Aperture 3 prints too dark

I've been using
aperture 2 since it came out, no problems. I upgraded to Aperture 3, and have had no problems with my Library, but it won't print like Aperture 2 did - the prints are far too dark.
I have copied the same file to Lightroom, and with exactly the same settings, it is printing fine. I still have Aperture 2 on my MacBook, and that prints fine.
So what's going on?

I've just spent the last hour doing print tests with 3.0.1 using two printers and two papers. My 27 inch iMac is calibrated with a Spyder3Pro and the brightness of the screen is turned down 4 notches from full. I have to say my default prints weren't bad, but here are the tweaks that made a difference:
• Epson R2880 with Ilford Gallery Smooth Pearl: brightness +1.15, contrast +0.03, Relative, black point comp OFF.
• Epson Stylus 1400 with Epson Premium Glossy Photo: brightness +1.10.
These settings give me prints that are pretty bang on. The Ilford paper tends to be a bit bluer than its onscreen profile so I've made a preset that punches the yellow. Works well.
Switching from Relative Colorimetric to Perceptual made little or no difference in these tests so I decided to leave it at default (Relative).
A couple of bugs:
• Print presets don't remember the assigned paper size (but this is also true in Preview).
• Clicking More Options always clears the paper size back to default (US Letter). Annoying.
• The print window won't remember its size and position between launches and moves around erratically when clicking More Options. Also annoying.
• Photo refresh is way too long when switching presets. I get at least 10 seconds of blank preview before the image appears. Refresh when adding adjustments is equally long.
Also, nothing to do with printing but this update hasn't fix my bug with my secondary display going back to Alternate view every time I switch from Browser to Viewer mode. The menu still says Blank but the display is stuck on Alternate. I need to switch between Desktop and Blank for it return to normal.
Printing is certainly different in this version. The fact that the Gamma setting is gone shows how much of a change has been made. And since older presets aren't imported, it's back to the drawing board...

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Did a trial on Elements and Aperture. Elements also printed dark which shouldn't be surprising both Adobe.
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I understand the need for a proper ICC profile for best results but it seems to me you should at least get a reasonable foundation to work with. I just could not get good color saturation or proper brightness level no matter what I did. From what I read on the net I'm not the only one. Interesting how Adobe must work extremely well with millions of other Macs and PC's but not mine.

I'm no expert in color management
An expert in colour management engineeri can fail in configuring any two ICC-enabled applications for compatible assumptions. Understanding the architecture is one thing and understanding the current conditions for configuration are another.
In such situations as this, the best bet is to ask the Apple ColorSync Users List.
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Ok, look at your files in Photoshop. What is the profile assigned to them? You can find this out by going to the Status bar at the bottom, clicking on the right-pointing triangle and choosing document Profile from the list.
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Hi all,
I have a newish MacBook Pro, calibrated with Spyder2, and printing to an Epson 2200. The prints are too dark, and don't really come close to matching the screen in LR. I've brought the images into PS2 for soft proofing, but the prints are still far too dark. It's not just out of LR, but DPP as well. I found this topic:
http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx/.3bc44027/28
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Time for a reality/sanity check for those who complain that "the "prints are too dark from my Epson printer"!
If you will just reduce your monitor's white-point luminance to the range of 80-90 cd/m2 when you edit your images, it's almost certain that the problem will be solved (assuming you're not making some other error in color management setup). Many people conclude that their problem must be a generic failure or defect of Epson printers (i.e., compared to HP, etc)-- or that the Epson paper profiles are defective. Well, perhaps there's some element of truth to that conclusion--to the extent that Epson printers have evidently been designed with typical professional editing environments in mind (i.e., the low brightness levels to which "serious" printers adjust their monitors and ambient lighting). Why would they do that: Well, who wants to spend many hours each day looking at the glare of a 200 cd/m2 monitor screen (and the reflections from a brighly lighted room)?
So, for getting "monitor-matching" prints from printers such as the SP 2200, you simply need to work (edit) with your images in a more-or-less "dimly lit" room using a monitor that is properly adjusted for such a low-light environment--(i.e., the screen luminance not higher than 90-100 cd/m2). Of course even with such a reduced screen luminance, the light used for print-viewing must be sufficiently bright(**)
It's possible that your monitor cannot be adjusted to the necessary (low) luminance level--or that you haven't any means to measure the luminance level. Those are correctable hardware issues, although may require $$.
(**)please note that a fairly bright viewing light is needed for prints (made as suggested above) to appear to be a reasonably close "match" to the monitor image.
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hello henrykipson,
you said that you want starting an professional laboratory business,i can talking about this because i had a laboratory until some years ago .i hope that you made some artistic study,so it's more easy for you to learn this topic.you must study,an pass an examination for take an artigianal licence that allow you to open this activity ,the licence given you the opportunity to work either for sale photografic material either to shoot and developing,one time that you had pass this examination you must gone to the police autority and inform these of your business (is under police control.because you work with chemical material,and also because you had a reservate people information,and they must given you their assent.)after all you can start to buy a good developer and print machine beyond to have a dark room.for manual print.you must decided if do you want work in black and white or color.You can do both but is better to specialize by one of them ,like you want.
Remember from the digital events many people print his image at home,you must deciding maybe is better to work with a professional photographer,that can given you more work.itsn't easy.you must have a good preparation because ,they are more exigent.The good results depend also from the quality of your works.a good machine,good chemical product,good upkeep,of your laboratory.(in italy this is the procedure,i think also in other country,because is a ticklish question licence.)I hope that this my little explanation are useful to you.Good luck .
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Photoshop and Illustrator PDF files (CS5 & 6) print correctly from my work PC, but not either of my Macs. See below:
At work, I have a Dell PC and an iMac, at home I have a MacBook Pro.
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the iMac it prints too dark
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color management theory
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What paper quality and paper type settings are you using? If you are printing on plain paper but have selected a photo paper then the result will be oversaturated. Also if your application gives the choice of RGB or CMYK then choose RGB. (The printer uses CMYK inks, but the driver is expecting RGB data.)
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Bob Headrick, HP Expert
I am not an employee of HP, I am a volunteer posting here on my own time.
If your problem is solved please click the "Accept as Solution" button ------------V
If my answer was helpful please click the "Thumbs Up" to say "Thank You"--V

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I have been trying to get decent (meaning not so dark) prints. I have calibrated the iMac 21.5" using a ColorMunki Display and print to an Epson Artison 835 using the Epson ICC profiles.
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Thank you Andrew, I'm going to give that a try. Sorry, I didn't get a notification that you replied or I'd have thanked you sooner. I'll keep my fingers crossed!
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Bob,
It's a very common problem (Google "My prints are too dark". BTW, both North Light Images and Luminous Landscape are superb resources). The first places to consult are Datacolor and Epson.
Things to look into and perhaps change:
- Are you using the most recent printer drivers?
- is your OS and Aperture up-to-date?
- What luminance is your iMac calibrated to?
- Have you confirmed your screen brightness setting?
- How are you viewing your prints?
- Have you (can you) calibrate your printer/paper as well?
- Have you controlled for your environment?
- Have you used any on-screen proofing?
- Have you turned off dynamic screen brightness?
Robert Coder wrote:
What do others do about this.
You'll not likely be pleased to hear that my solution was to purchase much more expensive monitors (NEC), hardware calibrator (Munki), software (NEC SpectraView II), and printer (Epson Stylus Pro 3880).

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Hello everyone. I chose this thread to make my first post because I have been reading everything I could find regarding color spaces, colorsync, and printing within Aperture, in an effort to make good prints with Aperture. I've only been using Aperture for a month (2.1); never used any previous versions of Aperture. I'm going to buy a new printer soon, so I wanted to get the entire Aperture printing-process learning curve mastered using my current hardware (Canon i9900) before working with a new printer.
I profile everything with i1, and I use Zedonet's PrintFab RIP for my printer driver. I'm almost to the point where I can produce prints to my liking, in that they (nearly) perfectly match my screen. My question specifically addresses PrintFab's settings. Is anyone using it? Google and Apple Forum searches did not yield a single thread where someone said they use PrintFab with Aperture.
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Cheers

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