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Epson SC-P900 colors inaccurate
Tagged: epson, magenta cast, sp900
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AuthorTopic: Epson SC-P900 colors inaccurate Read 6437 Times
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Epson SC-P900 colors inaccurateon: January 4, 2023 at 7:40 pm
Thanks so much Mark. I’m confident it would not have happened without your generous help, much appreciated.
Eric
Re: Epson SC-P900 colors inaccurateReply #1 on: January 4, 2023 at 10:08 pmGlad to hear that the issue has been resolved. It’s those little things that sometimes just drive us crazy. I’m pleased you found your solution from help on the forum. That’s why we have it there. There are a lot of readers of this site and forum with a ton on knowledge. Thanks Eric for being part of the PXL family.
Kevin Raber
Owner and Publisher of photoPXLRe: Epson SC-P900 colors inaccurateReply #2 on: December 9, 2023 at 2:42 pmHey everyone! It’s been amazing reading all of your responses to the OP. I have a similar issue, but have not been able to solve it through soft proofing. Ive owned an SP900 for almost a year and have an awful time with a magenta cast. I also own a Canon Pro-4000 and a Canon Pro-6100. Prints from my Canon machines look great, while prints from my Epson look awful. I even went as far as to recently purchase a Calibrate Colorchecker Studio. The profiles I have created look absolutely awful, leading me to believe that the color charts I used had the cast when I printed them. Ive gone over every forum I could fine. Ive removed and reinstalled the printer over a dozen times. I do use wifi, but I know it is not the AirPrint driver. I also tried printing from my old MacBook Pro that is running Catalina. I currently use an M1 MacBook Pro with a Benq SW321 that is calibrated with PMU. Ive wasted so much ink and paper. I don’t know what to do. I primarily use this printer in my shop for 4×6 and 5×7’s. But ive just never been happy with the results and my recent experience with creating profiles and how off they are make me think Im doing something wrong.
Any ideas would be lovely!
Re: Epson SC-P900 colors inaccurateReply #3 on: December 9, 2023 at 5:43 pmThen maybe do the Epson Enema and install the print drivers (from Epson) again:
1.Delete all instances of Epson printers from System Preferences (System Settings in Ventura onward)>Print & Fax.
2.Then go to /Library/Printers and toss the whole Epson folder.
3.Toss LFP Remote Panel (IF you are using this utility for your printer).
4.Then reinstall drivers from Epson and never Apple.
NOTE: IF you have more than one Epson printer, you need to install the driver in the order of their release! Older then newer or you run into issues (eg, install 4800 before you’d install 3880).
Make sure every time you print using Application Manages Printer, the radio button is selected for ColorSync, not Epson Color Controls, as in some macOS versions, it isn’t sticky (Apple bug).
Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management" (pluralsight.com)”
Re: Epson SC-P900 colors inaccurateReply #4 on: December 9, 2023 at 5:52 pmThank you Digital Dog! You were my next stop, Ive seen your name around and several people have told me you could probably help! I’ll give the Enema a go and report back (I do believe sometimes Epson Color Controls radio button is selected, though both are grayed out so I didnt think it affected the print).
Re: Epson SC-P900 colors inaccurateReply #5 on: December 9, 2023 at 5:55 pmSome software products use a private (undocumented) SPI called kPMApplicationColorMatching, which you see in Photoshop and Lightroom, and the Adobe Color Print Utility. When you set Application Manages Color, the area of the driver that controls Colorsync will alter the radio buttons such they are grayed out. X-Rite’s i1Profiler has also implemented this SPI. The newer bug is that the wrong radio button is grayed out, which will make a butt-ugly print. It might have been fixed in Sonoma. I’ve yet to see it show up, but I haven’t made a ton of prints on it yet. Bottom line: always check.
Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management" (pluralsight.com)”
Re: Epson SC-P900 colors inaccurateReply #6 on: December 9, 2023 at 7:30 pmSo if the wrong one is grayed out how do you fix it? It is definitely not fixed in Sonoma I see it all the time. In PS you can just select printer manages color then it’s not grayed out and you can set it how you want and then go back and change it to Photoshop manages color. But in LR do you just select managed by printer than change it within the driver and move forward?
- This reply was modified 4 months, 1 week ago by Jarred Decker.
Re: Epson SC-P900 colors inaccurateReply #7 on: December 9, 2023 at 7:48 pmThe only way I’ve ‘fixed it’ is to futz around with various settings, like toggling Printer Manages Color, then back, and eventually, it sets correctly.
Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management" (pluralsight.com)”
Re: Epson SC-P900 colors inaccurateReply #8 on: December 12, 2023 at 7:04 pmWell I believe I solved the problem and I feel like a complete idiot. I did the Epson Enema and it didnt help. Then I stopped using the Red River Profile and just used Epsons profiles that came with the printer, along with my Red River paper. And the red cast is gone. So frustrated. I spent $500 on a Calibrate ColorChecker Studio to fix this. The thing is those profiles came out awful too but Im wondering if I used the Red River profile when printing the test sheets. Im going to try it again making sure I use the Epson profiles. Youve had good luck with this device have you not Andrew?
Thanks for your help!
- This reply was modified 4 months, 1 week ago by Jarred Decker.
Re: Epson SC-P900 colors inaccurateReply #9 on: December 12, 2023 at 10:01 pmThis Calibrate Studio system uses the older ColorMunki hardware which is capable of making very good profiles.
And no, you would never use the Red River profile when printing the test targets for a profile if that’s what you did. Targets are printed with NO color management.
Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management" (pluralsight.com)”
Re: Epson SC-P900 colors inaccurateReply #10 on: December 13, 2023 at 12:48 pmHi,
I may have some good news if you are struggling with your P900 like I was.
For what it’s worth, I purchased a P900 a couple of years ago to replace my 3880 which gave up in the middle of a print.
The 3880 was always bang on, beautiful prints. The P900 not so much – after installing the P900 and making some test prints they came out a bit dark, lower contrast and with a slight color cast in green-yellow-brownish. I tested multiple papers from various vendors (Epson, Hahnemule, Canson etc) with their corresponding ICC files from the vendors. I also printed from various softwares including Capture One (my preferred sw), Adobe RAW, Lightroom, Photoshop, Epsons own software. All had the same issues being dull and lifeless with the same color cast, both in color prints and B/W. I was using a hardware calibrated Eizo screen.
The printer was duly parked in a corner in a spare room and I was contemplating to ditch it on the local scrap heap.
Last month I decided to give it a last chance before sending it off to the printer heaven. In doing so I reinstalled all my software on a new MacBook Pro 16 and lo and behold, the test prints came out perfect! My entire procedure and softwares were the same, the ICCs the same, the papers the same, same monitor.
Which leads me to conclude that either A) there has been a bug in MacOS related to color management or B) that there were some leftovers from the 3880 installation on the old MacBook which somehow interfered with the 900 installation… So if you have the same issue, a total reinstall of your computer (incl OS) might do the trick.
Anyway, now a happy user and a P900 saved 🙂
Let me know if you want more details on versions etc.
Henrik
Re: Epson SC-P900 colors inaccurateReply #11 on: December 13, 2023 at 12:52 pmI appreciate the insight! I don’t think it was a Mac OS bug as my Canon large formats print BEAUTIFULLY. It’s only the Epson. After what I discovered yesterday I truly believe that my entire problem was the Red River icc profile. Im working on a new profile and will check back in once its tested!
There is definitely some Mac OS bugs nowadays but Andrew has let us know how to work around them. They were not part of my issue.
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