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Colors are off when printing from Epson 3880

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Frank_E2

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I am having problems printing from my Epson 3880 (from a 24 inch iMac running Monterey 12.3.1).

1) Colors are off. For example, a tree trunk, which should be brown, prints as grey. This printed correctly on earlier prints of the same image.

2) The background (a field and hill) appear muddy—no separation of tones. Again, this was not a problem in earlier prints.

Nozzle check looks normal. I deleted and reinstalled the Epson driver, but this did not make any difference.

These problems are new. Also, I don't have this problem when printing on another ink jet printer (a general purpose office printer).

Any suggestions on what the problem may be, or next steps to take?
 
Frank too many possible errors , but with a Mac two spring to mind . Firstly get off the air print driver . Delete your printer to remove all drivers. Then go to the manufacturers site and download the Epson driver for this and when you reinstall the printer make sure it uses this new driver.

Next is a bit more complicated if you are new to this . Generally when you print from say Photoshop, you tell the computer to let Photoshop manage the colour.... then you need to go into the Printers side of the equation and tell it NOT to manage the colour ( because Photoshop is doing it. If you forget the second part of telling the other party to leave it alone, what you have is BOTH trying to run the show and running any chance of good colour. When Photoshop manages colour you will need an icc profile for the paper you are using on that printer. Go to the paper manufacturers site and download a paper icc profile for your printer and that paper . Install this on your system and use it when you print.
 
kciuk aka Ken60 said:
Frank too many possible errors , but with a Mac two spring to mind . Firstly get off the air print driver . Delete your printer to remove all drivers. Then go to the manufacturers site and download the Epson driver for this and when you reinstall the printer make sure it uses this new driver.

Next is a bit more complicated if you are new to this . Generally when you print from say Photoshop, you tell the computer to let Photoshop manage the colour.... then you need to go into the Printers side of the equation and tell it NOT to manage the colour ( because Photoshop is doing it. If you forget the second part of telling the other party to leave it alone, what you have is BOTH trying to run the show and running any chance of good colour. When Photoshop manages colour you will need an icc profile for the paper you are using on that printer. Go to the paper manufacturers site and download a paper icc profile for your printer and that paper . Install this on your system and use it when you print.
Click to expand...
On a Mac you can't (or should NOT) be able to turn off Colour Management in the printer driver. Unless you have the Bad Airprint driver!

It could be the Airprint driver or it COULD be that you have '16-bit' printing selected in the printer driver. That may give very unpredictable results, and that problem comes and goes!

I'm using a 3880 with a Mac on 12.3.1 and it's OK.

macOS Printing and other Problems

Application Colour Management in printing may sometimes have problems on Macs
www.colourphil.co.uk www.colourphil.co.uk

Printing Images with Application (Photoshop, Lightroom, etc.) Colour Management on an Epson from a Mac

Printing Images with Application Colour Management with high-end Epson inkjet printers from a Mac
www.colourphil.co.uk www.colourphil.co.uk

Also, have you tried printing a 'standard' image? i.e. a known good one.
 
@ greyscale: yes, I have done several nozzle checks.

@ Ken60: No AirPrint driver. I have deleted the printer, deleted the various pieces of Epson software from my Mac, downloaded and reinstalled the driver from the Epson site.

I am not using PS. In this case I am printing from Pages (on greeting card stock from Red River) and letting the printer manage the color.

Thanks for your suggestions. Can you think of anything else?
 
????

Maybe, they are older but I have multiple Epson printers where the Color Options tab on the Mac allows one to turn off color management.
 
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This is where I have to fess up and say I am a PC user , so specific Mac detail is more the domain of others. However I have to ask, are you using Red River profile for the paper that you print on ?
 
I have no experience in printing from Pages, but looking at the print settings dialog you can, under the Color Settings drop down menu, turn off Color Adjustment If you do this and things are still way off then try downloading the Adobe Color Printing Utility from the adobe website - https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/no-color-management-option-missing.html

Although this says that it is not supported in OSX 10.15 or later there are those who say that it does work with the later OSXs including Monterey - although I can't vouch for that personally.

if a print from that is still off then you probably have a printer problem and should contact Epson. if this seems oK then something is wrong with Pages as a print engine.

You could try and download a trial version of one of Adobe's programs - Photoshop Elements, Photoshop proper or Lightroom. Then with the correct icc profile for your paper (available for download from the paper suppler) print out and see what you get.

My instinct is, if your nozzle checks are all OK, then your problem lies with Pages.
 
Yeah, I'd be wary of Pages.

My suggestion is to download a trial version of QImage and see whether that solves the problem - not that I was able to find a reason to use it myself, just that it's a reliable printing program.
 
The Adobe Color Printing Utility is for printing Colour Profiling Targets only, i.e. not actual images, as it has no Colour Management! However, it does work with Monterey, etc.

I would also be very wary about printing from Pages, and expecting Colour Management to work properly!

I would second the suggestion of trying Qimage. Have you also tried Epson's own Print Layout software?

Printing Custom Printer Profiles Targets (Charts) With The Adobe Color Printer Utility - Macs

Printing Profiling Colour Targets with the Adobe Color Printer Utility on a Mac
www.colourphil.co.uk www.colourphil.co.uk
 
Frank_E2 said:
I am having problems printing from my Epson 3880 (from a 24 inch iMac running Monterey 12.3.1).

1) Colors are off. For example, a tree trunk, which should be brown, prints as grey. This printed correctly on earlier prints of the same image.

2) The background (a field and hill) appear muddy—no separation of tones. Again, this was not a problem in earlier prints.

Nozzle check looks normal. I deleted and reinstalled the Epson driver, but this did not make any difference.

These problems are new. Also, I don't have this problem when printing on another ink jet printer (a general purpose office printer).

Any suggestions on what the problem may be, or next steps to take?
Click to expand...
I print on the XP-15000.

No issues with color prints.
 
Resetting the Printer driver has worked with color issues for me in the past.

I find that after every OS upgrade, I need to reset the printer drivers otherwise colors will be off.

Drove me crazy to figure that one out
 
Noel730N said:
Resetting the Printer driver has worked with color issues for me in the past.

I find that after every OS upgrade, I need to reset the printer drivers otherwise colors will be off.
Drove me crazy to figure that one out
Click to expand...
In case it is not clear how to reset the printing system (took me a while to realize this):

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/reset-printing-system-mac-solve-a-problem-mh14001/mac

This solved some problems for me that simply uninstalling and re-installing the driver did not solve
 
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ColourPhil said:
kciuk aka Ken60 said:
Frank too many possible errors , but with a Mac two spring to mind . Firstly get off the air print driver . Delete your printer to remove all drivers. Then go to the manufacturers site and download the Epson driver for this and when you reinstall the printer make sure it uses this new driver.

Next is a bit more complicated if you are new to this . Generally when you print from say Photoshop, you tell the computer to let Photoshop manage the colour.... then you need to go into the Printers side of the equation and tell it NOT to manage the colour ( because Photoshop is doing it. If you forget the second part of telling the other party to leave it alone, what you have is BOTH trying to run the show and running any chance of good colour. When Photoshop manages colour you will need an icc profile for the paper you are using on that printer. Go to the paper manufacturers site and download a paper icc profile for your printer and that paper . Install this on your system and use it when you print.
Click to expand...
On a Mac you can't (or should NOT) be able to turn off Colour Management in the printer driver. Unless you have the Bad Airprint driver!

It could be the Airprint driver or it COULD be that you have '16-bit' printing selected in the printer driver. That may give very unpredictable results, and that problem comes and goes!

I'm using a 3880 with a Mac on 12.3.1 and it's OK.

https://www.colourphil.co.uk/printing-mac_colour_problems.shtml

https://www.colourphil.co.uk/printing-epson-mac.shtml

Also, have you tried printing a 'standard' image? i.e. a known good one.
Click to expand...
What I find is that if I choose Photoshop manages colours, then the Color Management radio button in the printer driver is greyed out - it that what you mean by “can’t urn off Color management in the printer driver”? It sounded at first read like you were saying that we should use Color management in the printer driver:-)
 
AlephNull said:
ColourPhil said:
kciuk aka Ken60 said:
Frank too many possible errors , but with a Mac two spring to mind . Firstly get off the air print driver . Delete your printer to remove all drivers. Then go to the manufacturers site and download the Epson driver for this and when you reinstall the printer make sure it uses this new driver.

Next is a bit more complicated if you are new to this . Generally when you print from say Photoshop, you tell the computer to let Photoshop manage the colour.... then you need to go into the Printers side of the equation and tell it NOT to manage the colour ( because Photoshop is doing it. If you forget the second part of telling the other party to leave it alone, what you have is BOTH trying to run the show and running any chance of good colour. When Photoshop manages colour you will need an icc profile for the paper you are using on that printer. Go to the paper manufacturers site and download a paper icc profile for your printer and that paper . Install this on your system and use it when you print.
Click to expand...
On a Mac you can't (or should NOT) be able to turn off Colour Management in the printer driver. Unless you have the Bad Airprint driver!

It could be the Airprint driver or it COULD be that you have '16-bit' printing selected in the printer driver. That may give very unpredictable results, and that problem comes and goes!

I'm using a 3880 with a Mac on 12.3.1 and it's OK.

https://www.colourphil.co.uk/printing-mac_colour_problems.shtml

https://www.colourphil.co.uk/printing-epson-mac.shtml

Also, have you tried printing a 'standard' image? i.e. a known good one.
Click to expand...
What I find is that if I choose Photoshop manages colours, then the Color Management radio button in the printer driver is greyed out - it that what you mean by “can’t urn off Color management in the printer driver”? It sounded at first read like you were saying that we should use Color management in the printer driver:-)
Click to expand...
You can use either Printer Manages Color or Application (Photoshop, etc.) Manages Color, but not both! Application Color Management gives you more control.

With 'modern' printers and modern Macs (ie since about 2010 or before) AND the correct Epson/Canon, etc. printer driver, Color Management in the printer driver will be turned OFF for you (ie greyed-out) when using Application Color Management. If it is selectable you almost certainly have a problem!
 
Frank_E2 said:
I am having problems printing from my Epson 3880 (from a 24 inch iMac running Monterey 12.3.1).

1) Colors are off. For example, a tree trunk, which should be brown, prints as grey. This printed correctly on earlier prints of the same image.

2) The background (a field and hill) appear muddy—no separation of tones. Again, this was not a problem in earlier prints.

Nozzle check looks normal. I deleted and reinstalled the Epson driver, but this did not make any difference.

These problems are new. Also, I don't have this problem when printing on another ink jet printer (a general purpose office printer).

Any suggestions on what the problem may be, or next steps to take?
Click to expand...
Frank.

I feel your pain. Same situation with my Canon PRO-300 /PRO Luster ICC Profiles as well.

iCC Profile is visible under the PRINT Module in LRC.
However dig deeper under Printer in bottom right in the Print Module a PRINT window will appear. In “ Show Presets” in options to right, color, you will See “Automatic”. This is the crux of the issue you are having. My test print, like yours is a winter scene with at Yellowstone with snow covered trees with tree bark. Proper color is a brown. If Printed with Automatic, the bark is a Spicy Brown Mustard, not what is on the Calibrated iMac Monitor.

Having to remove the Drivers and removing and adding the Printer every time Apple releases a Mac OS update, is a royal pain the ass.
Wake up Tim Cook… Adobe……’
 
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