Getting conitor colors on the print

I'm using a Canon ip5200r printer, and a Dell 3008 monitor calibrated with Spyder Pro 3. The printer is set up according to Qimage, which I use to print. Qimage does the color management, not the printer.

No matter what ICC code I use, whether Canon ir5200 PR1, Adobe 1998, or the calibrated Dell monitor ICC, the prints on Kodak Pro Glossy paper come out with different colors and different saturations than what I see on the monitor. Some ICC's produce a close match, some totally off.

Is there any way to print what I see? Is it the printer and will a higher end printer do better?

Just point me to a thread if this question has already been answered.

Using either a working space profile (Adobe RGB) or a monitor profile is just plain wrong. Using the generic printer profile should put you in the neighborhood, but it's made for Canon papers. You need a profile that is specific for the printer and the paper. Maybe with luck you can find it on Kodak's web site.

When you say:

It's not clear how you are trying to "use" these ICC profiles: are you using them to select a printer profile in your print software? If so the only "proper" profile is you Canon printer/paper profile and from what you say you seem to have as a choice. That should get you the closest to a match.

Other profiles (monitor, color space) are not for use in printing, and selecting them can lead to unknown results!

If you are using the supplied printer/paper profile to print and get bad results then you will have to go into calibration issues and/or printer/paper profile issues.

As to whether you "need" a better printer, well, that's hard to say -- I know nothing about although like many, many things "you get what you pay for" is not just a marketing ploy, it's also a fact of life. Photo printers are developed to deliver the highest quality photo prints, whereas "all purpose" printers are meant to deliver fast, good "all purpose" prints but not-so-much on the need for high quality photo prints.

Thanks gentlemen. I downloaded the ICC code from Kodak for this Canon printer and their Professional paper, and the prints are much better, perhaps not as saturated, but the colors are correct. Yes, I'm using them to select a printer profile in the Qimage software.

I had tried that with an ICC from their site a few days ago, but I must have downloaded the wrong one. This one today is obviously the correct one.

I agree completely that you get what you pay for, I just don't have anything to compare my prints to. I suspect B&H can print out a file on any of their printers for comparison, and I can go down there anytime.

So, getting a proper profile helps, good for you! Getting your personal output from you home printer can be challenging depending on your specific monitor and printer/paper qualities -- you may need some tweaks to get things "good enough". Many people prefer to use a professional print lab for the demanding jobs and tweak their system to match those prints. You do what you need to do to meet your own needs.

Get a custom profile made. Only $20. You've probably wasted much more than that in ink and paper already.

http://people.csail.mi​t.edu/ericchan/photos/​profiles.html

ChasP505 wrote in post #12002408
Get a custom profile made. Only $20. You've probably wasted much more than that in ink and paper already.

http://people.csail.mi​t.edu/ericchan/photos/​profiles.html

Since the Kodak profile is perfect, I'll stick with it. However, I'm filing this site away. Thanks.

If saturation is the only remaining issue, you can boost that within Qimage, without the need to create a more saturated copy for print only.

Of course, a custom made profile would be the long-term solution.

agedbriar wrote in post #12003327
If saturation is the only remaining issue, you can boost that within Qimage, without the need to create a more saturated copy for print only.

Of course, a custom made profile would be the long-term solution.

Yes, very good point, Qimage is a wonderful tool for printing, I'm discovering.

The saturation difference might simply be because certain colors cannot be printed. (gamut of the printer / paper is too small)

If you use Photoshop, you could try softproofing. (Or maybe Qimage offers softproofing?)

Yes, Qimage does offer softproofing.

Position the mouse pointer over a thumbnail, then Ctrl+Space.
Space again to toggle between original and proof.

Very handy, but simulation only. No specific Out Of Gamut area warning.