The Steel Guitar Forum

Again I'm not sure if this topic belongs here, if it doesn't please remove it..
I had a cheap scanner, & every time I scanned a photo & printed it, it never looked anywhere near the original, bad color, darker ,etc., the computer stores told me I need a better scanner.. I purchased the HP 4470, with all the bells & whistles on it.. I hit COPY, same results.. they then told me I need a better printer, preferrably one that is compatible with the scanner.. I bought the HP 5550 Photret 4, the latest in photo printers,I put a picture in it hit copy, same results, then they told me to be sure I'm using HP paper, same results.. When I hit COPY, shouldn't that mean exactly that ( COPY ) & it should come out the same as the original, without putting it into a program & doctoring it up.. Incidentally I've tried quite a few programs including Thumbs Plus, but they still don't look like the original. If a person has to scan a picture & use to programs to copy them, why not just use cheaper equipment.. Can someone suggest what I may be doing wrong.. What can I do to get a copy of the original??

I'm not up on scanners very much and may be all wet here. I have a Canon Multifunction printer that will copy, scan, print, and fax. On that printer, copy works just like a copy machine, you run your original through and a copy comes out on another piece of paper. Scan however, makes a digital copy that can be manipulated, emailed, and yes printed. Maybe you're confusing copy with scan?

Thanks for the reply Jim... This scanner has a button on it that says COPY, & it goes right from the scanner to the printer. The software that came with the scanner also has a copy with it, so they told me that it will work the same as the all in one units.. & it does copy.. My problem is that the copy is not an exact duplicate of the original, color is different, usually darker, & texture is a bit different. Does your all in one give you an exact copy , so that if you hold them side by side , it would be hard to tell the difference between the original & the copy??

When I copy with my all-in-one, it's about the same quality as a cheap copying machine. I only use it for text documents that I need to copy without bothering to copy them at work and have never tried a color copy. Scanning however, creates JPG or BMP files that look great. I haven't tried printing them, but they do look much much better than copying.

Thanks, I'll just keep fiddling around I guess.. It's just that by the time I get a photo anywhere even close to the original I've used up a bunch of photo paper in trial runs.. I was hoping that the word COPY meant just that.. Copy the original , be it good or bad, because if a person has to manipulate every photo then I'm not really copying... And once the photo is manipulated to look close to the original on the monitor, the printout is different again.. I was hoping that someone could steer me into the right way to get a good copy. Text documents copy real well. Thanks again, & all the best to everyone for 2003..

What you are trying to do is much harder then it sounds. The first thing
you need to do is color balance your computer monitor. You can do this
through a program like Photoshop, or buy hardware that will do it for
you (like the Spider). Once you have your monitor balanced and your
printer profiles match the paper you are using, your print should look
like the image on you screen. Next you need a good scan. Good film
scanners start at around $1800 and go up from there. Most photographers
scan from their negatives instead of their prints, unless they are doing
restoration from old photographs. After that you will need a good
printer. The best consumer printer on the market today is the Epson
2200. Although there are several good printers out there that will do a
good job, I would stay with the Epson Photo Series printers. The next
step is the hardest part, you have to learn Photoshop. Photoshop might
be a little much for what you are doing, but you will need a program
that will help you manipulate the photos.

At this point I would not go out a buy a new scanner or a printer. I
would try a get you your monitor set up right. Also make sure that your
are using the right printer profile for the paper you are using. That
alone might solve a lot of your problems. Having a mismatch with printer
paper profile and your paper can make your print look very bad. The
printer paper profile are found in the print driver.

The easiest way to get a good print, is to take your negative to your local lab and have it printed.


Hope this was some help.

Good luck, Happy New Year

Steve

Steve ,thank you very much for the detailed explanation.. Would you be able to give me a detailed explanation on how to color balance my monitor.. using a program like Photo Shop.. I have Photo Shop 7.0..You are right because the picture on my monitor is different color than the original. Would I have to scan a photo onto the monitor & then balance it to the original??? If you like you can e-mail me at my address...I think that once I get a good picture on my monitor I'll be halfway there. I realize I don't have professional equipment, but I think it's as good as I can get for home use.. I just checked the backs of all pictures from a studio & it says Kodak on the backs of most of them. & I'm using HP photo Paper with HP Printer.. Once again thanks very much, all the best.. Johnny<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by John Olynyk on 29 December 2002 at 12:04 PM.]</p></FONT>

John.....

The color balance stuff is a 2 piece situation....

First,you need to run the color balance part of you "SCANNER" package. You may have to really look for it on the disk,but it is there. Then you need to(as you stated,You are useing "PhotoShop 7.0") set up the monitor(screen) for optiumn performance. This is a time and often hassle to do but in the end, It's well worth the effort.

It took me almost a week to really get my system adjusted so that the out-put to the printer matched the screen. One thing you might want to remember,is that you want to ALWAYS turn the brightness and contrast up full on your monitor for the final results. This will give you a better idea of what will be presented to the printer.

Been there,Done that...

Bill

Thanks Bill & everybody else, I will try to do what you recommend, hopefully I can find how to balance the scanner.. I have a program called Adobe Gamma in my computer, but I'm a bit afraid to tackle it for fear of screwing it up totally, but maybe I'll take the plunge.. I looked in Photoshop 7.0, but couldn't find where to adjust the monitor.. but will keep looking..

Adobe Gamma is the monitor calibration software. You should be able to get you monitor close with it

A good book that will help with the monitor calibration and other photoshop issues is:

"Adobe Photoshop 7.0 For Photographers"

Remember to make sure that you are using the correct driver profile for the paper you are using.

Good Luck.

Steve

After replacing the harddrive on my wife's computer, I could never get the Visioneer Scanner that came with the machine to "connect".

I finally gave up, and yesterday bought a HP Scanjet 2200c on sale for $49.95. It installed without a hitch and works perfectly! Everything I scan and print looks just like the original.
Gene<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Gene Jones on 04 January 2003 at 08:21 AM.]</p></FONT>

I'm glad that your printout is the same as the original.. I wish mine were.. does that mean color photos also.. Our daughter is a strawberry blond, & if I scan her picture (or press copy on the scanner) her hair prints out almost brunette, & her face is real red.. so it's obviously my settings on the monitor & scanner.. I also just aquired a Photo Shop 7.0 training CD, so as soon as I get a chance I'll try to change the settings.. Thanks all..... John

Steve , what do you mean by the correct driver profile for the paper I'm using???
John

Every printer should have a profile for each paper you wont to print with it. I have a print driver for one of my epson printer that has 15 different profiles for 15 different papers. You can have costume profiles made but most printers will have a hand full of profiles that come with the printer. Some of the profiles might be as specific as the name of the paper (like Cone's Royal Jazz) or as simple as matte or Glossy paper. Just because it says glossy or matte paper does not mean that you can use just any paper. You will have to read your manual to see what paper the manufacture recommends..

Good luck..

Steve

Thanks Steve, there might be a chance for this tired old brain yet.. With the help from all of you I may just become a computer whiz, heck I may even attempt a photo studio.. ha

John
Ive always hated scanners for the same reason but i have got a web cam that you can also take pictures with it im here to tell you i can gett he hair of a nat if he would stand still long enough. cost less then 50.00. just my 3 cents worth Joe

Maybe that's what I should be using & forget all the rest of this nonsense.. But for lack of anything better to do, I went to Staples today, & was talking to a salesperson ( they call them Associates) about my experiences or lack of. So this guy tells me that I need a GOOD digital camera, then I'll get good photos, so he gets this HP camera 3 mega pixels, takes a picture of me, takes this memory card out of the camera, sticks it into an HP priter & shows me the picture.. & he was real proud of the end result, but I was totally disappointed with the end result. I know I look prettier than that, but seriously the picture was quite red, & the background store colors were bad.. so maybe I should be looking at that web cam you got.. What brand is it??

What I have here is a intel pc camera but its about four years old and im sure theres a way better camera now but if you like i could snap a picture and sent it to you if you buy one make sure that you can take pics with it some of them you cant. but still less then 50 bucks your troubles are gone. Joe