Canon Color Profiles

[Sabian Smith]

I have a Canon Pixma MX850 inkjet and I notice that digital photos have a
sepia or brownish/pink overtone to them using the default settings.

I notice Adobe Photoshop gives you the option of using the printer's own
color management or photoshop color management. Which is the preferable one
to start with?

In each category there are several options, ex:

Printer Color Management: Driver, ICM (Standard or Adobe RGB 1998)
Photoshop: Many including sRGB IEC61966, RGB 1998, and various canon
profiles (Canon MX850 Series PR1, PR1, MP2 etc)

How do I know which color profile to use? I have tried several but they all
have poor color representation.

 

[glathrem]

Experiment. I found the best color matching setting on my canon to be NONE.
btw, the PR is for photo paper pro, mp is for matte, sp means photo paper
plus glossy. the number in the profile name is for the quality setting. Its
a top secret code canon must not want anyone to use as they give no
information about their profiles. If your not using canon paper you're on
your own. Try manual color adjustment to get rid of the pink.

 

[tomm42]

I have a Canon Pixma MX850 inkjet and I notice that digital photos have a
sepia or brownish/pink overtone to them using the default settings.

I notice Adobe Photoshop gives you the option of using the printer's own
color management or photoshop color management. Which is the preferable one
to start with?

In each category there are several options, ex:

Printer Color Management: Driver, ICM (Standard or Adobe RGB 1998)
Photoshop: Many including sRGB IEC61966, RGB 1998, and various canon
profiles (Canon MX850 Series PR1, PR1, MP2 etc)

How do I know which color profile to use? I have tried several but they all
have poor color representation.

In general Canon drivers do a poor job at color. Best to use
Photoshop, use the print with preview screen, make sure it shows
profiles etc. You want to use the profiles from Canon. Some paper
manufacturers include profiles for letter sized printers but not many,
Ilford seems to cover a lot of Canon printers. Anyway set you profile,
set the rendering intent to perceptual or relative colormetric. Go
into the printer driver and make sure the correct paper is selected,
then find the color settings and make sure color management is off.
This is often where problems occur and the printer gets two
conflicting orders and makes a lousy print.
sRGB may give a flatter looking print than aRGB from an inkjet,
experiment see what works for you.

Tom

 

[Roy G]

In general Canon drivers do a poor job at color. Best to use
Photoshop, use the print with preview screen, make sure it shows
profiles etc. You want to use the profiles from Canon. Some paper
manufacturers include profiles for letter sized printers but not many,
Ilford seems to cover a lot of Canon printers. Anyway set you profile,
set the rendering intent to perceptual or relative colormetric. Go
into the printer driver and make sure the correct paper is selected,
then find the color settings and make sure color management is off.
This is often where problems occur and the printer gets two
conflicting orders and makes a lousy print.
sRGB may give a flatter looking print than aRGB from an inkjet,
experiment see what works for you.

Tom

Hi.

Tom's advice is sound.

You will also need to set up Photoshop to use the correct Working Space
profile, and the options for mismatched profiles.

I believe Canon has a downloadable PDF which tells you how to use Colour
Management, and specifically how to turn off CM, in their Printers.

The incorrect results you are getting could be due to having both PS and
your Printer Driver doing CM. Hence the need to Turn it Off in the Printer.

The obvious and first place to check is always your Display.

Has it been Calibrated and Profiled??

You will be able to find Workflows for Colour Management on the Web, and
there is one for Epson Printers on my Camera Club Website, which you should
be able to adapt to suit your Canon.

www.ayrphoto.org.uk then go to Notices & Info then How to Print for
Accurate Colour.

Roy G

 

[Sabian Smith]

Thanks for the advice, folks. I will try these suggestions out!