jwoj69

Hello. I have a Canon ImageClass 634CDW 1200 dpi color laser printer. Prints are ok, but worse than inkjet. From passes to wash off colors. I know that my printer can do it better, question is how? Jack.

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

Call Canon support. They are knowledgeable and very helpful. It might be any number of things including your print manager. Canon has a free app called Print Studio Pro that helps manage printing with usually excellent results/

jwoj69

Do you know how to use this plugin?

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

Color laser printers with only four colors will never match a photo inkjet printer with 6-8 colors. They just aren't made for printing photographs. They also can't use the wide variety of papers that an inkjet can handle.

jwoj69

I'm successfully used inkjet (I know you shouldn't ) inkjet photo Matte and Laser Photo papers. I also use a Brochure laser double sided paper, as another option. Paper itself helps a lot. I seen some amazing laser printed photos, so I know It can be done. I doesn't have to be perfect. I just want to get close to inkjet quality. In the past, I was very successful in black and white on laser.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

What are you printing with (software). Do you have specialized Canon printer drivers loaded when you send jobs to the printer.

By all means, call Canon, but they will ask the same question.

jwoj69

Photoshop 2018 with Canon drivers.

f8lee Loc: New Mexico

There's a limit as to how well a laser printer can make continuous tone color prints that has nothing to do with drivers or even substrate, and that is the fact that laster toner is essentially tiny bits of colored plastic that are melted onto the paper. These simply cannot mix as well as liquid inks "spit" at the paper or gaseous dyes sublimed onto the substrate (what dye sublimation involves).

jwoj69

I tried to use this app, but my printer is not compatible with it. Any other ideas, please?

Bipod

If you don't mind, a quick questions: did it ever print better than it does now?
(To answer this, you might wish to look at some old photos you printed when the printer was new.)

Calling Canon service is a good idea.

I don't print my photos on a laser printer, but I have 30 years experience with B&W and color
laser printers--including printing book-length manuals with illustrations, annual reports, etc.

1. Make sure you are using a laser paper -- not an "all purpose" paper, copier paper, or inkjet paper.
Laser printers will actually melt the surface of some inkjet papers. The smooth coated laser paper
will give the best result. This comes in gloss, semi-gloss and matte finishes.

2. Configure the printer for the correct weight paper: heavier paper for coated paper.

3. If the humidity is high in the room, turn up the furnace thermostate. Laser printers
don't like humidity: it makes the toner clump and actually reduces the static charge on
the drum.

4. Do any scheduled maintainance that the manual calls for. Typical items are cleaning
the corona wire and vacuuming the inside of the printer. (Be sure to let the fuser cool
down before reaching inside the printer.)

5. If you still get loose toner, that is definitely a problem. It means the fuser isn't getting
the surface of the paper hot enough to "fuse" the toner. There are several possible reasons:
* Not allowing adequate time for the laser pritner to warm up before printing
* Wrong toner cartridge
* Paper speed too fast (color may also be pale -- not saturated enough)
If you have loose toner, try reducing the paper speed (page rate), and see if that helps.

6. If it seems to working, there are a number of configurable items that can be adjusted
on most laser printres, such as color saturation.

7. The larger you print (up to the maximum size of your printer--probably 8.5" x whatever)
the higher the resolution. So you may need to get used to priting 8" x 10" (or the largest
size that matches the format) instead of 4" x 5". be sure to print the long dimension on
the longest axis of the paper.

8. Finally, examine your prints in sunlight, not artifiical light. You may be amazed how much
better they look.

Toners don't blend as well as liquid inks. But a color laser printer should print as least
as good an image as a 4-color lithograph (and some lithos are very good). But professional
printers spend a lot of time making litho plates, chosing inks and making test runs. So
you may need to do some fooling around to get optimum result.

Mostly, graphic designers intending to make an offset litho will chose images that look good
in a 4-color (CMYK -- cyan, magenta, yellow and black). Some color photographs make
good CMYK lithos, others don't.

One of the PhotoShop gurus on UHH can probably suggest how to improve the image for
printing in four colors.

jwoj69

Wow you are giving me a hope. I guess the biggest problem I see is the bends or lines showing from laser passes. Any Ideas on how to minimize them? Thank you, Jack.

Bill P

Every time I see a color laser print, I can easily see the layers and lines of toner. Don't know what is available, but I have seen proofs of my stuff destined for a 4 color press made on some kind of "digital press." Looks totally different, but I understand it's at least a couple of hundred thousand,so I am not out shopping.