Adobe and Epson printer problem

bunwhisper

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Jul 7, 2003, 2:41:49 PM7/7/03

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I have been struggling mightily with getting InDesign to print colors correctly to my Epson Stylus 1280. The colors look really weird--very bright and almost solarized (but the printer prints fine from Quark). So I finally gave up and called Adobe. The tech wasn't too clued in, he ran through his script (all of which I'd already done) and then finally, after wasting my time, he admitted that the new Adobe print engine in InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop does NOT work with the Epson 1280 or the HP 2200 (both of which are popular printers with designers!) How could this be, I asked, when both printers have existed for a while, and many artists are using them?

He didn't know but said the only work around is to make a pdf using Acrobat 5 (he told me dont upgrade to 6!) and it did work. I wanted to share this so that anyone else here who is experiencing this frustration would be put out of their misery too, but my Gawd, what poor work from Adobe.

I would love a response from Adobe as to when this issue will be addressed. I was told the engineers are aware of it.

Alon

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Jul 7, 2003, 4:30:59 PM7/7/03

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I have no idea what that tech is talking about. I print straight out of InDesign to my Epson 2200 from both OSX and OS9. For one, install the Epson drivers while the printer is hooked up DIRECTLY to the computer (rather than having it on a network). Then reconnect it to the network.

bunwhisper

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Jul 7, 2003, 5:22:28 PM7/7/03

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You dont have a 1280--this issue isnt affecting all Epson printers.

The printer is hooked up to the computer, so that is not the problem. Installing the drivers... been there and done that!

Ive tried changing the color space and anything else I can think of.

One problem is that the printer options are not available to me as they are in Quark (for example ColorSync controls). I cannot choose CMYK--only RGB--as it is greyed out.

Obciously it is not the printer drivers, as it does work correctly with Quark and Acrobat.

Buko

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Jul 7, 2003, 5:39:41 PM7/7/03

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I've got an 870 and it works perfectly with ID.

I can send either RGB or CMYK. OS9 or OSX.

I have prefect color.

Marco Antonio SantaMaria

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Jul 7, 2003, 6:36:14 PM7/7/03

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Jim, how do u have ur printer conected to your Mac?, As far as I knew the Epson 3000 drive was not optimized for OS X and the only way to connect the Epson 3000 is via Ethernet, is that the way ur printer is connected?

That coulod be one of the problems bit being able to access all the feature of the printer.

bunwhisper

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Jul 7, 2003, 6:45:46 PM7/7/03

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My printer is connected thru USB. Please note this issue does not affect ALL Epson printers. The tech specifically said the 1280 *is* a problem!

I would appreciate it if someone with a 1280 or knowledge of one, has an idea, but telling me that your different model printer is working fine, while nice for you, isnt of much help to me :(

Julian Berdych

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Jul 7, 2003, 8:00:41 PM7/7/03

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Bun, I recently upgraded to a 1280 (from my old 740) and had a couple of problems in the process, but now everything is working perfectly. Here's what I suggest:

(a) Dumb question, but please make sure that "Enable color management" is turned on in ID's File>Color settings. If it's turned off, the result is badly saturated color.

(b) If your 1280 is on a USB hub, connect it directly to your Mac. There are many known Epson 1280 issues with several out-of-spec USB hubs, and Epson has no plans to fix them (they are hub problems, not Epson problems, according to the Epson techie I spoke to a few weeks ago).

When my 1280 was connected through a USB hub, it printed fine, but the color was way off, and by the sound it made and the speed it printed at, it seemed to be ignoring my driver settings and printing in 360dpi plain-paper mode. The Epson tech confirmed this, and putting the hub out of the loop got the printer to recognize that I wanted to print 720dpi photo on heavyweight matte paper. True color once again.

Try this, and let us know if it works.

...Julian. (Montreal, Canada)

iGary

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Jul 7, 2003, 9:50:47 PM7/7/03

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Good info about the hubs.

Bunwhisper, I have both a 1280 and a 2200 and they both print perfectly predictable color from InDesign. It's a color settings in either-or-both InDesign and the Epson driver.

Neil Petrunia

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Jul 23, 2003, 5:44:40 PM7/23/03

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For what it's worth....

I also have a 1280, and since upgrading to ID2 and OSX jaguar I haven't been able to get anything remotely like accurate colour on my 1280. Connected directly. I can get close, but not as accurate as before. I tried going directly to Gimp-Print postscript, and that helps; but printing through acrobat has the best results.

I'd be interested in any solutions, as this has caused MUCH strife between me and one of my clients. He doesn't get the "f#$k, I don't understand it, it was working fine before and i can't fix it" answer.

Neil

Richard Sohanchyk

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Jul 23, 2003, 6:18:23 PM7/23/03

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I have a 1200 that is networked via Stylus RIP. I can't print an 11 x 17 document under any circumstance. The file always shifts so that about a 1/3 of the page prints. Orientation does nothing to alleviate the problem. I have to make a PDF and place in Quark to get it to output correctly. Wierd stuff. Curiously enough, if I hook up directly to printer via USB port the color is atrocious but though the RIP it's fine. Caveat: I've always been networked so I never had to fiddle with setting via direct printing. Also, don't your AI files print poorly w/o going through a stylus RIP or similar?

Piers Le Sueur

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Jul 23, 2003, 6:33:17 PM7/23/03

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This probably doesn't help, but in our situation.. printing from PDF
certainly yeilds the best/most accurate results.

I only print direct for quick and dirty.

Regards
Piers Le Sueur