Level 1

22 points

Awful Color on Epson 2200 after Snow Leopard Upgrade

I'm an experience photographer and printer who has done extensive printing on the Epson 2200 under previous versions of the OS using CS4. As a beta tester for Snow Leopard I had used it extensively on another machine before the release, so I did not hesitate to upgrade my photography production computer as soon as it was available this past weekend.

The problem I now have is that print colors are all wrong - very greenish (bluish?), which is typically a symptom that nothing is managing the printing out of PS. (Reddish/purplish prints are often a symptom that color is being managed by both PS and the printer's own software.) I have changed nothing else in my workflow or printing process besides doing the upgrade - I have a solid workflow process that works consistently and accurately, or should I say it DID work so until the upgrade.

I have installed the updated 2200 drivers from the Epson web site. I have removed and re-added the printer in the preferences panel. Still no joy.

Help? Advice? Anything to try that I haven't thought of yet?

Thanks in advance,

Dan

iMac 24" (aluminum), Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Aug 31, 2009 9:13 PM

154 replies

Level 5

7,075 points

Sep 15, 2009 5:31 AM in response to Bazzography

cool.

Thanks for that 🙂

sgutas

Level 1

11 points

Sep 29, 2009 3:48 PM in response to danmitchell

FYI, I was having the same horrible color problem with my Epson 4000.

The solution? Print with Photoshop CS3.

Looks like it might be Adobe's problem, not Apple's or Epson's.

Spent a few days tearing my hair out over this one. Downgrading to 10.5.8 would be time consuming and painful, and neither Gutenprint nor the Epson "Color Controls" method is acceptable for pro photographic printing.

sgutas

Level 1

11 points

Sep 30, 2009 1:15 PM in response to sgutas

Forgot one thing: open Photoshop CS3 using Rosetta.

Sep 30, 2009 10:16 PM in response to sgutas

Thanks for your posts Sgutas. Printing via Photoshop CS3 and Rosetta is a much easier workaround than having to reboot from a Leopard drive just for printing.

Just to double-check though, you're saying that this method allows you to use the proper "Photoshop manages color" workflow and get exactly the same results as you did under Leopard? Or is this a case of the color being better, but still not quite right?

By any chance have you tried printing with Photoshop CS4 through Rosetta to see if that works too? I can't test myself as I still haven't installed Snow Leopard yet because of this one issue. If this workaround works for most people then I''l probably decide to live with it and give Snow Leopard a go.

Has anyone else out there tried this solution with a 2200?

Oct 1, 2009 8:27 AM in response to Bazzography

my small contribution...

I am printing on an Epson 2100 (same machine as 2200, but Euro spec). Same problems as people here - greenish cast and too dark using CS4 under Snow Leopard. I have had a pretty excellent colour workflow under 10.5.8, using Photoshop to manage the colours, with either Epson profiles, or custom ones, and a fully profiled monitor.

After many experiments, the ONLY solution is to revert to 10.5.8. Nothing else gives exact results. Printing from CS3, either under Rosetta or not, gives a much better result - no greenish cast, but still too saturated - than CS4, but it is still not perfect, which printing using CS4 under 10.5.8 is. Also the other work around, letting the printer manage the colours, and setting it to photorealistic, is nowhere near close enough for professional results, although I grant you a better option that the miserable prints produced by CS4 with the 'proper' colourflow path.

It is the same story for the Epson 4000.

Let's pray that Epson/Apple/Adobe can be bothered to sort this out for us all, otherwise its time to chuck away our useless printers.

Oct 1, 2009 1:07 PM in response to Dan Perfect

Thanx Dan - same experience here. Just made the switch today. Auch - should've read this discussion first. I am a pro photographer with a calibrated workflow. Upload my pictures to publishers - no time to print. Have a good "printing flow" with my clients, seeing my pics in the magazines. THEN - I just wanted to make a test on a new action in CS4 before uploading. Suddenly the pro flavour got a bit sour.
Amazing to see that this has been discussed for a month with out proper care from either Apple or Epson. It simply has to relate to GIGO GarbageInGarbageOut in the programming. It's a fairly straight programming decision - or lack of - that's destroyed our colorflow. It's a code fact that's pretty easy to fix for some one out there in the responsible seat.
I neither would or could let my customers down like this - for more than a month ! We pay for everything - just to wait ? Thanx for all the solutions and hard work out there. At least I can print a postcard for the family now ... You guys deserve a better printing solution than this ...

bia23

Level 1

0 points

Oct 1, 2009 5:07 PM in response to danmitchell

hi there,
i was having the same problem. the reason is because snow leopard uses the gutenprint drivers.
you need to install your epson printer driver. if the new epson "snow leopard compatible" driver doesn't work, you need to install a previous driver from epson - for OS 10.4.
once you have done that, you can go to the printer center ( in system preferences) and choose the epson driver that you installed. the new epson drivers are not always visible to snow leopard but for some reason the 10.4 drivers are... go figure.
hope it helps,
bia

Oct 1, 2009 5:17 PM in response to bia23

I use the original "old" Epson driver (not Gutenprint) in Snow Leopard and the color still looks really bad. I go back to 10.5.8 on another drive and the same file with the same old driver looks great.
Some here have talked of printing out of Photoshop, mostly photographers I guess. I use the 2200 to make color proofs out of InDesign. In 10.5.8 the proofs are great. Out of Snow Leopard they're nasty.

Oct 1, 2009 5:54 PM in response to danmitchell

Hello, I am new to the Mac world. I have an Epson 2400. I just invested $4000 to come over to the Mac side and I am beginning to have my doubts. I am having the same problem as everyone else with getting a decent print. From what I've read, we are all experienced Photoshop users when it comes to the printing dialog box, so I think the problem is with the printer driver. Here is a real puzzler for you. For 2 days I could not find the advanced printer settings. I've read about the "triangle" but it was never there. The wierd part is it showed up two times but I have no idea why it went away. I know the sequence like the back of my hand - Photoshop Manages color, turn off color management, etc. When I go to "Page Setup" to get to the advanced settings, there are none.
I have called Apple and said I am returning everything if they cannot get my printer to print. I cannot afford to spend another $700 to replace a printer that is only a few years old. Epson was not much help. Thanks for letting me vent. Maybe there will be an update to the driver soon.

Oct 1, 2009 7:16 PM in response to bia23

bia23 wrote:
hi there,
i was having the same problem. the reason is because snow leopard uses the gutenprint drivers.
you need to install your epson printer driver. if the new epson "snow leopard compatible" driver doesn't work, you need to install a previous driver from epson - for OS 10.4.
once you have done that, you can go to the printer center ( in system preferences) and choose the epson driver that you installed. the new epson drivers are not always visible to snow leopard but for some reason the 10.4 drivers are... go figure.
hope it helps,
bia

Thanks, but the problem being discussed here is in fact with Epson driver. The issue is the quality of the print when using a proper color-managed workflow is being used (where Photoshop manages color and you select a specific color profile for your ink and paper combination). It is mostly photographers and graphics pros that are doing this type of high-end printing that are noticing the problem. The old Epson driver will work and print, but using this type of color-managed workflow creates problems that may not otherwise be noticed for every-day printing. There must be a problem in the way that the Epson driver is handling color profiles, making it impossible to get accurate color reproduction.

danmitchell Author

Level 1

22 points

Oct 2, 2009 8:23 AM in response to Bazzography

As some may know, I've been following this issue carefully and posting here and in my photography blog since right after Snow Leopard was released and the problem immediately became obvious. A few important things:

1. The problem is "because Apple included Gutenprint" drivers. Apple did not previously include drivers for these Epson printers - Epson provided them and provided updates as necessary. Without the Gutenprint drivers users of these printers would be completely out of luck. With the drivers they can print, though the results are not good.

2. The *problem is Epson*. Epson would probably claim that it is Apple's fault since the updated their OS, but everyone knows that OS's get updated and companies like Epson get plenty of warning about the need to make their products compatible. Heck, I was beta testing OS X 10.6 a long time before it was released - I'm sure Epson had plenty of opportunities that I did not have.

Essentially, Epson is saying to their Apple-using customers (a very, very large percentage of high end photographic and other printers) that they really don't care enough about them to a) devote resources to updating their software to work with their products, b) respond quickly to their customers once a deal-breaker problem like this disables their Epson products without warning, and c) even share their plans with users in a public way. A company that cares about its customers would do all three of those things.

3. The only real option for OS X users who do very high quality printing with affected Epson printers is to use a pre-10.6 version of OS X. While there are ways to print to your printer under Snow Leopard, if you care about accurate color the results are unacceptable and will continue to be so until Epson steps up.

My "solution" is to install OS X 10.5.x on an external drive along with my second install of CS4. When I need to print I must reboot from the external drive.

I had plans to purchase a $4000 printer from Epson this fall. I had not considered any other options than Epson because I have (had?) an effective workflow that resulted in consistent high quality photographic prints using Epson products. That is no longer the case and I'm now looking seriously at alternatives from HP and Canon.

Epson, your performance here continues to be sub-par and unprofessional. A number of us use your products for professional work. We expect more from you. Your silence about this issue - concerning the existence of the issue and your plans to resolve it - speak volumes concerning your disdain for your customers.

danmitchell Author

Level 1

22 points

Oct 2, 2009 8:26 AM in response to danmitchell

Sure wish we could edit our posts...

I just wrote: ". The problem is "because Apple included Gutenprint" drivers..."

What I meant to write was ". The problem is NOT "because Apple included Gutenprint" drivers..."

Dan

Oct 2, 2009 3:46 PM in response to danmitchell

Hi danmitchell - 😉 - yeah, you got me confused - you were the first person posting a message in this thread.
I can relate to your last post for sure .... We work everyday in alignment with our intuition and experience. When we're satisfied we're the best salespersons around - 'cause our pictures speak louder than words.
But this way of letting our craftsmanship fall flat faced into an non resolved programming flaw, is not the most intelligent way of keeping us and our colleagues hooked in investing more money into new Epson printers in an Apple/PS colorflow.

Oct 2, 2009 6:05 PM in response to Photoeye50

Photoeye50 wrote:
Hello, I am new to the Mac world. I have an Epson 2400. I just invested $4000 to come over to the Mac side and I am beginning to have my doubts. I am having the same problem as everyone else with getting a decent print. From what I've read, we are all experienced Photoshop users when it comes to the printing dialog box, so I think the problem is with the printer driver. Here is a real puzzler for you. For 2 days I could not find the advanced printer settings. I've read about the "triangle" but it was never there. The wierd part is it showed up two times but I have no idea why it went away. I know the sequence like the back of my hand - Photoshop Manages color, turn off color management, etc. When I go to "Page Setup" to get to the advanced settings, there are none.
I have called Apple and said I am returning everything if they cannot get my printer to print. I cannot afford to spend another $700 to replace a printer that is only a few years old. Epson was not much help. Thanks for letting me vent. Maybe there will be an update to the driver soon.

I completely understand your frustration, but in fairness you can't blame Apple for this. The drivers are made by the printer manufacturers, not Apple. It is the responsibility of Epson to build working drivers for their printers, and to update them as operating systems change over the years.

Any new OS is distributed to developers well in advance for testing, so just like every other manufacturer, Epson has had plenty of time to update and test their drivers on Snow Leopard. Many of the drivers on Epson's website that claim to be 10.6 drivers are in fact unchanged from 10.5. Perhaps Epson thought the old drivers would still work with 10.6, but just didn't do enough testing to confirm compatibility. In some cases, like the 2200, there is no 10.6 compatible Epson driver available period. To not upgrade the driver for such a high-end printer used by so many professionals is unbelievably bad customer service.

So... we have drivers for high-end printers that were not updated for 10.6 at all, and we have drivers that were updated for 10.6 (supposedly) but don't work properly. In either case, I can't see how Apple has anything to do with it. It would be a shame to give up on Apple for something that is beyond their control.

You said Epson wasn't much help so I assume you talked to someone there. I would highly recommend everyone experiencing these issues write or call Epson (or both) to make sure they know that if they don't address these issues quickly and we have to replace our printers because of it, we won't be shopping for a new Epson.

Oct 3, 2009 2:38 AM in response to Bazzography

Dead right. I'm in the market for a 44" machine at the moment, and it was going to be a no-brainer to go for the 9900.. However I'm seriously looking at the HP alternative, which I wouldn't have done before but it appears that they at least have taken notice of the Mac users of their products and made great strides in producing better drivers, quicker, for this part of the market. Epson really need to take notice of the pro segment of their market which must be a much higher proportion of mac users than the domestic & general office, and get better drivers out quicker. Perhaps as the market leader they are complacent? Not too smart in this climate.. This is also at a time when they are having large price rises across their pro range. Mmm..

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Awful Color on Epson 2200 after Snow Leopard Upgrade