COlor calibration, printing

JH
Posted By
Jules_Hammond-Casablancas
Feb 20, 2009
Views
358
Replies
7
Status
Closed
Hi. In XP & PS 7.0.

I just got a new computer installed, same monitor tho. Ever since I got this new computer, I am unable to print in PS as well as I used to be able to a couple days ago. The color is way off. I have applied my color settings throughout all my Adobe programs to be the same in AI 10, ID CS3 & PS 7.0. I also have a Xerox Phaser 7750 GX.

There is a computer in back of me that prints great & how my computer used to print. Are there some settings that I should check there to compare with?

I have went to the color management tab under the my printer/my color printers properties & I have it as to have Windows choose the automatic color profile for both computers, but still nothing changes.

My monitor is calibrated the same way the computer in the back is, but the printout does not match what is on screen like how it used to.

I am really confused as to what other color settings to check. Please let me know if you have any info on this, I would greatly appreciate it so I can print in the Adobe programs, but mainly Photoshop!

Thank you.
Jules

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DP
Daryl_Pritchard
Feb 20, 2009
Jules,

My first thought, in regard to a new computer, is that this also means you have a new graphics card or perhaps even a motherboard-integrated graphics chipset. Either way, that change could be a factor since the how the graphics chipset handles color can vary from one system to another, even if the cards are identical…at least that seems to be my observations over the years. Any time that I perform a change of hardware I think even remotely related to affecting color, or even apply a major operating system udpate such as the Windows XP service packs, I’ll go in and recalibrate my system in case any drivers were impacted.

You say that "my monitor is calibrated", but the question is now one of did you also recalibrate it after the computer upgrade? If not, then that would be a key thing to do and may resolve your problems in and of itself.

I’m not sure about what the best settings are to use with a Phaser, but an automatic profile selection may not be the best choice. If you have had success with that before though, I could be wrong. Anytime I print from Photoshop to my Espon R1800, I follow the advice of disabling ICM in the printer properties, selecting the specific paper type I’m printing to, as well as the related printer profile for that paper, and then select to "Let Photoshop Manage the Colors" in the Photoshop print dialog, again with the correct printer profile selected.

As I recall, PS7 had a slightly different dialog from the current approach used. If the same as PS CS, which is what I’ve got on on my work PC, then I’d enable "Show More Options", select the menu option for "Color Management", and then set the Profile for the "Print Space" to that for the paper type being used.

Hope this helps,

Daryl
JH
Jules_Hammond-Casablancas
Feb 20, 2009
wow. I didn’t even think of the graphics card. I will look into that. I am not sure how to disable the ICM in my printer properties, but I will research this also.

I did have to recalibrate my screen, but my eyes still feel weird, so it might not be as accurate……

ahhhhhhhh

Thank you so much for your reply, Daryl.
JH
Jules_Hammond-Casablancas
Feb 20, 2009
I figured out that I have a Quadro NVS 290 & the computer that is working/printing properly has a CATALYST Control Center graphics card.
DP
Daryl_Pritchard
Feb 20, 2009
Jules,

The best way to know what graphics card you have is to physically inspect it within the computer, and get exact model number info. Apart from that however, realizing you might not be able to do that conveniently, the best alternative is probably to do the following:

1. Right click on your desktop and select Properties from the menu

2. In the resulting Display Properties dialog, click the Settings tab and then the Advanced button.

3. On the next dialog that opens, select the Adapter tab. That tab will give you a description of the graphics card, although it is sometimes only giving a "family" of cards rather than the sepcific version you have. For example, the PC I’m on currently says "Radeon X1600 Series". Clicking the Properties button will open yet another dialog identifying the particular graphics drier in use.

4. On the first dialog that appears after selecting the Advanced button, you might see a tab that sometimes is added in for an ATI or nVidia card, if running one of their more complete driver installation packages. In that case, you could explore that tab for further details.

We have a Xerox Phaser 6250N in our office that I’ve never successfully seen any kind of high quality color output from, but then I’ve also never used it for anything other than generic printing tasks. If disabing ICM for a Phaser is advised as it is for my Epson R1800 when printing from Photoshop, then that is accomplished as follows:

1. Open the Printing Preferences dialog from within an application (for temporary settings) or from the specific printer’s properties men in the Printers and Faxes control panel (for permanent settings).

2. On the Layout tab of the Printing Preferences, click on the Advanced button

3. In the Advance Options for the Phaser, change the "ICM Method" setting to "ICM Disabled".

I’m not really familiar with the options for a Phaser, so apart from disabling ICM, I can’t advise you as to what is best. My experience is primarily with an RGB inkjet printer, and the Phaser is a CMYK printer as I understand it.

Regards,

Daryl
RL
roger_leale
Feb 21, 2009
To find out more than you will ever need to know about the hardware,and software, on your machine download a little desk-top tool called SIW It’s less than 1.5mB and sits quietly on the desk-top until you need it.

Roger
DP
Daryl_Pritchard
Feb 21, 2009
Thanks for the heads-up on SIW, Roger…it compares favorably to EVEREST Ultimate which I already have. The freeware version of SIW doesn’t have as exact or as detailed information about my video card as EVEREST, but the retail version might. Regardless, it is basically correct and certainly a worthwhile tool for anyone to have available.

Daryl
JH
Jules_Hammond-Casablancas
Feb 23, 2009
I can’t thank you enough, guys.

I did have ICM Disabled all along.

The problem ended up being that I needed a new printer driver. Photoshop prints great & so do the other Adobe progs. Now I can be back to normal! 🙂

Now I have the Xerox Phaser 7750GS PS driver.

Thanks again!

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