hp l25500 will not print nice blues or greens

[jmag215]

So I have been fighting this for some time now. I tried re calibrating it and the calibration page printed the most beautiful blue but when I try just printing it won't print anything near what a true cyan or what that calibration sheet printed as. Where do I begin? Is it ICC profiles even though it prints great on calibration or printing their demo stuff but not when I print things I created on the same materials? I am so lost.

 

[P Wagner]

In order to help, I would need more information.

Which RIP are you using to drive the printer? It certainly sounds like the RIP + Media Profile is at the heart of your issue.

Are you using a media profile that has been published by HP, using their Media Solutions Locator? Here is a link:
https://ssl.www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/2013/ga/MediaLocator/home.html

As a new user, the media products that are available for your combination of printer and RIP are probably the best place to start. Suffice to say that most people are very pleased with the Image Quality of the HP Latex printers, and a properly configured and operational L25500 is no exception.

Paul

 

[jmag215]

I am using poster shop onyx 10.1. I have tried using the profiles from hp as well as ones from the vinyl companies. I have also tried different ICC profiles that the place I bought my equiptment from recommended and some are slightly different but sd till all very close to the same. All washed out looking with a touch more of a grey hue.

 

[P Wagner]

The place to start is to disable color management for a CMYK-based job such as the file that is attached.

It is important that you turn off all color management in the Preflight module (see attached image). The purpose of this test is to isolate whether your issue is Printer based or RIP / color management centric. Disabling Color Management (see highlighted list box) should send the CMYK values straight through to the printer, without any corrections or modification.

Paul

 

[Aklaim]

Can you post some pictures of what you're talking about?

 

[jmag215]

QUOTE=Castek Resources;1263809]The place to start is to disable color management for a CMYK-based job such as the file that is attached.

It is important that you turn off all color management in the Preflight module (see attached image). The purpose of this test is to isolate whether your issue is Printer based or RIP / color management centric. Disabling Color Management (see highlighted list box) should send the CMYK values straight through to the printer, without any corrections or modification.

Paul[/QUOTE]
I think we are getting somewhere now. I printed it both ways as I have been and with the ICC turned off. it was light with the way I normally do it and spot on with it off. do I just need to turn that off every time I print? also most of my files I print from are made in photoshop, what is going to be the best format to save in?

 

[P Wagner]

OK, the point of this test is to point us in the right direction to further proceed. Based on these findings, I would say that the issue is more likely related to the RIP and potentially the media profiles that are being used, as opposed to a fault with the printer itself.

 

[jmag215]

Okay I printed a sample from photoshop and it's alot closer but actually a bit dark on the blues now. What should be my next step?

 

[P Wagner]

Proper implementation of ICC based color management is predicated on a range os settings and device profiles that are very representative of the baseline behaviors of your devices while they are in a calibrated and repeatable state.

I would begin by loading the printer with fresh media, probably a calendared or cast vinyl from a major manufacturer. Then download and install the OML for that media product and install it into the RIP. Finally, re-linearize the media using an external measurement device if possible, or the on-board device if you don't have an external unit.

Best practices in the field would recommend creating custom media profiles for each media, but the reality is that most do not do this, and instead rely on canned profiles.

Paul

 

[jmag215]

Dang that's what I was afraid of. With having to upgrade to production house and getting a spectrometer I would be several thousand dollars. Sounds like I may just have my equiptment for sale and call it quits. Thanks for all your help though at least we know the issue

 

[P Wagner]

I do not intend to say that you need to invest any money into getting this fixed. The RIP that you have (Onyx Postershop 10.1) drives the printer that you have (L25500) just fine, so there should be no need to upgrade the RIP to ProductionHouse.

The L25500 has an i1 measurement device on-board, which Postershop (Media Manager to be specific) can use to re-linearize the media, so there should be no definite need to purchase another measurement device to perform the linearization. In other words, you don't necessarily need to invest anything aside from some sweat to get this taken care of, if you choose to.

I would start by taking photographs of the two prints that you mentioned earlier in this thread, and posting them here for review (one with color management turned off, and the other with CM enabled). Post them and we'll go from there to troubleshoot from that point.

Edit, please print and post images of this file (attached) instead of the other one, as it includes CMYK and RGB solid ink densities. It is also really important to keep in mind that outdoor durable printers like the HP Latex machines are CMYK devices, and there will always be finite color gamuts that they are capable of producing. These gamuts are affected by many variables, including media and ink load, etc. Some color ranges, such as electric greens and vibrant oranges are always going to be out-of-gamut for any digital printer, and are thus impossible to produce in print.


Paul

 

[jmag215]

Here are the samples. (I hope the pictures show up) the ones labeled 1 is opening the file as the pdf in the rip software and turning all ICC profiles off (colors look amazing to me). The colors labeled 2 are the same pdf with running the rip colors as normal. The number 3 samples are downloading to photoshop flattening the image as I normally would and printing as I have been. The number 4 sample is through photoshop with the ICC profiles turned off.

 

[P Wagner]

All right, now we're getting somewhere. The samples that have color management disabled are a lot more saturated than the ones with it on. This looks to be the case with both vector and raster data sets, with the Photoshop files being raster and the original PDF vector. To an extent this is normal, but the color difference should not be as pronounced as it seems to be in this case.

This tells us that the various color settings in the RIP are responsible for the majority of the difference between samples 1 and 4 (CM off) and 2 and 3 (CM on in the RIP). I will set-up some screen captures of some recommendations for configuring your Onyx QuickSet(s). What media product are you printing onto (Manufacturer and product), and where did you obtain the OML (Onyx Media Library) that is being used in printing to that media? Can you locate the ICC Profile that is being used by the RIP? It is typically located in the following location:

C:\Onyx\db\Printers\HP L25500\Medias\Self-Adhesive Vinyl (or other category of media)\Product Name\Shared\

Let me know if you can find the ICC and I'll send you my email by PM. I'd like to model the gamut and see how it looks.

Paul

 

[jmag215]

PM sent

 

[Robert Gruner]

You da man Paul!

Shame on HP if they don't send you a big ole Greenberg Smoked Turkey for Thanksgiving!