a Pro-1/10/100 in front of you with helpfully-named profiles and a driver intended to be used in that way.

Basically, in your current situation, you'll probably have a half dozen profiles, named helpful things like "PR2" and "SG3". You have to know which paper's which from the two-letter code, and guess which one to use for other papers, and then know that a lower number is a higher quality setting. Depending on the age of your printer, Canon may or may not have updated the driver to work properly with color management.

With the PIXMA Pro line, you'll get actual names, everything's functional, and they also supply plugins for Photoshop and Lightroom if even the normal print workflow is too difficult to decipher (which it shouldn't be).

Workflow with a "real" printer:
1. Configure LR print module for LR Manages Color.
2. Pick ICC profile matching your paper. Pick a rendering intent.
3. Print.

Jan 03, 2013 at 04:23 PM

schlotz
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p.1 #3 · Pixma Pro's with iMac & LR 4.2

Thanks Colin.. appreciate the feedback. Canon certainly has a lot of room for improvement when it comes to this portion of their business.

Matt

Jan 05, 2013 at 02:55 PM

Dennis M 1064
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p.1 #4 · Pixma Pro's with iMac & LR 4.2

Wish I had known this before I bought the Non-Pro Canon. I would have just gone back to the Non-Pro Epson for my general purpose home printer.

I did manage to get into the "profiles" as you explained. I have had to run multiple prints to find a profile I was satisfied with. The printer (Pixma MG8220) does make a nice photo, once you have the right profile selected. Not much fun guessing though.

Jan 05, 2013 at 03:38 PM

anthonygh
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p.1 #5 · Pixma Pro's with iMac & LR 4.2

I use a pro9000 with LR and Photoshop...no problems at all...basically the same interface as when printing with my R2880.

I also have a MP550 and I have not used that for photo printing for some time.....but as I recall, there were no problems. If you rely on the Canon profiles you might have some issues with the print quality...I started with Canon consumables and the prints were fine....I later switched to OCP inks and Ilford paper...had a profile made up...superb results. A lot cheaper as well.

Jan 06, 2013 at 08:18 PM

jchin
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p.1 #6 · Pixma Pro's with iMac & LR 4.2

I have a Canon MX892 all-in-one, since my Pro9000mk2 got flooded in Superstorm Sandy. So far, with the proper configuration setup (similar to what I had with the Pro 9000), I am able to print very decent photos (granted not as good as what the 9000 produced, but good enough for now, until I can rebuild my home).

I am currently using the Canon ICC profile "GL2/SG2" (which stands for Glossy 2 and Semi-Gloss 2). I just ordered UltraPro Satin from Red River Paper and they provide a ICC profile for that paper for a similar Canon printer (one that uses the same ink set). Hopefully that would produce better results.

For me, in Windows drivers, I have the ICM set to NONE, and let LR4 do all the heavy lifting.

Does that help?

Jan 07, 2013 at 01:43 AM

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