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Archive 2014 · Prints no longer matching monitor very well

  
 
J4644
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Prints no longer matching monitor very well


Hi All,

Have not visited FM in over a year or two. But always appreciate the advice. I have a Canon iPF6300 that I have had for about two years. About 6 months ago the unit would not print. Called for service and they came out the first day and replaced the board, still not functioning. Second and third days they replaced the print heads and carriage assembly. Finally got it to work. I essentially have a new machine because pretty much all of the major parts were replaced. Ever since that time my prints are much darker than what I see on my monitor. Mind you that prior to the problem I had a very good match between the monitor and the prints. I have done at least 6 calibrations to try and get a better match, but have not had any luck. It seems to me that the gamma of the print is too strong. So on my last calibration I went from 2.2 Gamma to 2.0, because I really do not know what else to try. This resulted in no improvement. My Luminance has been at 78 cd/m2 and has been doing a great job until now. So I lowered it to 75 and really could not see any improvement.

I am just looking for some advice on how to get a better calibration so that the monitor and prints are close. Any help would be appreciated.

Some additional information:

I have a Dell 2209 monitor that is about 3 years old. I purchased this because the general thought on FM was that this unit, for the price, was very good. In fact, it did solve my printing and calibrating issues at the time. Perhaps this is getting old and is not as bright or accurate.

I use an i1 profiling device, just updated the software and this also has been doing a great job.

I would be glad to add any other information that you may need to help me with this frustrating issue.

Thank you,

Jim






Jul 14, 2014 at 04:50 PM
hugowolf
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Prints no longer matching monitor very well


How do the monitor and prints look with a printer evaluation image, such as #49 from Outback Photo?

What papers are you using and what ICC profiles?

[It is really not a good idea to shift the monitor gamma from 2.2]

Brian A



Jul 14, 2014 at 07:01 PM
EB-1
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Prints no longer matching monitor very well


Have you tried a new calibrator device? Sometimes they deteriorate. It drove me half nuts when the old i1D2 went wonky.

EBH



Jul 14, 2014 at 07:20 PM
J4644
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Prints no longer matching monitor very well


Hi Brian,

I have not tried a printer evaluation image. Admittedly, I do not know much about that, but I will research it. I predominately use Epson Luster Paper. I do some art work with Epson Matte Canvas and that does not seem to suffer much at all.

Seeing that the change from 2.2 gamma to 2.0 did not seem to have much of an effect, I will do my next calibration at 2.2 again.

Thank you,

Jim



Jul 14, 2014 at 07:56 PM
J4644
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Prints no longer matching monitor very well


Hi EBH,

I have not tried a new calibrating device, but I suppose that is something that has to be ruled out. Because the printer has had new parts I am leaning towards that as the culprit. Let me ask this to you and anyone else that can answer: Do you think that I would need to have my profiles done again because this printer is essentially a new printer?

Thanks ,

Jim



Jul 14, 2014 at 08:00 PM
hugowolf
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Prints no longer matching monitor very well


J4644 wrote:
I have not tried a new calibrating device, but I suppose that is something that has to be ruled out. Because the printer has had new parts I am leaning towards that as the culprit. Let me ask this to you and anyone else that can answer: Do you think that I would need to have my profiles done again because this printer is essentially a new printer?



You are using Epson paper and canvas on a Canon printer, so you obviously had custom profiles made at some point in time. If you are only using a few different papers, then it would certainly be worthwhile having new profiles made. If you use a wide selection of papers, then it may be worth investing in something like the Color Munki Photo, andf making your own.

However, even with new parts, there shouldn't be that much variation between the prints before and after. The heads, for example, are user replaceable.

The first thing to try would be viewing and printing an unedited test image:

http://www.outbackphoto.com/printinginsights/pi049/essay.html

http://www.digitaldog.net/tips/

and Keith Cooper has bunches of them at: http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/test_images.html

Brian A




Jul 14, 2014 at 09:47 PM
S_anthony
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Prints no longer matching monitor very well


I had a similar question. Is there any standalone device that I can buy for printer calibration. I have i1 display pro with which I am quite happy for monitor calibration. But looking to calibrate canon pro 100 more accurately.


Jul 14, 2014 at 10:03 PM
skibum5
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Prints no longer matching monitor very well


It does sound a bit suspicious that it was fine and then they replaced parts and then it was instantly different.



Jul 14, 2014 at 11:23 PM
Alan321
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Prints no longer matching monitor very well


Do you use paper types or whatever they are called in the printer ? Were they trashed by the Canon repair process ?

Honestly I have not used mine for so long that I have forgotten how to but there used to be a problem that ruined a number of my prints: The iPF6100 allowed something like 100 possible paper definitions that can be changed or added as required but I did not realise that 50 were strictly for glossy papers and another 50 were strictly for matte papers. No amount or printer profiling overcame the use of the wrong inks that I had lost control of simply because I had put the paper into the wrong group of 50. This feature was not obvious in the printer menu or in the setup guide but was mentioned in the 700-odd page user manual on the CD.

Apart from that, if good quality evaluation images are not printing well then the likely culprit is another problem that has yet to be fixed within the printer. Other things could well be to blame such as the i1 Display 2 but on balance I'd say that the timing is too much of a coincidence to be ruled out.

- Alan



Jul 15, 2014 at 05:38 AM
J4644
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Prints no longer matching monitor very well


Hi Alan,

I just checked in the paper types and it looks like everything in there is the same as it was.

Thank you for your input,

Jim



Jul 15, 2014 at 09:47 AM
howardm4
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Prints no longer matching monitor very well


S_anthony wrote:
I had a similar question. Is there any standalone device that I can buy for printer calibration. I have i1 display pro with which I am quite happy for monitor calibration. But looking to calibrate canon pro 100 more accurately.


Not on the cheap. The lowest cost entry point for do-it-yourself is the Colormunki Photo or Spyderprint at about 300-400 USD. After that,you jump up to the i1Pro2 Photo (usually $1500 but can be found for $1150 if you look hard)

Probably the best bet is to have a custom profile made for you for anywhere from $25-100 (usually 25-35)



Jul 15, 2014 at 10:29 AM
J4644
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Prints no longer matching monitor very well


Hi Folks,

I initially thought the gamma was strong. But after looking at some test images online, it appears to be pretty good.So still looking into it.

Jim



Jul 15, 2014 at 12:40 PM
J4644
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Prints no longer matching monitor very well


Hi,

After three phone calls and trying various solutions, we finally solved the issue. Turns out that the printer has to be color calibrated after the print heads are replaced. They did not do that. So the printer was laying down too much ink. Just noting this here in case anyone has this problem. I also want to thank Jim at ColorHQ. These people are excellent.

Jim



Jul 19, 2014 at 02:27 PM
JimboCin
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Prints no longer matching monitor very well


Jim:

Thanks for the update!

Who was the original company that did not calibrate your printer after the repair?

Jim



Jul 23, 2014 at 11:52 AM
J4644
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Prints no longer matching monitor very well


Hi Jim,

For the life of me I cannot remember who they were. They apparently do the Canon service in Rochester, N.Y., among other brands. Canon covered it under warranty so I do not have a bill or check or credit card payment to look it up.

Sorry,

Jim



Jul 24, 2014 at 08:42 PM
Alan321
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Prints no longer matching monitor very well


Well, recalibrating and profiling was so obvious that I didn't even bother to mention it. At the very least they should have warned you to do it but I can't really blame them for not doing the calibration themselves - after all, it was something that was always up to you even when you first bought the printer, and you would need a new profile for every combination of ink and paper.

The same thing would have to be done if you ever change the inks to something different, but that would be even trickier because it takes some time before the new ink makes its way through the pipeline to the print head, and you may not know exactly when it happens. Normally this is a good feature because it lets you replace an ink bottle without spoiling your current print.

- Alan



Jul 26, 2014 at 05:11 AM





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