Why is my Canon i9950 printing with a strong blue cast after sitting unused?
Asked 3/3/2012
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My Canon i9950, fitted with an aftermarket continuous ink system (CISS), used to print normally. After not being used for a while, every photo print now has a strong blue cast.
I’ve already checked that the tanks are full, there’s no air in the lines, and nozzle checks/test prints look clean. I’ve also tried printer-managed color, Photoshop-managed color, and printing with or without an ICC profile, but the blue cast remains. The printer’s built-in test blocks still show all colours.
System: macOS 10.7.3, Photoshop CS5 12.0.4, Canon driver 10.52.
What’s the most likely cause, and how can I diagnose it?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
14y ago
2 Answers
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I would suspect that they yellow ink has gone off a bit, or at least that your printer + profile + driver isn't handling the yellow values well. It can be very difficult to tell without a print colorimeter, since we humans are not very well equipped to see "dark yellow"—all saturated yellows look pretty bright to us.
The standard quick tests aren't going to work well with your printer since it uses dedicated red and green inks (colours that would normally be mixed from magenta + yellow or cyan + yellow in a CMYK print). You can try printing a solid, vivid orange—that will have to be mixed from some combination of red, yellow and possibly magenta, so if that comes out too red, then the yellow density is the problem. That still won't tell you whether it's that the yellow ink itself isn't strong enough or that the printer is applying the yellow too lightly, though. Flushing and recharging an ink can be an expensive proposition with a CISS due to the line length, so it's not something you'd want to do on a whim. Try the orange test first.
It may be less expensive to have a custom profile built for your printer than to replace an existing ink stock on speculation. Cathy's Profiles is a good source (good enough to get a recommendation from Ctein†), and at $35 (current price) it may save you quite a bit of money compared to replacing an ink. Having your printer re-profiled whenever you change inks, especially if you are using third-party inks or papers, is always a good idea.
† Although Ctein doesn't appear as an entry in Wikipedia, he's all over the citations for various photo processing and printing topics. He's also the author of Digital Restoration from Start to Finish, which is where he's recommended Cathy's Profiles for those unable to own something like the ColorMunki Photo.
Originally by user2719. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2719
14y ago
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The most likely cause is weak or altered yellow output rather than a general color-management setting issue. A blue cast usually means yellow is missing or too weak, and that can happen if the yellow ink has degraded, the yellow channel isn’t delivering proper density, or the profile/driver combination is no longer matching the printer’s behavior.
Because the i9950 uses extra red and green inks, a normal nozzle check may not reveal this clearly. A useful test is to print a solid vivid orange patch: if it prints too red or cool, that points to insufficient yellow.
Since the problem persists whether color is managed by the printer or Photoshop, it’s less likely to be just one application setting. With an aftermarket CISS, ink quality or yellow-channel performance is a strong suspect, especially after the printer sat unused.
If possible, verify output with a print colorimeter or re-profile the printer using the current inks. If re-profiling isn’t possible, check/replace the yellow ink and confirm the yellow channel is producing correct density in real image prints, not just nozzle checks.
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