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valentinozegna
valentinozegna
Known Participant
August 27, 2021
Question

[Print Module] Lightroom won't apply the selected ICC profile when printing!

  • August 27, 2021
  • 4 replies
  • 8137 views

Setup:
MacBook Pro 16" running macOS 11.5.2
Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-1000 with driver 22.20.0.0
Lightroom Classic 10.4

Calibrated display with X-Rite i1Display PRO

 

Issue:
I am unable to print in Lightroom anymore since the latest 10.4 update. The problem is that Lightroom will completely ignore the ICC profile set in the Print panel, and the print will come out without any sort of color management.

 

Let me walk you through my finding step by step.

I am trying to print this photo:

 

First, I tried to use the same workflow I have always used. I choose to manage the ICC profile in Lightroomm, therefore I select the correct Ilford Smooth Pearl profile as shown below. As you can see, the printer driver seems to be correctly set to "ColorSync" under the color matching menu.

 

I make sure the paper media is set correctly, then I click on Print. This is what comes out of the printer. The colors are completely shifted towards a yellow dominant, they are not even close to the original picture.

 

I then tried to go the other way, I input the ICC profile in the printer driver instead of Lightroom, as shown below. Notice how Lightroom is correctly set to "Managed by Printer".

 

I leave all the other printer settings the same as before, and I click on Print. The result is shown below. The colors are now perfect, the skin tones match my original photo (you will not see how accurate they are since I took a photo of the print with my iPhone, but you get a good idea).

 

Next, I wanted to run one more experiment. I set the Lightroom color management to "Managed by Printer", and in the printer driver I selected "Canon Color Matching" in the Color Matching menu, then in the Quality & Media menu I set the rendering intent to "No Color Correction". 

 

I left all the other printer settings the same, then I clicked Print. Below you can see the result: it looks 100% identical to the first picture I printed! 

 

Based on these experiments, I think what is happening is clear. When color management is controlled by Lightroom, the printer driver won't manage color and it will rely on Lightroom to pass the correct ICC profile. It seems like Lightroom won't do that, because the print with color managed by Lightroom and the print with absolutely no color management look identical.

 

I have tried to restart Lightroom, restart my laptop, restart the printer... Nothing changes. I cannot print a single good photo if I let Lightroom do the color management.

 

For a professional photo application, this is absolutely unacceptable. 

 

Please don't tell me to re-install the printer driver, this is not a Canon issue, the print comes out perfectly when the ICC profile is set directly into the printer settings.

    4 replies

    codycobb
    codycobb
    Participant
    June 18, 2023

    I'm encountering something similar with my Canon Pro-4100 using Lightroom Classic 12.4 on a brand new M2 Ultra Mac Studio running Mac OS 13.4.

     

    It appears that Lightroom seems to automatically switch from ColorSync to Canon Color Matching despite those options being greyed out. Oddly enough, this seems to be triggered when I change other settings such as paper type or unidirectional printing.

     

    Before I started catching on to this behavior, I was baffled when prints that looked great suddenly looked awful. This behavior doesn't seem to happen in Canon's Professional Print & Layout software. This also wasn't a problem on the 2019 MacBook Pro that I just upgraded from.

     

    I've tried resetting the print system and reinstalling drivers but the problem keeps happening after a few prints.

    TheDigitalDog
    TheDigitalDog
    Inspiring
    June 18, 2023

    We've been over this before: this is an Apple bug in Ventura. Canon's software, unlike Adobe, doesn't use the Apple SPI which causes this bug. Contact Apple and point them to this thread. It is their bug to fix. 

    Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
    timadams
    timadams
    Participant
    November 19, 2022

    Did you find a solution for this? I am having the same issue on my pro-200. My colour matches very close to the monitor when I let the it get managed by the printer, compared with the ICC profile which comes out completely wrong. 

      C
      chi_spots
      Participant
      January 11, 2023

      Ditto. Having the same problem. The icc profile doesn't render at all in LR. If I open that same TIFF in Photoshop and use the same icc, I get the colors I was expecting.

      valentinozegna
      valentinozegnaAuthor
      Known Participant
      April 19, 2023
      quote

      The problem here is that this issue is incosistent and it cannot be always reproduced.

      I am the original author of this post, all I can say is that I stopped letting LR manage my printing ICC profile. Instead, I select "Managed By Printer" and then I manually select the proper ICC profile in the printer driver. That is the only way I can get 100% successful results.


      By @valentinozegna

      Printer Manages Color is a different print path and not equal to Application Manages Color. It may work for you but the two modes differ greatly. And yes, the bug (Apples) is intermittent. But again, Printer Manages Color isn't a fix. It's a totally different path and result.


      I beg to differ. Maybe I didn't explain myself correctly. Let me try again.

       

      I don't set LR to Color Management as "Managed By Printer", and call it a day.

      Instead, I do set LR Color Management to "Managed By Printer", but then in the printer driver (talking for PRO-1000 here) I go to Printer Options -> Color Matching, select "ColorSync" and manually assign the desired ICC profile for the paper I am using (see attached screenshot for an example where I select the ICC profile for a Canson Platine 310).

       

      This is exactly the same as manually assigning the ICC profile in LR, which greyes out the Color Matching menu in the printer driver. I have tested it and did several A/B comparisons between the LR-color-managed-method and the printer-driver-color-managed-with-manual-ICC-selection-method, and the results are identical, impossible to spot a difference with the naked eye.

       

      This is why I am bypassing LR Color Management, which I am pretty sure (but don't quote me on this) simply uses ColorSync anyway, and let the printer driver use ColorSync with custom ICC profiles. 

       

      Once I set the ICC profile in the printer driver, and adjust all the other parameters until I am happy (Media Type, Paper Source, Print Quality etc.), I then save a preset that I use for a specific paper (see screenshot attached). 

      josephlavine
      Community Expert
      josephlavineCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      August 30, 2021

      I tested on a Canon Pro-1000, and everything seems to be operating okay. Along with Rikk's suggestions, I suggest making sure your printer's firmware is up to date.

      warmly/j

      valentinozegna
      valentinozegnaAuthor
      Known Participant
      August 30, 2021

      The printer firmware is up to date, I have already checked. 

      Rikk Flohr_Photography
      Community Manager
      Rikk Flohr_PhotographyCommunity Manager
      August 30, 2021

      I've tested with the Canon Pro 100 and the Canon 9000 and am not seeing the issue. I don't see that you've reset preferences. That is a good next stop.

       

      This procedure works for both Lightroom Classic and Lightroom Desktop.

      If you are using Lightroom Desktop it can change the location of your local storage. Please review this setting after resetting preferences. 

       

      Reset Procedure:

      1. Close Lightroom.

      2. Hold down [Alt/Opt]+[Shift] while restarting Lightroom.

      3. Overwrite the Preferences when prompted by the dialog.

      4. Close Lightroom.

      5. Restart Lightroom.

       

      Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org
      valentinozegna
      valentinozegnaAuthor
      Known Participant
      September 1, 2021

      Resetting the preferences didn't make any difference, I still experience the same issue.

      TheDigitalDog
      TheDigitalDog
      Inspiring
      September 2, 2021

      What you should try is creating from scratch, a new Print Template with everything, and I mean everything needed to configure for a print, in LR and in the Print Dialog all over again and try once more. 

      At least with Epsons, the preset drop down should always be set to Default Settings, not a preset. I see this in your screen capture but don't know if this is an issue with Canon as it is with Epson. All this 'stuff' should be stored and saved in the Print Template so again, start from scratch and let us know if that helps. 

      Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
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