Shinko color problems

[ChrisPurves]

Hi All:- I bit the bullet and bought the Shinko 1245 3 weeks ago.
I've been printing from photoshop cs3 to the printer. The colors seem to be muddy, sort of like the black slider has to go the left in the histogram, even though the historgram shows proper exposure.
I've tried Shinko's two different profiles and tried letting photoshop handle the color management. Everything seems to come out the same.

Has anyone got any experience or hints for setting this printer up properly.

Thanks
Chris

[DougAxford]

I don't own the Shinko but normally the color profiles they provide should be very close. I'd contact Shinko and ask for their help. I think it's K&N but not sure.

I suspect from the last sentence that somewhere in PS you've got the profile in the wrong place if it's the same (or similar) with or without the profile applied. Especially if you are getting prints from other devices that are good. Dyesubs these days are not identical to C prints, but darn close. I know lots of people very happy with Shinko printers and it's on my list to buy when I find a great bargain.

[ChrisPurves]

Thanks Doug:- I talked to Shinko today. We updated the firmware and confirmed I have the latest driver. It's working better right now but doesn't like when I shoot available light and have to color correct the print or adjust levels too much.
When it goes out it seems to over saturate the colors.
I have a printer guy coming this afternoon to profile the printer for me, so we will see what happens.

I wish I could have found a bargain. I know you are not fussy about Vistek but they had the best price for me and they are close enough to me. I paid $ 3000.00 and $369.00 per roll for the media.
Cheers
Chris

[DougAxford]

Originally Posted by ChrisPurves

I paid $ 3000.00

OWWWWWWWWWWWW I turned one down that was $800. US !! Ya, I'm about as cheap as they come. The risk with buying used is always the print head going bad early. If it goes, you might as well have bought new. I'm still waiting for a freebie.

Hope everything works out for you.

Just a word of advice. It does take awhile to get used to the print/screen relationship. Sometimes when your corrections are more extensive, the screen will look OK but prints aren't. It should match perfectly on normal prints but heavy alterations may not. That's when ya gotta use the the 'grey matter' a bit more. Dyesubs are a little less forgiving than inkjet or C prints in my experience if you are picky.

BTW, noticed Vistek is gettng a bit more competitive these days and Henrys is going in the opposite direction.

[ChrisPurves]

Vistek has been good to me. If they can dicker on something they usually do.
Being in the west we are limited as to suppliers. Vistek is in Edmonton and Calgary and we go to each of those cities at least twice a year each.
I bought the 8X10 model so that's why it was expensive. It was about as cheap as I found anywhere else and as I said Vistek is close to me.

When I print to any of the labs (even Costco for proofs) they match pretty good for what's on screen and the final output. I agree that the print and screen relationship is subjective at times.
Cheers
Chris