[potica69]

I just bought a new Dell Studio XPS 9000 desktop equipped with Windows 7 Home Premium. I also bought an HP all-in-one model CD035A printer to use primarily for printing 8 1/2" x 11" photos. I printed about a dozen photos, and all photos had terrible color - totally inaccurate coloration.

I returned the printer to the retailer and upon the advice of a Geek Squad representative at the store, I exchanged the HP printer for a Kodak ESP 7. After installing the new printer, much to my dismay, the first 2 - 8 1/2 x 11" glossy photos I printed had the same terrible coloration.

Is there something in Windows 7 that causes this? Can I adjust something so I can get accurate coloration? What is causing the bad coloration?

My previous HP printer worked like a charm from square one when using a Dell Inspiron equipped with Windows XP Professional. How can I get my color photos to print in accurate colors? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[rgreen4]

potica69, on 28 November 2009 - 04:56 AM, said:

I just bought a new Dell Studio XPS 9000 desktop equipped with Windows 7 Home Premium. I also bought an HP all-in-one model CD035A printer to use primarily for printing 8 1/2" x 11" photos. I printed about a dozen photos, and all photos had terrible color - totally inaccurate coloration.

I returned the printer to the retailer and upon the advice of a Geek Squad representative at the store, I exchanged the HP printer for a Kodak ESP 7. After installing the new printer, much to my dismay, the first 2 - 8 1/2 x 11" glossy photos I printed had the same terrible coloration.

Is there something in Windows 7 that causes this? Can I adjust something so I can get accurate coloration? What is causing the bad coloration?

My previous HP printer worked like a charm from square one when using a Dell Inspiron equipped with Windows XP Professional. How can I get my color photos to print in accurate colors? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Potica69, welcome to the PC World forums. First a little housekeeping. Please do not double post. I know that you think that getting your question out in several areas might hasten answers, but in fact it will work against you. One of the strengths of the open forum format, is that a single responder may not have all the answeres, but his response may trigger an idea from another responder. If the second responder never saw all the responses, the idea may not be forthcoming. So, your other post has been inactivated, as this one is in the correct area.

I can assure you that the color change is not in Windows 7. I have XP, Vista and Windows 7 on this machine, my photo files are on a totally separate drive and they print identically in all three operating systems to my HP printers.

Now that being said, you did not specify the software used to print the photos, but the software that came with all my HP printers has a great deal of adjustment of color built into the software. If you are viewing the picture an an LCD monitor and did not do a color adjustment, what you see on the monitor will be brighter than what you get on the printer (unless to adjust that to match).

But you used the term terrible and inaccurate. Does this mean that a photo of a red car on green grass comes out with an orange car on chartruese grass or a green car on red grass, or just that the grass is darker or lighter than the onscreen and the red of the car is darker or lighter than what is on the screen. The next question is does the image on the screen match reality?

Once we know the software you are using to print the photos and a little more definitive description of what is printed, perhaps we can find a solution. I would point out that when PC World publishes tests of various printers, one of the things they note is the difference in a finished photo off the various printers.

[potica69]

Quote

Potica69, welcome to the PC World forums. First a little housekeeping. Please do not double post. I know that you think that getting your question out in several areas might hasten answers, but in fact it will work against you. One of the strengths of the open forum format, is that a single responder may not have all the answeres, but his response may trigger an idea from another responder. If the second responder never saw all the responses, the idea may not be forthcoming. So, your other post has been inactivated, as this one is in the correct area.

I can assure you that the color change is not in Windows 7. I have XP, Vista and Windows 7 on this machine, my photo files are on a totally separate drive and they print identically in all three operating systems to my HP printers.

Now that being said, you did not specify the software used to print the photos, but the software that came with all my HP printers has a great deal of adjustment of color built into the software. If you are viewing the picture an an LCD monitor and did not do a color adjustment, what you see on the monitor will be brighter than what you get on the printer (unless to adjust that to match).

But you used the term terrible and inaccurate. Does this mean that a photo of a red car on green grass comes out with an orange car on chartruese grass or a green car on red grass, or just that the grass is darker or lighter than the onscreen and the red of the car is darker or lighter than what is on the screen. The next question is does the image on the screen match reality?

Once we know the software you are using to print the photos and a little more definitive description of what is printed, perhaps we can find a solution. I would point out that when PC World publishes tests of various printers, one of the things they note is the difference in a finished photo off the various printers.

Prior to printing 8 1/2 x 11 photos on high quality HP photo paper on the first brand new HP printer I got, I adjusted the photo image using Paint Shop Pro 9. After the adjusting while still in Paint Shop I hit the "Print" command to print. I was printing photos of Caucasian people photographed in the summer wearing shorts and short sleave shirts, so a good amount of skin was exposed. In all cases after printing 12-15 photos, the skin colors were way too yellow or way too orange and not at all natural. Pathetic colors!

Then, when I got the Kodak ESP7 printer, I once again used Paint Shop to make adjustments and then printed. Now, the skin colors were too magenta. Skin color appeared deep rose or purplish. Then, I thought I would try another angle. I used the Kodak software that came with the printer to adjust the photo files prior to printing. I got the same results - skin was way too magenta. I even cleaned the printhead twice on the printer as advised in the Kodak instructions. Still no cure!

What can I do?

In the past when using Windows XP Professional and a good HP printer I've used Paint Shop Pro 9 to adjust 100's of photos prior to printing, and I never had a color issue. Now I have all brand new equipment and cannot print photos that have reasonably accurate color. Please help!

Thanks

[rgreen4]

potica69, on 28 November 2009 - 06:57 AM, said:

Quote

Potica69, welcome to the PC World forums. First a little housekeeping. Please do not double post. I know that you think that getting your question out in several areas might hasten answers, but in fact it will work against you. One of the strengths of the open forum format, is that a single responder may not have all the answeres, but his response may trigger an idea from another responder. If the second responder never saw all the responses, the idea may not be forthcoming. So, your other post has been inactivated, as this one is in the correct area.

I can assure you that the color change is not in Windows 7. I have XP, Vista and Windows 7 on this machine, my photo files are on a totally separate drive and they print identically in all three operating systems to my HP printers.

Now that being said, you did not specify the software used to print the photos, but the software that came with all my HP printers has a great deal of adjustment of color built into the software. If you are viewing the picture an an LCD monitor and did not do a color adjustment, what you see on the monitor will be brighter than what you get on the printer (unless to adjust that to match).

But you used the term terrible and inaccurate. Does this mean that a photo of a red car on green grass comes out with an orange car on chartruese grass or a green car on red grass, or just that the grass is darker or lighter than the onscreen and the red of the car is darker or lighter than what is on the screen. The next question is does the image on the screen match reality?

Once we know the software you are using to print the photos and a little more definitive description of what is printed, perhaps we can find a solution. I would point out that when PC World publishes tests of various printers, one of the things they note is the difference in a finished photo off the various printers.

Prior to printing 8 1/2 x 11 photos on high quality HP photo paper on the first brand new HP printer I got, I adjusted the photo image using Paint Shop Pro 9. After the adjusting while still in Paint Shop I hit the "Print" command to print. I was printing photos of Caucasian people photographed in the summer wearing shorts and short sleave shirts, so a good amount of skin was exposed. In all cases after printing 12-15 photos, the skin colors were way too yellow or way too orange and not at all natural. Pathetic colors!

Then, when I got the Kodak ESP7 printer, I once again used Paint Shop to make adjustments and then printed. Now, the skin colors were too magenta. Skin color appeared deep rose or purplish. Then, I thought I would try another angle. I used the Kodak software that came with the printer to adjust the photo files prior to printing. I got the same results - skin was way too magenta. I even cleaned the printhead twice on the printer as advised in the Kodak instructions. Still no cure!

What can I do?

In the past when using Windows XP Professional and a good HP printer I've used Paint Shop Pro 9 to adjust 100's of photos prior to printing, and I never had a color issue. Now I have all brand new equipment and cannot print photos that have reasonably accurate color. Please help!

Thanks

What kind of monitor were you using with XP Pro?

[mjd420nova]

My first inclination would be to direct you to print out the photos directly from explorer or media center without making any adjustments via another software program. I suspect that things will give a fair representation of the photo as displayed on the monitor. If this doesn't happen, the colors are still out of whack, then I suspect that your monitor is in need of adjustment to get the colors inline with something resembling reality. There are many calibration programs available but you may find a color chart just about anywhere. I have run across two cases where my clients were borderline color-blind and one who was severly color-blind but would not or could not admit it to me or his employer. What do the test prints on the printers look like?

This post has been edited by mjd420nova: 28 November 2009 - 11:40 AM

[potica69]

Quote

What kind of monitor were you using with XP Pro?

A standard large 17" monitor - not a flat screen.

The prints I am making now with the Kodak ESP7 give people skin color that is rose-purple - not even close to the image on the monitor.

[potica69]

Quote

My first inclination would be to direct you to print out the photos directly from explorer or media center without making any adjustments via another software program.

I went onto Google image search and found a color portrait of a Caucasian person. I opened the image onto a new Windows page, then clicked on File/Print. The person's face on the printed photo was still rose-purple.

I'm frustrated to the max.

[rgreen4]

potica69, on 28 November 2009 - 01:06 PM, said:

Quote

My first inclination would be to direct you to print out the photos directly from explorer or media center without making any adjustments via another software program.

I went onto Google image search and found a color portrait of a Caucasian person. I opened the image onto a new Windows page, then clicked on File/Print. The person's face on the printed photo was still rose-purple.

I'm frustrated to the max.

I am grasping at straws here, but have you tried uninstalling the printer and re-installing it?

Have you talked to the Kodak people?

I will be honest, in using various operating systems and many different HP printers, I have never encountered this problem. The worst problem I ever had was with a printer that had a tendency to print at a slight angle due to the paper twisting as it went through.

Although it will not solve your problem, for testing purposes, you might want to consider printing on plain white paper rather than the very expensive 8 1/2 x 11 glossy paper. The colors won't be as vibrant, but significant color shifts will be apparent. I use 4x6 index cards to test before I put the 4x6 glossy paper in. And the 4x6 paper is far cheaper than the 8 1/2 x 11 glossy.

I too was leaning toward the monitor being off, but if you downloaded an image and it looks right and prints poorly, then I lean toward the driver. I am going to assume that the disc with the Kodak had Windows 7 or Vista drivers on it. Vista drivers will work, although specific Windows 7 drivers would be better.

[potica69]

I called Kodak support, and the representative walked me through a few diagnostic steps/tests on the printer.

Whatever he discovered, he ended by telling me that Kodak will ship me free of charge within 2 business days a new printhead (which by the way comes separately from the printer in the carton that you need to snap into place prior to installing the ink cartridges).

He said they have a new & improved printhead that I should try. To me, that sounds like the original one was prone to malfunctioning and they are aware of it. Reasonable enough to conclude?

Thanks for all the advice.

potica69

This post has been edited by potica69: 29 November 2009 - 05:12 AM

[smax013]

potica69, on 29 November 2009 - 05:10 AM, said:

I called Kodak support, and the representative walked me through a few diagnostic steps/tests on the printer.

Whatever he discovered, he ended by telling me that Kodak will ship me free of charge within 2 business days a new printhead (which by the way comes separately from the printer in the carton that you need to snap into place prior to installing the ink cartridges).

He said they have a new & improved printhead that I should try. To me, that sounds like the original one was prone to malfunctioning and they are aware of it. Reasonable enough to conclude?

Thanks for all the advice.

potica69

Hopefully, the new print head will help.

When you mentioned that you different color effects from the two different printers, this kind of suggests to me that it is definitely a printer issue. Now, it might be just due to different color toning for the specific printer. You might be able to compensate for this by using a calibration tool. It is possible that you could get the monitor to reflect the color the printer will do and then be able to adjust for that.

Or it could just be the printers were "bad" for printing photos with good color. Some printers just print with certain color tints.