problem printing black (Canon Pixma)

[spiffy]

Hi everyone,

I am posting this question here because it's not necessairly a media-related problem, but I hope somone can help me.

I recently got a Canon Pixma printer (IP4000), and for the most part I am very happy with the result. However, I noticed that when I am printing an image with a lot of black or very dark background, the color printout becomes more dark grey or even dark green instead of true, deep black. Printing black and white text is not a problem at all. Does anyone have similar problems or know how to fix this? I bought this printer mainly for printing DVD labels. And it's very frustrating when the black is not true black.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Spiffy

[canadateck]

This is common on Scanned Images,The way to get the best print/Blacks would be to imort the Image in PaintShop or Photoshop, and adjust the color levels.

[rallynavvie]

Either that or the images you're using are in RGB and not CMYK or grayscale so the printer or program has to interpret the RGB color space into CMYK. Most interpret only 0-0-0 in RGB to a perfect black, all else is going to get marred with color in addition to the black. However RGB is a larger color space and for most new printers with more than 4-color tanks it's sometimes best to leave the picture in RGB so it is not inhibited by the CMYK gamut. When mixing black text with such images you're going to need to have a better application to ouput with. Using InDesign I can create designs with CMYK and RGB color spaces, reserving CMYK for vector work and RGB for any photos I import. When I export this to PDF it takes it both as RGB and CMYK. Then when printing I let the printer driver convert the color data to its color space (I have a 6-color R320 at home for printing on DVDs) so the photos can take advantage of the wider gamut of a 6-color ink system while the line art comes out in pretty true colors. But it is a little more complicated than even that.

BTW you aren't printing disc labels and adhering them to DVDs are you? That's generally a bad practice. Search around the forums, there are plenty of threads regarding this. Best to get a printer that prints directly on printable DVDs.

[spiffy]

No, I am actually using TY printables -- but I am very new to scanning/printing discs -- this is my first inkjet printer, in fact. I have no idea about the whole RGB vs. CMYK scenario, though!

After I posted my original message last night, I did some test prints of b/w images I found on the net, and the black came out just fine... So maybe it is a scanning/color level issue. Most of the labels I print are direct scans of the original discs. I tried leaving most of the settings unchanged, except the automatic adjustment of color levels and a descreen filter. And since most of the scans are photos, the result come out pretty good. It's only when the background is black or very dark colors, that my printer seem to choke on the output.

Is importing the scanned image into a photo application to adjust the color levels the only viable option? Isn't there some settings I can tweak at the scanning level? The b/w images I test-printed last night were scans as well, and my printer didn't have trouble interpreting the black.

Spiffy

[rallynavvie]

Most scanner drivers allow you to make color corrections when you scan. I know my Epsons at work do, and I think my Canon here at home does as well. Usually I don't let the scanner do the color corrections since it's getting imported into Photoshop where I've got a little more control over the corrections but for most the scanner software corrections should work fine.