Poor blacks in photo paper printing - G7020 Megatank. Washed out/faded blacks. Please help.

[Roman Bershadsky]

All reviews I found say that it prints out good photos, but these are not good. They are not mediocre - they are plainly unacceptable.

My previous Canon inkjet was 15 years old and it just died. It printed very nice photos. I bought G7020 and the photos on the same glossy photo paper come out washed out and low-contrast. The colors look good, but the blacks are just not there, they are just grey. As a result, overall contrast fades. I don't even have to compare - it just looks faded. Side by side with my old Canon - it's even more obvious. The difference is huge.

Is there something I'm doing wrong or I can do? If not I'd have to return the printer, shipping at my expense, so I'd rather fix this if possible.

• Everything has installed fine, printouts of nozzle checks are fine, and everything is clean and neat
• Document printing (black text) is fine
• Color balance looks good, other than washed-out blacks it looks good
• I tried printing from image viewer (Irfanview) as I always did, Photoshop with "Canon IJ 2015" ICC profile (disabled color matching in driver), Lightroom with the same profile and without, default Photo printing settings, also Standard printing settings (on Glossy Photo paper setting), the driver manages colors, or ICC profile colors. results are very close and all have washed out blacks.
• I also printed from my phone over WiFi via Canon Android app - got the same low-contrast grayish blacks. So it's definitely not software.
• I'm sure it's not possible for any reviewer to judge those photos as anything close to acceptable. And yet all photo reviews say it's OK. Nobody said "it's terrible". I'm not aiming for a pro level, but just decent everyday photos. Dark black hair looks grey, the face looks pale, etc. It looks just like someone has pulled the black level way up, destroying all contrast.
• Is there another ICC profile I could try, or a setting that I'm missing? Driver dialog looks very similar to 15-year old Canon, so I'm fairly sure I'm setting everything correctly.
• I'm aware it uses pigmented black not dye but it still should be able to print acceptable photos. I must be missing something...

 

[wilberforce_1]

If it is anything like my Epson 4-color (CMYK) Ecotank printer, it likely uses only CMY for printing on glossy photo paper, and no black. The pigment black is usually intended for text on plain paper. These types are printers are intended primarily for office documents, not photos. Nevertheless, they can often do a pretty good job on photos.

Much depends on the paper you are using. You should use, at least initially, the highest quality Canon photo paper that is recommended for use with this printer, and not just assume "the same glossy photo paper" as used in your previous printer will work well.

 

[graysky]

If it is anything like my Epson 4-color (CMYK) Ecotank printer, it likely uses only CMY for printing on glossy photo paper, and no black. The pigment black is usually intended for text on plain paper. ........................

Resurrecting an old thread / hope nobody minds. Can anyone confirm whether this is true for the G7020, that when printing photos on glossy paper it produces the black from dye CMY combinations, and doesn't use its pigment black ink at all?

Background: Seems like printers are the obsession of the holiday season for me this year. When our Officejet finally crapped out, I purchased an Epson ET-8550. But for more of a daily use printer for the family and to take some load off the ET-8550 I was thinking of getting the G7020. This would also become an off-to-college printer for one of my kids next year. Then someone mentioned how the G7020 doesn't have a maintenance cartridge, thus I turned against the G7020. However....before the cyber week deal ended, I was waffling back and forth and ended up placing an order for it anyway. Haven't opened it yet. Figure I'll get the Canon 4yr warranty, and I've read about some solutions for the waste ink absorber pad problem.

Now I'm curious how well it mixes onto a photo the pigment black and dye colors, for glossy or matte? (granted, I'll still have the ET-8550 for important photos, but I'd still like to know) Printers like the Canon GX4020 have all pigment inks, and it's willing to print photos onto glossy paper (although apparently doesn't do well with glossy). There are certainly better choices than the G7020, but total cost for a printer with its feature set that should last at least 4 years is pretty attractive. I may also use it for some borderless photos, to avoid doing as much borderless on the ET-8550.

 

[graysky]

I think I may have accidentally found the answer to my own question. I accidentally loaded a 4x6 piece of glossy photo paper upside down. I had the printer set for glossy 4x6. When it printed, there were a lot of blotches all over of what looked like pure black ink, that took a while to eventually disperse/spread onto that wrong side of the paper. Based on that, I think the pigment black is used even when set to glossy. On the next print, when I did it correctly, it's not even evident that the pigment black was used (but I'm thinking it had to be), but in my opinion the blacks weren't so bad.

Edit: actually, now that I think about it, I guess there's no way for me to be sure that those raised blotches of what looks like the pure black ink really are. Anyway, the printer doesn't seem too bad to me, except that the little non-backlit display is maddening. I realize the G7020 lacks the waste ink maintenance cartridge, so maybe down the road I'll invest in the Printer Potty solution.