Printing problem

I have an Oly C700. Pictures look great on my monitor but when I print them, they look horrible. Very, very grainy, and in no way are they acceptable. I printed my photos on two different and brand new printers ( Epson 740 and Lexmark Z32). Both of these printers have pretty high resolutions.

My photos are in the highest possible resolutions (Tiff). In fact, I tested pictures at different resolutions and file sizes. The print size, I have printed are 4x6 and passport size (2 in. x 1.7 in). Pictures were printed on Photo Paper (High Glossy).

Olympus tells me that it cannnot be their camera that is causing the bad pictures. The printer companies tell me the samething.

Cam anyone help me??

Regards
PSSPC

I shoot SHQ all the time and am able to print quite nice 8 x 10s. Something is wrong with the printers or their setup. Print in highest quality on good quality photo paper.

I have an Epson 870 Photo printer that does a really nice job using their matte finish paper. It is an older model, but there are similar newer Epsons out there.

A picture (no pun) is worth a thousand words.

Could you scan a portion of one of the prints and post it so we can get a 1st hand look at it?

In the mean time, you should be able to get excellent 4x6 prints from you C700. You might have a setting (or a few) not quite correct.

Have you tried to print the pic as is without doing any editing or resizing?

What software do you use?

--
John M

PSSPC
Try this program. It sets all that tech stuff automatically. free trial
http://www.gosunshine.com/
I use it and really like it.
Ken from CO. 2100uz+b300+Viv283+Tiff.75Mega Plus
http://www.pbase.com/kenron

To prove, once and for all, that your camera is OK, take your SmartMedia card down to Walmart and have them make a print. Their quality is excellent.
--
****
http://www.pbase.com/dickh/

One more thought....Did you take a small part of the entire photo to print or was it most of the whole file? If you cropped a small portion out, it might explain the degradation.

John,

I don't have a scanner. I did not edit any of the pictures. They were taken at SHQ and TIFF resolutions.
Pictures look sharp with excellent details on the monitor.

PSSPC

John M said:

A picture (no pun) is worth a thousand words.

Could you scan a portion of one of the prints and post it so we can
get a 1st hand look at it?

In the mean time, you should be able to get excellent 4x6 prints
from you C700. You might have a setting (or a few) not quite
correct.

Have you tried to print the pic as is without doing any editing or
resizing?

What software do you use?

--
John M

Click to expand...

Thanks. I will try that.
PSSPC

Ken Pearson said:

PSSPC
Try this program. It sets all that tech stuff automatically. free
trial
http://www.gosunshine.com/
I use it and really like it.
Ken from CO. 2100uz+b300+Viv283+Tiff.75Mega Plus
http://www.pbase.com/kenron

Click to expand...

It was the entire picture. I can't understand what's wrong. I seem to be doing everything

write but it's not working. I have now wasted about 20 sheets of good photo paper but
nothing to show!

PSSPC

Juli Valley said:

One more thought....Did you take a small part of the entire photo
to print or was it most of the whole file? If you cropped a small
portion out, it might explain the degradation.

Click to expand...

It's almost impossible to resolve this problem with more information. That's what the people over on the Pro forum were getting at too and that's what they were waiting for before offering advice. Any advice given without more information will be total guesses and a real shot in the dark. So, in order that we can help better, please provide the following:

First, what software are you printing from? Does the software offer a way of setting the resolution for output? For instance, if you open an image from a digital camera in photoshop, it usually opens it at 72 ppi, which will look great on the screen. It looks great on a monitor because that's standard monitor resolution. However, if you resize this image to 8x10, without resetting the ppi at a higher resolution (say 240-300), you will get an absolutely horrible print. This could be the problem, but without knowing more, who knows.

Or, what are your printer settings. You mention the printers you are using, but nothing else. What settings are you using in the driver (paper choice, resolution, ditthering, color correction, etc.)? It would really help to konw this.

Also, what paper are you using (brand and type, since many brands offer multiple papers.)

Hopefully, you can answer these questions so we can give you some help that might actually get to the root of the problem.

Kristi

psspc said:

PSSPC

Juli Valley said:

One more thought....Did you take a small part of the entire photo
to print or was it most of the whole file? If you cropped a small
portion out, it might explain the degradation.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

psspc said:

It was the entire picture. I can't understand what's wrong. I seem
to be doing everything write but it's not working.

Click to expand...

The one thing you are not doing is listening to reason. I have been troubleshooting electronic equipment for nearly 50 years and you MUST eliminate things that could be trouble one-by-one. As I suggested before, take your card to a Walmart and have a print made. That will prove that there is no problem with your camera. After that, you can concentrate on other things.
--
****
http://www.pbase.com/dickh/

Will do. Thanks.

**** said:

psspc said:

It was the entire picture. I can't understand what's wrong. I seem
to be doing everything write but it's not working.

Click to expand...

The one thing you are not doing is listening to reason. I have been
troubleshooting electronic equipment for nearly 50 years and you
MUST eliminate things that could be trouble one-by-one. As I
suggested before, take your card to a Walmart and have a print
made. That will prove that there is no problem with your camera.
After that, you can concentrate on other things.
--
****
http://www.pbase.com/dickh/

Click to expand...

psspc,

psspc said:

Pictures look great on my monitor

Click to expand...

Do they look great when you view them on actual size (100%)?
What imaging program you print from?

psspc said:

but when I
print them, they look horrible. Very, very grainy, and in no way
are they acceptable. I printed my photos on two different and brand
new printers ( Epson 740 and Lexmark Z32). Both of these printers
have pretty high resolutions.

Click to expand...

What photo paper do you use? Not all papers are compatible with all printers... (no matter what they adwerts say).

I think Epson 740 (do not know about Lexmark Z32) is 4 colour printer... so quality cannot be as good as 6 color printer quality.

Not everything depends on printer resolution. When i compare my Canon s400 prints (4 color general purpose printer 1440x720 res) with Epson SP890 (6 color dedicated photo printer... i use 1440x720 res) prints... Epson wins hands down. It's prints looks like conventional photo prints made in studio... as (i believe) does Canon s800 or s900 prints... So even printer may be issue here...

Suggestions:

1. Check your camera first... print a few pictures from it in studio (with no preprocessing).

If camera is ok:

2. Check print head alignment... align print heads if necessary.
3. Use OEM recommended papers on their printers with correct paper settings.

4. Unset high speed mode in printer (if available)... Use highest print (and finest dithering) quality available.

5. Show your prints to others... maybe you are too picky?

6. Go to VooDoo master.

Cheers,
Linas

Kristi,

You nailed it! My problem was that I was printing the photos from the Photoshop. I opened the photos with MS Picture It! and printed them. They came out beautifully.

Thanks for the tip.

All of you guys, thanks for all the tips and help.

Regards
PSSPC

Eventually, I was able to solve the problem..with the tips I got for my question/problem.

What I was doing wrong was not the paper, print size, nor was there any problem with my camera or the printer...

The problem was that I was opening the photos in Photoshop and printing them out. If I printed directly, I was told, without using Image Ready in Photoshop, it would only print at 72 dpi!

I opened my pictures in MS Picture It! and printed them. They came out fantastic and far beyond my expectations!

Again, Thanks!!

Regards
PSSPC

Linas said:

psspc said:

Pictures look great on my monitor

Click to expand...

Do they look great when you view them on actual size (100%)?
What imaging program you print from?

Linas said:

but when I
print them, they look horrible. Very, very grainy, and in no way
are they acceptable. I printed my photos on two different and brand
new printers ( Epson 740 and Lexmark Z32). Both of these printers
have pretty high resolutions.

Click to expand...

What photo paper do you use? Not all papers are compatible with all
printers... (no matter what they adwerts say).

I think Epson 740 (do not know about Lexmark Z32) is 4 colour
printer... so quality cannot be as good as 6 color printer quality.
Not everything depends on printer resolution. When i compare my
Canon s400 prints (4 color general purpose printer 1440x720 res)
with Epson SP890 (6 color dedicated photo printer... i use 1440x720
res) prints... Epson wins hands down. It's prints looks like
conventional photo prints made in studio... as (i believe) does
Canon s800 or s900 prints... So even printer may be issue here...

Suggestions:

1. Check your camera first... print a few pictures from it in
studio (with no preprocessing).

If camera is ok:

2. Check print head alignment... align print heads if necessary.
3. Use OEM recommended papers on their printers with correct paper
settings.
4. Unset high speed mode in printer (if available)... Use highest
print (and finest dithering) quality available.

5. Show your prints to others... maybe you are too picky?

6. Go to VooDoo master.

Cheers,
Linas

Click to expand...

I too have the Canon S9000 and it ROCKS. I can't BELEIVE how nice my pictures are printing.

Go to the website and download the latest drivers. It adds a couple options to the "Paper Types," including the one you definitely want to use with Kodak Premium Photo Paper (Gloss).

"Photo Paper Plus Glossy"

I've wasted a ton of ink perfecting the settings for this paper, but the paper type I've found most important.

Also, set print quality to high, and check ALL the boxes (or experiment) with the buttons from Vivid Photo down on the Effects tab.

I have been using the S9000 for awhile and have had no banding or anything, it truly is a beautiful photo printer, and the cost/quality of that Kodak paper is awesome.

Good luck!

Mike in Cincinnati
C-2100UZ B-300 Canon S9000

psspc said:

What I was doing wrong was not the paper, print size, nor was there
any problem with my camera or the printer...

The problem was that I was opening the photos in Photoshop and
printing them out. If I printed directly, I was told, without using
Image Ready in Photoshop, it would only print at 72 dpi!

I opened my pictures in MS Picture It! and printed them. They came
out fantastic and far beyond my expectations!

Again, Thanks!!

Regards
PSSPC

Linas said:

psspc said:

Pictures look great on my monitor

Click to expand...

Do they look great when you view them on actual size (100%)?
What imaging program you print from?

psspc said:

but when I
print them, they look horrible. Very, very grainy, and in no way
are they acceptable. I printed my photos on two different and brand
new printers ( Epson 740 and Lexmark Z32). Both of these printers
have pretty high resolutions.

Click to expand...

What photo paper do you use? Not all papers are compatible with all
printers... (no matter what they adwerts say).

I think Epson 740 (do not know about Lexmark Z32) is 4 colour
printer... so quality cannot be as good as 6 color printer quality.
Not everything depends on printer resolution. When i compare my
Canon s400 prints (4 color general purpose printer 1440x720 res)
with Epson SP890 (6 color dedicated photo printer... i use 1440x720
res) prints... Epson wins hands down. It's prints looks like
conventional photo prints made in studio... as (i believe) does
Canon s800 or s900 prints... So even printer may be issue here...

Suggestions:

1. Check your camera first... print a few pictures from it in
studio (with no preprocessing).

If camera is ok:

2. Check print head alignment... align print heads if necessary.
3. Use OEM recommended papers on their printers with correct paper
settings.
4. Unset high speed mode in printer (if available)... Use highest
print (and finest dithering) quality available.

5. Show your prints to others... maybe you are too picky?

6. Go to VooDoo master.

Cheers,
Linas

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Whomever told you that was just plain wrong.

By default, the images do open at 72dpi in photoshop.
All you have to do is adjust that setting to something more appropriate
for your printer and print size.

Image--> Resize--> Image Size

At 1600x1200 if you change the dpi setting to 150 with the "resample image" box UN-checked, you'll get a file suitable for an 8x10.6667 print.
Crop to 8x10 and you're set. Alternatively, if you don't want to crop
(the 1600x1200 proportions won't match an 8x10 exactly) then
set the dpi to 160 and you'll have a 7.5x10 print.

Picture It! may be an easier path for you, especially if you're happy with the results, but don't think Photoshop isn't capable of producing equally good (or better) output.

psspc said:

Eventually, I was able to solve the problem..with the tips I got
for my question/problem.

What I was doing wrong was not the paper, print size, nor was there
any problem with my camera or the printer...

The problem was that I was opening the photos in Photoshop and
printing them out. If I printed directly, I was told, without using
Image Ready in Photoshop, it would only print at 72 dpi!

I opened my pictures in MS Picture It! and printed them. They came
out fantastic and far beyond my expectations!

Again, Thanks!!

Regards
PSSPC

Click to expand...

I'm using Adobe Photoshop LE. How do I know what dpi I'm printing in?

Inigo Montoya said:

By default, the images do open at 72dpi in photoshop.
All you have to do is adjust that setting to something more
appropriate
for your printer and print size.

Image--> Resize--> Image Size

At 1600x1200 if you change the dpi setting to 150 with the
"resample image" box UN-checked, you'll get a file suitable for an
8x10.6667 print.
Crop to 8x10 and you're set. Alternatively, if you don't want to crop
(the 1600x1200 proportions won't match an 8x10 exactly) then
set the dpi to 160 and you'll have a 7.5x10 print.

Picture It! may be an easier path for you, especially if you're
happy with the results, but don't think Photoshop isn't capable of
producing equally good (or better) output.

psspc said:

Eventually, I was able to solve the problem..with the tips I got
for my question/problem.

What I was doing wrong was not the paper, print size, nor was there
any problem with my camera or the printer...

The problem was that I was opening the photos in Photoshop and
printing them out. If I printed directly, I was told, without using
Image Ready in Photoshop, it would only print at 72 dpi!

I opened my pictures in MS Picture It! and printed them. They came
out fantastic and far beyond my expectations!

Again, Thanks!!

Regards
PSSPC

Click to expand...

Click to expand...