Preview will send PDF to the printing system. Adobe Reader sends PostScript to the printing system. For some reason the PostScript to raster filter is failing when you use Adobe Reader. When you print as an image from Adobe Reader, it will send some other form of data to the printing system.
When the printing system encounters an error, it usually leaves about 50 lines of debugging information in the error_log. The error message doesn't really tell you what caused the error. You have to look at what led up to the error.
You can check your CUPS error_log by using a web browser and going to
http://127.0.0.1:631/admin/log/error_log? If you post the items surrounding the filter failure, we may be able to determine the cause of the failure. Debugging messages are preceded by the letter
D. Error messages are precede by the letter
E.