Printing question

Hey Folks

I use an Olympus C765, a Dell Latitude x300 laptop and an Epson Stylus
Colour 760 printer. The printer is old but reliable and good enough quality
for this digi photography newbie.

When I print photos they come out much darker than they look like they're
going too when they're displayed on screen. The only way I've been able to
'correct' this is to lighten the photo images so they look like they're over
exposed when displayed on screen but they print out ok. This is a very hit
and miss technique to say the least, so its pretty unsatisfactory. Is there
some way of ensuring better colour synchronisation between my laptop and my
printer?

I haven't seen a feature in the software supplied with the printer which
would allow for callibration with my laptop and given their age difference
(laptop 2 yrs old, printer at least 5 probably nearer 7) I doubt that would
be possible anyway. Also someone who thought they knew what they were doing
thought the problem would be solved by altering my screen settings, but all
that's done is to make my display darker, it doesn't seem to have changed
the difference between display and print brightness at all

Any ideas on how to solve this would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in
advance

JonB

Jon Burke wrote:
> Hey Folks
>
> I use an Olympus C765, a Dell Latitude x300 laptop and an Epson Stylus
> Colour 760 printer. The printer is old but reliable and good enough quality
> for this digi photography newbie.
>
> When I print photos they come out much darker than they look like they're
> going too when they're displayed on screen. The only way I've been able to
> 'correct' this is to lighten the photo images so they look like they're over
> exposed when displayed on screen but they print out ok. This is a very hit
> and miss technique to say the least, so its pretty unsatisfactory. Is there
> some way of ensuring better colour synchronisation between my laptop and my
> printer?
>
> I haven't seen a feature in the software supplied with the printer which
> would allow for callibration with my laptop and given their age difference
> (laptop 2 yrs old, printer at least 5 probably nearer 7) I doubt that would
> be possible anyway. Also someone who thought they knew what they were doing
> thought the problem would be solved by altering my screen settings, but all
> that's done is to make my display darker, it doesn't seem to have changed
> the difference between display and print brightness at all
>
> Any ideas on how to solve this would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in
> advance
>
> JonB
>
There are procedures for setting the display and printer to
match, but they are different for different software. You
don't say which software you use to lighten the photos and
print them. Add that information to the post, and perhaps
you'll get an answer from someone who uses the software.
And see if there is a Color Matching setting in the program
or the printer control box.

Even the less costly printers have become much better at
making photo prints since you bought yours. Think about
upgrading. The HP printer I got at Costco last year for $80
makes better photo prints than the $175 HP printer I got 5
years earlier.

If there is a NG for that program, ask there. Better still,
check Google Groups for previous discussions on that topic
in the NG. Check the tech support at the software maker's
site. And make sure you have the latest driver for the
printer, which may help to improve the prints.

Another way is to download the free Easy Share software from
kodak.com. It does basic editing jobs, and has built-in
settings for using Kodak papers with most printers.