Calibrating Canon iP 6600D to Apple Cinema display

Why is calibrating your printer to your monitor such a royal pain?!

My system:

Mac G5 2.0 core dual computer
Mac 20" Cinema Display
Canon iP 6600D printer (new)
Canon Powershot 700 IS camera (new)

My monitor is calibrated using Mac's OS Color Sync calibration software - the result look of the monitor is actually very, very close to the factory presets, which I assume is probably good. The Cinema Displays are supposed to be very good at representing true colors from what I know.

I am using iPhoto for all my photos - this works best especially for my wife. I want to be able to print through iPhoto for ease of use. But I can not get the picture to print what I see on the screen. I need help!

Firstly, it is set to Color Sync when I print and when I go the color management options, I have a choice between Color Sync and BJ Printer (basic factory settings from Canon) --- I notice though when I look at the summary for the print settings (right before printing) that the ICC profile being used (when Color Sync is selected) is the Canon 6600 PR3 (i believe). This is one of the 6600D's ICC profiles for that printer. However, the print comes out way too red compared to the screen. In fact, even without comparing to the screen the shot feels red.

So I figured out by using the Color Sync utility program, I can substitute in a different profile for the Canon 6600 PR3 --- so I loaded the ICC profile for my calibrated monitor. Then when I set up to print through Color Sync, the color management was summarized as referencing my monitor's ICC. Naturally, I figured this is good. However the next print came out too dark this time. The color was definitely better (although maybe a bit greener than the screen by a small amount), but it was very dark compared.

So to summarize in the end - I have my monitor's ICC and my printer is supposedly using it, yet the print result isn't the same as my monitor. Please help. How do I make this better?? I really hope someone out there with a Mac and maybe this printer too, has experienced these problems and can help.

Thank you so much in advance,

Trev

Go to www.ilford.com and get their printer profiles for the paper your using. Mine worked like a charm after their ICC file and instructions.

Last night I was using Canon Paper Pro and later I will be using the Canon Semi-gloss.... when I am setting up to print, I am selecting what kind of Canon paper I am using. So the printer should have the right profile for the paper I'm using. I don't think that's the problem. Somehow the problem seems to exist between the monitor ICC and the printer's ICC.

Thanks for the thought anyway.

Trev