Ok, here's a question. Why do all my BW images come out light purple toned instead of BW? I use the Canon i550 printer which uses seperate tanks for C M Y and K. All are full and new. I'm printing 8x10s, 5x7s, and 4x6s, though I've only managed to print one in BW, the first 8x10. After that, I can't get anything but light purple toned images, no black and white whatsoever.

I tried everything, testing on normal paper, and nothing worked. So I restarted my computer and tried again testing on normal paper, that worked. The test print came out black and white. So I put the 5x7 photo sheet in and got a (wasted) light purple toned 5x7.

I'm printing from photoshop using Canons printing software. I've tried all the settings rearranged. It doesn't even work when Grayscale printing is checked. I've tried flattening images to Grayscale mode and saving them as Tiffs, PSDs, etc and then printing to no avail. I've tried printing them in RGB in all the formats, nothing.

This is a USB printer, so there are no loose cables (but for arguments sake, yes I've checked), I'm using the latest drivers and printing software available.

Any ideas, I'm gonna pull my fucking hair out soon?

Nice of you to stop by ;)

The image you are printing is it in CMYK, RGB or Greyscale?

Can you calibrate the printer? Have you?

Do you have a selection in the print dialog that says something like "Use 4/5/6/7 colours for printing black and white/greyscale images"?

What are you colour matching settings? Try turning all colour management off. If it is converting from one profile to another it can make a greyscale image toned.

Are you / do you have a colour profile for the printer/paper you are using?


:)

I tried in both RGB and grayscale

I've aligned the printer head, cleaned the printer head, done a nozzle check, etc. So I think its calibrated.

Do you have a selection in the print dialog that says something like "Use 4/5/6/7 colours for printing black and white/greyscale images"?
No

Here are all the settings available:

http://www.thinkdan.com/printer/1.jpg

http://www.thinkdan.com/printer/2.jpg

http://www.thinkdan.com/printer/3.jpg

http://www.thinkdan.com/printer/4.jpg

Dan have you tried just selecting the greyscale printing box? Maybe that will make it use only the black ink...

Try placing the greyscale image in Illustrator and then printing it.

Basically what is happening is one of three things IMHO.
Either the colour profile is corrupt, or is not making friends with the printer

or the printer is using however many colours it has to print B&W instead of just black.

print driver sucks or is corrupt.

1. Remove the colour profile attached to the file and disable colour management in the program you are printing from.

2. Manually remove all the files the printer installed and then re-install

3. Try an older print driver


Oh and have you tried more than one file?

It doesn't even work when Grayscale printing is checked

Yep

Just tried all that, nothing. It's still purple.

I hardly use my printer but last time I tried to print in color or B/W it came out sort of purple/pink.

I have HP 812c - very old

It sounds like your printer is still printing composite instead of black ink only. Any inkjet printer using color inks to build a composite grayscale print will have problems keeping things neutral. Sometimes a custom profile for your ink/paper combo will help, but ideally you should be using black ink only (or quadtone inks). You might want to check these forums to see if other users have trouble printing in grayscale mode (I'm not sure if your printer allows black ink selection or not).
http://www.fredmiranda.com
http://www.dpreview.com

Mike
www.independentcolor.com