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S820 Driver. Why are my prints so 'pale'

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Rick.L

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Rather than continue the other S820 thread I thought I would start
another and ask a basic question - does anyone know why all the prints
I make come out looking like a television does when you turn the contrast

down (the resolution in the prints is great though). I am using the Canon Photo Paper, the driver that came with the printer and Paintshop Pro 6.
This even happens with DP Review samples.
(I never had this problem with my old Epson printer).
----
Rick
 
Rick.L said:
Rather than continue the other S820 thread I thought I would start
another and ask a basic question - does anyone know why all the prints
I make come out looking like a television does when you turn the
contrast
down (the resolution in the prints is great though). I am using the
Canon Photo Paper, the driver that came with the printer and
Paintshop Pro 6.
This even happens with DP Review samples.
(I never had this problem with my old Epson printer).
----
Rick
Click to expand...
Turn up the intensity to +10.
 
Ron Parr said:
Try checking the "vivid" box and making sure that you wait for the
prints to dry thoroughly before making a final assessment.

--
Ron Parr
FAQ: http://www.cs.duke.edu/~parr/photography/faq.html
Gallery: http://www.pbase.com/parr/
Click to expand...
Thanks for your replies. I had already tried the Vivid Photo setting but it made only a marginal difference does still not managed compesate for lack of saturation in the prints. The are way-off even when dry. I have managed to get reasonable prints after drastically increasing saturation, changing colour balance etc. then trying another print but it was inconsistant and cost a fortune in photo paper and ink.

I have got so fed up with the Canon I am debating whether to buy
the three ink cartridges that are now near to running out (total cost
in UK would be about £27+) or to forget about it and go get another
make of printer.

(Sods Law applies - before I got the printer I only found good reviews, after getting it, and having problems, I searched again and found a number of bad ones. They reported above issue, also a 'banding' problem on some prints. Almost all of them said that you needed to use Canons own expensive photo paper to get decent results. I had already found all of these things to be true).

--
Rick
 
Hi Rick,

I had the same feeling about the prints from my Canon s820 (milky or pale look) I tried different Canon papers and settings and it really cost fortune to get result you are happy with. In parallel I had Epson 830 (even cheaper then s820 but clogging issue is another story).
In the end I went with Epson, however I really enjoyed s820 speed.

Regards,
Rick.L said:
Rather than continue the other S820 thread I thought I would start
another and ask a basic question - does anyone know why all the prints
I make come out looking like a television does when you turn the
contrast
down (the resolution in the prints is great though). I am using the
Canon Photo Paper, the driver that came with the printer and
Paintshop Pro 6.
This even happens with DP Review samples.
(I never had this problem with my old Epson printer).
----
Rick
Click to expand...
 
Rick.L said:
Rather than continue the other S820 thread I thought I would start
another and ask a basic question - does anyone know why all the prints
I make come out looking like a television does when you turn the
contrast
down (the resolution in the prints is great though). I am using the
Canon Photo Paper, the driver that came with the printer and
Paintshop Pro 6.
This even happens with DP Review samples.
(I never had this problem with my old Epson printer).
----
Rick
Click to expand...
I have had the S820 about 4 weeks now and have had none of the problems you describe. I have used Canon OEM inks their Photo Paper Pro, Photo Paper Plus, and Matte photo paper. Also have used Konica Qp Silky, and Ilford Classic Pearl. All have produced outstanding pics with no pale casts or banding. I used the Canon settings for their papers and the Konica and Ilford settiings provided with their papers. I use Paintshop Pro 7 and the Canon Easy Print programs.

I wouldn't give my S820 up ... It's GREAT. I wish I had some suggestions for you.
 
Rick, sometime last year Canon changed their drivers and print saturation dropped way off. I get good results with Office Depot and Epson papers as well as Canon's papers but I have to increase saturation in the print driver by +20. I have no idea why the drivers have such low saturation. The origional driver on my s800 was fine, but after a driver update last year the saturation dropped off.

Regards, Ed
 
I was not getting the color saturation I should have been getting out of the box. I read multiple threads, I asked questions, and I'm currently waiting on my custom profile ($50) to arrive so I can start tweaking from that. I only print from QImage. The first thing I had to do was start with NO PROFILING or color management to determine where the printer was working from at a base line. And at those settings, it was somewhat washed out, or pale compared to the screen. So I experimented with Joe Barnhardt's icc profiles for the S series printers. I immediately noticed a BIG difference following his directions to the letter. So I knew the printer was "capable" of printing correctly, but now how to get the right print. So instead of burning through another pack of paper, I thought I'd just get a professional profile, and be done with it. I'll post up my results when I get that back. I'd also like to get my monitor professionally calibrated, but the cost of the software is out of the question. So I'm relying on my eyes and Adobe Gamma. If you're on Win XP, you can go to the Printers and Fax and right click the S820 icon. Go to the bottom and choose properties (not preferences). Go to the color management tab, and you'll see the option for auto or manual, and which color management profile to choose. Should be just one listed, but you can add or remove. I removed all to start with and experimented. Each made a big difference, but the best prints I go were after removing ALL profiles and choosing Manual and closing out and in QImage, choosing Joe's profile, hence, the reason I know the printer is fine. I hope this helps.....

Brent
Rick.L said:
Rather than continue the other S820 thread I thought I would start
another and ask a basic question - does anyone know why all the prints
I make come out looking like a television does when you turn the
contrast
down (the resolution in the prints is great though). I am using the
Canon Photo Paper, the driver that came with the printer and
Paintshop Pro 6.
This even happens with DP Review samples.
(I never had this problem with my old Epson printer).
----
Rick
Click to expand...
--
http://www.pbase.com/brivers
 
Rick.L said:
Rather than continue the other S820 thread I thought I would start
another and ask a basic question - does anyone know why all the prints
I make come out looking like a television does when you turn the
contrast
down (the resolution in the prints is great though). I am using the
Canon Photo Paper, the driver that came with the printer and
Paintshop Pro 6.
This even happens with DP Review samples.
(I never had this problem with my old Epson printer).
----
Rick
Click to expand...
--
Rick

Thanks for all the help and comments everybody, I will now start to look into everything suggested. It will keep me occupied and will end up having learned something about drivers, profiles etc. - and if there is anybody else out there with any further info. - please keep it coming.
 
marbo uk said:
Not sure what your problem is caused by. but i use compatable inks
from here.

http://printcartridge.net/acatalog/Touchstone_Store_Buy_1_Get_1_Free___Canon_Compatible_Ink_Cartridges_4.html

Only £4.99 for 2 carts (buy1 get 1 free) inc delivery.

And i use ilford gallery paper from 7 day shop .com at about £18
delivered for 100 A4 sheets. Use the classic pearl only the smooth
glossy fades.

I'm very happy with the results from my s820, just as good as photo
lab.

Marbo uk..
Click to expand...
--
Rick
They are really good price, thanks for info.
 
While the suggestion of starting with your drivers from scratch is probably best, I tried this when I first got my printer. These are a compilation of suggested settings I found here at this forum. I just got my S820 2 weeks ago. I started with the settings below with Canon PPP with fantastic results. I then did the same with Jet Print Pro. Also got excellent results on the Jet Print Pro - just had to tweak the magenta up a little.

Print quality (1)
Diffusion on
ICM enabled
+20 intensity

I did however lower the intensity to +10. The +20 seemed a little over saturated to me.
You mentioned Canon paper, but are you using the PPP?
 
rainman said:
While the suggestion of starting with your drivers from scratch is
probably best, I tried this when I first got my printer. These are
a compilation of suggested settings I found here at this forum. I
just got my S820 2 weeks ago. I started with the settings below
with Canon PPP with fantastic results. I then did the same with Jet
Print Pro. Also got excellent results on the Jet Print Pro - just
had to tweak the magenta up a little.

Print quality (1)
Diffusion on
ICM enabled
+20 intensity

I did however lower the intensity to +10. The +20 seemed a little
over saturated to me.
You mentioned Canon paper, but are you using the PPP?
Click to expand...
--
Rick

Yes I am using PPP and still playing arround with the settings. This is one fussy printer - I am also getting the dreaded vertical banding in some prints,despite having checked the print head alignment etc. (That has been discussed at length by others on another thread).

Having read all the feedback on this thread and the other regarding the vertical banding (and read various reviews) I think some people seem get fantastic prints, but others have similar problems to mine. I am beginning to wonder if Cannon have a design flaw that leads to a certain percentage of the printers having problems.

I think I'll take up doing jigsaws - the picture is already printed and doing them will be quicker than sorting this machine out.
 
Rick.L said:
Having read all the feedback on this thread and the other regarding
the vertical banding (and read various reviews) I think some people
seem get fantastic prints, but others have similar problems to
mine. I am beginning to wonder if Cannon have a design flaw that
leads to a certain percentage of the printers having problems.
Click to expand...
Here is the problem again. It is funny how everyone suddenly forgets about those problems when others mention them.

When I mentioned some of the 'common' Canon problems a few weeks ago (clogging, banding, fading, paper compatibility etc) suddenly no-one seemed to have heard anything about those. Still, here is another user saying that they have also read about those problems several times, so it can not be my imagination.
Anyways, no offense intended, I am just saying it's strange.

PS: I have to admit though, that there were a select few who bothered to agree and provided useful feedback.

--
Pabletto
http://www.pbase.com/pabletto
(samples taken with the MINOLTA DiMAGE 7)
Last update 22 October 2002 (Flower shots)
 
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