Photosmart 7510 photo prints are all a bit dark - Help?

[c41]

Just purchased a HP Photosmart 7510.

The photos it prints on the highest setting on the HP advanced glossy photo paper are generally a bit dark.

I've got a Mac running Snow Leopard - OSX 10.6.8.

I've read all about settings when printing like 'printer manages color' and 'photoshop manages color' and trying all sorts of different combinations of colorsync enabled/disabled, colorsync profiles etc that are the official printer ones, and generic RGB ones. I see very slight differences when printing with different profiles, but in general, everything is a bit - say 15% - too dark, and lacking contrast/saturation.

This applies to printing from PDFs/jpegs in preview, photoshop, lightroom etc. Tried many variations. Same result.

I've got the latest HP drivers (for this printer its 3.3.3) from apple software update.

Photos printed out fine on my previous printer - a Canon Pixma iP4300. 

Are there any overriding/master settings that can be applied to bump up the overall brightness/contrast/saturation of prints?

[c41]

I may have just stumbled onto something myself that may help me in the right direction:
http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net

looks some some alternative printer driver software. Anyone have any experience with it? Looks like my printer (Photosmart 7510) is not on the supported list yet as it is quite new - but choosing another similar sounding printer profile works, and fiddling with the colour controls does have an effect - albeit unexpected.

I guess I wait until my printer is supported. If anyone has any experience that may help please let me know 

[BuckeyeInBoca]

I'm having the same issue with my printer.  Ugh!  Hoping to find an answer soon or I'll have to take this printer back.

[Nikki89]

I had that same problem and I think I found 2 solutions. I think the second solution is a better option. 

First Solution: 

I found that if I wanted to adjust the brightness of the photo, I put my photos onto a camera memory card and slide it into the SD drive (front left bottom corner) of the printer. 

Then click on photos --> view print --> memory card --> select the photo you want to print --> edit --> adjust brightness 

You can also find the instructions to the darkness at this link 

http://www.hp.com/united-states/consumer/digital_photography/edit_restore_photos/tips/adjust_brightn...

However, the photo that came out was better but the color was faded. The second solution should fix this problem. 

Second Solution

At the edit photo menu (same place as where you want to adjust brightness of the photo), I turned the automatic retouching off and did not change the brightness. 

The photo that came out pretty good. 

I hope this helps! I am going to try to look for a program/software that can adjust the brightness and automatic retouching options through the computer. 

[Nikki89]

This is how my photos look. 

Top photo: auto touch up was off

Bottom photo: Brightness increased