OS X Postscript Driver - Printing Dark - C452

[Jorvikps]

Hi all,

I know this have been cover a few times on here, however I don't think anyone has ever come up with a conclusion. Hence hoping (fingers cross) for some help here.

Printing from OS X using Postscript drivers, the print comes out pretty dark. Printing the same PDF from a PC using PCL6 looks perfect. Also Printing from the same Mac to a newer C454e print seems perfect. It would suggest the drivers the issue. I've tried calibration some setting in the drivers out of Acrobat however seems to make no difference. Also have a scout around CUPS and not seen anything there. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

Andy

[Synthohol]

I would try another pdf app like foxit reader. Adobe has different colorspaces and such that mamay affect quality.
If it prints fine from foxit then adobe is the issue. I've seen it before.

[AjitN]

Hi
Please understand that PCL and PS are two different Printer languages.
Actually PS is more close to actual CMYK reference (as per norms of offset printing).
PCL is more to screen view(Which is individually balance or created).
I mean machine on which you print, basically it takes CMYK% from your file & print accordingly.
It does not understand what you see on the screen.
So you need to check & validate if it is close to actual % of data file and not what you see on the screen. You may take the reference of standard color charts published by various organizations to compare the your printed out put and actual offset print reproduction.

Hope this helps

[Jorvikps]

I would try another pdf app like foxit reader. Adobe has different colorspaces and such that mamay affect quality.
If it prints fine from foxit then adobe is the issue. I've seen it before.

Thanks for your reply. Yes Foxit it a lot better, however lack a lot of option for finishing etc.

Hi
Please understand that PCL and PS are two different Printer languages.
Actually PS is more close to actual CMYK reference (as per norms of offset printing).
PCL is more to screen view(Which is individually balance or created).
I mean machine on which you print, basically it takes CMYK% from your file & print accordingly.
It does not understand what you see on the screen.
So you need to check & validate if it is close to actual % of data file and not what you see on the screen. You may take the reference of standard color charts published by various organizations to compare the your printed out put and actual offset print reproduction.

Hope this helps

Yes I totally understand. My issue is it just seem to be this driver that causing the issue. On the newer boxes, same PDF, Postscript driver, its fine and also on a RIP, same machine (yes I'm totally aware it's completely different again) it's not a problem.

[B0265]

On newer models (from xx4 series) KM have added a setting in admin mode called "PS designer". When this is set to "off" (default setting) the result using a PS driver is more similar to what you get using the PCL driver.

[AjitN]

Sir this is not a actual problem.
Please understand that C452 is almost 10 years when launched.
Mean time there is lot of improvements.
Also this is very important to understand that Postscript used in KM machines is not offered by Adobe, but it is developed by Km on their own & there are some flows in it. Especially if you compare Font sharpness with other brands of product, you will find the difference as they use original postscript supplied by Adobe. Km always states that it is Postscript 3 ( Emulated)(Not Adobe Postscript) so its not original.
I feel you should adjust the machine as per postscript image quality ( Max Density Or Background Voltage Adjustment etc.)
Although in PCL font sharpness is good some colors and some typical designs do not get reproduced correctly.

So simple, adjust your engine accordingly to your requirement in PS.

Also please note that different OS & Different Application software (Adobe, Ms Office or Corel etc) reproduced different colors as color rendering engine is different. Mostly same application software, say Corel 13 windows XP printouts are different than Corel 13 Printouts from windows 7 OR Windows 8. (color wise)
Basically these all companies have joints hand together & pushes end user to upgrade Hardware as well as Software so they can make more money.


Hope this helps

[Jorvikps]

On newer models (from xx4 series) KM have added a setting in admin mode called "PS designer". When this is set to "off" (default setting) the result using a PS driver is more similar to what you get using the PCL driver.

Interesting to know thanks for that.

Sir this is not a actual problem.
Please understand that C452 is almost 10 years when launched.
Mean time there is lot of improvements.
Also this is very important to understand that Postscript used in KM machines is not offered by Adobe, but it is developed by Km on their own & there are some flows in it. Especially if you compare Font sharpness with other brands of product, you will find the difference as they use original postscript supplied by Adobe. Km always states that it is Postscript 3 ( Emulated)(Not Adobe Postscript) so its not original.
I feel you should adjust the machine as per postscript image quality ( Max Density Or Background Voltage Adjustment etc.)
Although in PCL font sharpness is good some colors and some typical designs do not get reproduced correctly.

So simple, adjust your engine accordingly to your requirement in PS

Hope this helps

Thanks for the info. We just have a very picky customers thats wanting everything for nothing, as usual. After playing with colour profiles, interesting I've managed to replicate the darkness now on a new machine. So yeah, just a case of sitting and playing until we get somewhere near what they want.

Thanks everyone for your help.