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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Printer outputs incorrect colors.

Mowgli - May 11, 2008 - 2:30 pm

Hi,

I own an Epson Stylus PHOTO R285 printer and have recently bought (ahemm), a refillable cartridge system. When I print colors to either photograph paper or plain paper, the output has a bluey/green tinge. If I print greys to plain paper the output is correct. If I print greys to photograph paper, the output is bluey/green. Before you ask, no, I have not filled the black cartridge with the blue. This is very strange, because previously, when I was using compatible cartridges, everything printed perfectly. My ink supplier informs me that when the printer prints black in photograph mode, it actually prints what is called a composite black, i.e. made up of different colors.

My alternative would be to return to compatible cartridges.

Can you help me please.

Alan.

DeltaMac - May 11, 2008 - 3:01 pm

I suppose you could adjust the color balance in the printer driver to allow for the poor ink that you have now, but as you have discovered, photo printing is very dependent on the ink quality. Epson is probably the worst, using special routines to provide proper photo colors. Then, you changed the setup by using generic ink. Go back to the Epson cartridges.
Maybe you have a local shop, such as the Cartridge World chain, which supposedly guarantees its refill inks to perform similarly to factory original inks.
OR, you may also want to experiment with different brands of photo papers. Different coatings on the photo papers respond to the inks differently, and you might be lucky with a paper match that gives you accurate color balance.
- Dale

Mowgli - May 11, 2008 - 4:22 pm

Hi Dale,

Thanks for your quick response.

I do appreciate your advice and as I said, it will probably mean that I have to revert to the original compatibles that I used prior to this new system. However, the guy, (friend), who I buy my ink from assures me of their quality and I know that he has been selling the same ink to regular customers for a long time.

Regarding the photo paper suggestion, I don't think the problem lies therein, because the problem is also with plain paper.

It is as if when printing in color mode, the black ink is feeding from the cyan i.e. not black is coming through.

The cartridges that I am using are specially chipped and immediately show 'full' when the have been filled. I was wondering if these chips could have any effect on color control.

DeltaMac - May 11, 2008 - 6:35 pm

Maybe you could talk to one of the 'regular customers'. Find out what results they get from printing photos, and ask what paper they use, and find out if any of those have the same printer model that you have.
Yes, some printers do not use the black ink when color is printed.

Have you tried to adjust color balance through the printer driver?

If you were getting good color results before you 'went cheap', then it seems unlikely there's any other blame except that cheap ink that you use. (well, that would be Epson's response)

Did you try a printhead alignment through the Epson printer utility?
Does the test page (from the print utility) show proper colors?

I see from the Epson web site, that your R280 has the capability for auto photo correction, but only with Windows, or OS X 10.5 or higher. Are you using Leopard 10.5 yet?

Mowgli - May 11, 2008 - 7:51 pm

Hi Dale,

Tried adjusting color balance, no luck. Still using Panther I'm afraid.
Thanks for your response, I'll have a chat with my ink man, he said to let him have some test sheets and he will send them to the cartridge maker for advice. I'll let you know the outcome.

Regards

Alan