[Steve400]

Hi,

Is there such a thing as printer calibration?! I have a Canon pixma iP5000 here and the prints its putting out are not really what im seeing on screen!! They seem desaturated and lacking in contrast.

Is it just not a very good printer? Can it be calibrated to print what it shows on screen? Should i get a new printer?!

I had the monitor calibrated recently so it should be ok still.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Steve

[silkstone]

Yes, you can calibrate a printer, but it isn't easy. The ICC profile depends on the paper, the ink and the printer. You may be able to get a generic profile from the paper manufacturer - Ilford offer them free for the Galerie papers.

It's also worth trying QImage rather than printing direct from your editing software. I find that the results are better.

The Canon printer should be capable of good results. It's possible that you are sending a file in Adobe RGB colorspace, which the printer may not be recognising. Have you tried converting to sRGB before printing? Washed out colours and lack of contrast are symptoms of colorspace mismatching.

[Steve400]

Originally Posted by silkstone

The Canon printer should be capable of good results. It's possible that you are sending a file in Adobe RGB colorspace, which the printer may not be recognising. Have you tried converting to sRGB before printing? Washed out colours and lack of contrast are symptoms of colorspace mismatching.

Ah ha, i think you've hit the nail on the head! That's what i was doing! I've ran out of paper now but ill try it later on and write back! I see there are other profiles for the type of printer e.g "canon iP5000 MP2" "canon iP5000 SP2"

any hints on what these are?!

thanks

[silkstone]

Yes - 'SP' = Photo Paper Plus Glossy, 'MP' = Matte Photo Paper, 'P R' = Photo Paper Pro.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2342637/Ca...-Profile-Guide

Although it looks like these are for use with Adobe RGB.

[Steve400]

cheers for that link silkstone, im just printing out stuff here now. I'm trying different settings to see what is nearest to the screen!!

This kind of info would be handy to have in a manual with the printer rather than just the 'installing drivers manual'

thanks