Datacolor User to User Support Group.

On Aug 13, 2009, at 2:39 AM, Rick Ryan wrote:

> I just purchased Spyder 3 Studio and when I printed the Media  
> Setting Test images the colors seemed very dark and the four small  
> pictures matched the "Clogged Shadows" example in the Help Screen  
> (actually my printed sample seem even darker than the Clogged Shadow  
> example). I tried various printer driver settings (yes, I properly  
> turned off all color management in the print driver) but they didn't  
> seem to make any noticable change.
> I went ahead and printed the 225 sample page, let it dry for an hour  
> and read the samples (a great many of the little color squares were  
> extermely dark - they looked black). I created a profile from the  
> sample and printed a photo from Adobe CS4 (again properly turning  
> off color managment on the printer, letting CS4 manage color and  
> selected the profile newly created. The resulting printed image was  
> darker and a little more contrasty than the same photo printed using  
> the enhanced Epson profile - which already seemed too dark.
> Is there any likely mistakes I might be making? I purchased the  
> Spyder 3 Studio in hopes of getting better prints from my R1800 but  
> so far it has been a step backward.
> In the past I would have to adjust the exposure (brighter) in CS4  
> about 3/4 of a stop to make the printed image have about the same as  
> the calibrated screen (I previously used the Spyder 2 Suite).
> Any suggestions?
> Thanks,
> Rick
>
>


Hi Rick:

You're misunderstanding the purpose of the Media Setting Check image,
and how it's intended to be used.

You -are- printing it correctly, with color management turned off;
and yes, that means the colors will be dark. You're not supposed to
be able to make it look "better" by changing driver settings; it
will look slightly different based on the driver settings, since
these will affect how much ink is put down by the driver based
on your choice of paper type, etc. but the differences can be
subtle. The more important part of that image to look at is
the color squares, rather than the faces at the bottom.

I think you're doing everything correctly, from the sound of it;
but if you'll go to our web site, open a support ticket, and put
"ATTN David Miller" in the title, we can go back and forth a bit
more there and I can look at your measurements in the process.

David Miller
Senior Software Developer, Digital Color Solutions
Datacolor