Printer doesn't print correct colours

betterbargains4u

I have bought an Epson SX438W printer and although it works great when printing in black, when I print a document or picture in colour it doesn't print the same colours as I have on the monitor.
In fact, sometimes the colours are very very different.
Can anyone let me know how to fix this, please.

-TangleFoot-

Some stuff which might help:

• Color calibration - Wikipedia
• Color Space and Color Profiles | dpBestflow
• Monitor Calibration for Photography

santer_2

Post two is a good move, though I would start with a nozzle check just to make sure all the inks are clear.

closed

colour cartridges in wrong slot?

betterbargains4u

Thanks for your replies.
I will see about the colour calibration, as I have done a nozzle check and the colour cartridges are all in their correct places.

ValHaller

betterbargains4u wrote: »

In fact, sometimes the colours are very very different.
Can anyone let me know how to fix this, please.

Beyond a certain point, it is absolutely unfixable.

Try this: Adjust the screen background on your monitor to match a painted wall behind it in daylight. You'll get close, but never quite hit it. Now close the curtains and put the lights on and see whether you still have the same colour. It will need a fair amount of adjustment.

The reason is that the monitor gives an 'absolute colour' because it is consistently emitting light of that colour. Printed material only reflects the light which falls on it.

Splott

My wife does graphics work for a living and it is so hard to get what is on the monitor to match what comes out the printer she has a massive chart on the wall with all the colours printed on it which she did with her printer so she knows that if she selects a certain number colour what it'll come out of the printer like. That can mean sometimes to get a red you're selecting something that looks like it is more orange on the monitor.

To get a decent match you're looking at spending something like £600 for a Dell U2711 monitor and then another few hundred quid getting someone out to do an IPC calibration on said monitor. And then you need to then start with the printer.

And the more devices you add into the chain, the more complicated it gets with more chance for errors. Add a scanner or a camera and you've got more profiles to deal with. Even changing the paper you use will alter the colour you get.

It can get really expensive really quickly and to be honest, dealing with consumer grade hardware, you're never going to get as close as I think you're wanting to.

Percy1983

I will say I managed to close the gaps massively on my Epson R265s, If you goodle you model you may find some settings which get close, from there tweak away.

In my case I design many DVD covers and I have just got use to the differences on prints as they aren't massive.

As mentioned getting a perfect match is near impossible on consumer grade stuff.

Just to add, I have 2 Epson R265's and they both print marginally different using the same profile!

By all means I can have a look at my settings when I get home later and let you know, they may give you a good starting point.

esuhl

Not sure if this helps, but the colour output of my printer was terrible under Linux. Eventually I realised that the printer had been set to print using RGB colours instead of CMYK... Not sure if there's some setting like that in the driver settings of the OS you're using...?