Datacolor User to User Support Group.

On Oct 6, 2008, at 5:01 PM, gmcphotographics wrote:

> I've been using a Colorvision PrintFix 2 Pro for about 9 months. I've
> calibrated both of my main displays and I'm happy with my result.
> It's a Samsung 226bw. It profile's fairly neutral, with a very slight
> warm tone.
> My issue is my Epson R1800, running an Ink Republic CIS system. I've
> never got colours that I'm happy with. I'm using Ilford Smooth Pearl
> paper, because I like it's texture and the IR inks aren't very
> glossy, so glossy papers look wrong.
> So what's my problem? The output has a strong green cast. I have used
> the large patch and I've used the extended greys. I allowed the
> targets a week to dry before calibrating, I printed the targets from
> Photoshop CS2, making sure that no profile was selected. I've ran the
> Printfix pro software along side photoshop (restarting it ever time I
> made a profile change) and I can't get this paper neutral. There is a
> really strong green cast still. If I print a grey scale, it's more
> like a green scale and there's odd pink colour bands in the greys
> too. Is there something that I'm doing wrong or is that this device
> isn't accurate enough to fix this paper/ink combo?
>
>
>

Can you email your measurements to me so that I can have a look? Could
be that you're not printing the target correctly; (in particular,
this can be a problem with Epson drivers under OSX Leopard, if you're
running on a Mac). If you print the target "wrong" with color management
turned on, then you'll get a do-nothing profile from the measurements,
and THEN, when you try to print through profile, you'll get a
non-color-managed print. (which on an R1800.... will have a dark,  
greenish
cast, so I think that's what's probably going on here).

Or just as a guess: if you're printing on a Mac, with OSX and Leopard:
you have to choose "Epson Color Controls" in the Color Matching
pane up near the top of the Leopard print dialog popup when you print.
If you choose ColorSync (which is, unfortunately, the default), then
the Epson standard profile gets applied, and you get: a color managed
target print (bad). If this is the case: reprint the target with
Epson Color Controls selected in the Color Matching section (and then,
also, in the R1800-specific section, make sure you turn color
management OFF as well). This would give you a visibly darker target
print if you compared with your previous target print, side-by-side.
THEN measure this, build a profile from the measurements, and print.

David Miller
Senior Software Developer, Digital Color Solutions
Datacolor