Printer Quality (DARK)

[Groveland]

Hello,
Thank you for taking the time to read this message.
I have been fiddling around with printing of several pictures.
I have found that the image on the "Monitor" in "NO" was matches the image on the photo paper. I have used KODAK... HP Glossy paper and the image I receive is much darker.
I have used a Canon PIXMA IP5000 printer... and an HP7960 printer both with the same DARK picture results.
Could on of you "Pro's" fill me in on what is happening.
Any suggestions of a printer.
I took the Canon PIXMA IP5000 back because it would print text and pictures on normal paper perfectly but when it was fed glossy photo paper it produced striations on the photo from the feed rails.

No striation with the HP7960 but the pic is dark, pic was dark on the Canon also.
Any information will be appreciated.
Thank you.

[ssim]

Did you download the profiles for the paper that you used. I have a pixma printer as well and it turns out spectacular prints. I used Ilford paper exclusively and with the ICC profiles for the paper it is perfect.

[Jesper]

What did you try to get the prints to match your monitor?

To get a good match between your monitor and printer, you have to learn what colour management is and how to use ICC profiles. You will have to calibrate and profile your monitor (preferrably with a hardware color measurement device) and you'll need ICC profiles for the specific combination of printer, ink and paper you're using. For printing you will need software that takes the ICC profile into account.

Norman Koren's website (http://www.normankoren.com/) contains a lot of background info (read his "Making fine prints in your digital darkroom" pages).

Computer Darkroom (http://www.computer-darkroom.com/) contains some articles about colour management, setting up Photoshop properly and how to use colour management when printing.