printing problems

[4now]

I have a new iMac 24"

and am having difficulty printing out my digital images properly

The Epson 2400 printer puts out only very dark or very light prints from
within both Lightroom 2.1 and CS4. I have calibrated my monitor with
Spyder3 and have tried everything I know how to get the color to sinc.

 

[Lovesong]

Do you have the right paper profiles?

Also, which are you having control the color? Is it the printer or the software (or perhaps both, in which case you might want to try one or the other)? I've found that the colors come out a bit dark (it's fine on B&Ws) when I have PS control my 3800. I usually have the printer select the colors, and choose Epson Vivid.

 

[qveda]

Problems printing to HP c5280 photo printer

Just migrating from PC to Mac
I have a HP C5280 printer with a photo paper tray, in addition to regular paper tray. But it seems that the HP s/w on the Mac (OS X) does not allow me to select the photo paper tray - at least not from Photoshop or the HP s/w . Seems that there are other configuration options that are not available .

anyone know workarounds ? Is it possible that HP won't work ?

What are the recommended printers for Photoshop and Mac ?

 

[4now]

Try
Page Settup
If Page format says "Any Printer"
select your printer from the dropdown.

Maybe you'll see more options under paper size

 

[qveda]

Yeah, I believe I've exhausted all the possible menu choices. the Photo paper tray is not found anywhere. I sure thought that HP would have great drivers for Mac. But apparently not

 

[4now]

If you have apple care
or are within the first 90days

give apple care a shout
they will help you with anything connected to your mac

 

[qveda]

Ah, didn't know that. I'll give AppleCare a call. thanks.

 

[ChrisA]

Yeah, I believe I've exhausted all the possible menu choices. the Photo paper tray is not found anywhere. I sure thought that HP would have great drivers for Mac. But apparently not

Good chance HP did not supply the drivers. Mac OS x use "cups" to print. "Cups" is the Common Unix Printing System. So if you are having problems so are Linux, BSD nd Solaris users.. At least this means the user base is larger then just Apple users.

 

[OreoCookie]

Yeah, I believe I've exhausted all the possible menu choices. the Photo paper tray is not found anywhere. I sure thought that HP would have great drivers for Mac. But apparently not

Paper trays appear under the pop up `Paper Feed', but beware, HP makes shoddy drivers (Windows and Mac, HP was the only company I had to pay for a driver update going from Win 98 to Win 2k, ugh!) and they don't always stick to that convention.

 

[qveda]

Until now, I haven't tried printing photos on the HP C-series printer I have. But having gone through much more difficulty with the user interfaces screens drops downs, etc (HP and Photoshop on the Mac), than I imagined, I'm leaning towards Ken Rockwell's (kenrockwell.com) advice .

Ken suggests not bothering with home printing at all. His ideas are very persuasive. Stores (Costco and many others) print on very high quality , light sensitive paper, using machines that cost $50K + and are much more capable than any HP, Epson, etc. And they are far cheaper than the paper and ink cartridges you need for home printing! I'm trying some prints from photoshop jpegs at Costco today to see how they look. I also plan to try a local store that prints on canvass and textured paper from hi-res photoshop or TIF files. I'm going to paypal Ken a contribution for his excellent site and advice.

 

[OreoCookie]

I have an Olympus P-11 photo printer. To me, they're like polaroids, I can print them directly. Other than that, I either have large prints or books be made.

 

[MisterMe]

... Ken Rockwell's (kenrockwell.com) ... suggests not bothering with home printing at all. ... Stores (Costco and many others) print on very high quality , light sensitive paper, using machines that cost $50K + and are much more capable than any HP, Epson, etc. ... I'm trying some prints from photoshop jpegs at Costco today to see how they look. ...

Not to knock Ken Rockwell or Costco's $50k photoprinter or anything .... However, I have a different perspective. My Xerox Phaser 8400 printer prints gorgeous 8 x 10's--and it's not even considered to be a photoprinter. The photo kiosks in Rite-Aid and similar stores use dedicated PCs coupled to a flash card reader and HP inkjet printer very much like your home printer. These kiosks also produce gorgeous pictures albeit for high prices. The is nothing functional in the kiosk setup that you cannot replicate at home for much cheaper prints.