All Photos Printing Too Dark

[cwr64]

I previously had this problem with my Photosmart 7525 all-in-one, and was not able to fix it.  Now I have a new HP Envy 7155 all-in-one that I just got installed last week.  

The problem is that pictures that appear just fine on my computer monitors print OK but they are too dark - like 2 shades darker than they appear on the monitor.   For example, when I print a pic of my white dog, it prints the dog's color as a bit tan - not white.  I print to the printer from my USB connected W10 desktop PC,  my networked W10 laptop, and my networked 2 cell phones (using the HP Smart app from iOS10 and Android 7) .   No matter which device I print from, the photos look just right on the monitors and cell phone screens but the printed photos come out too dark.  I know that I could brighten the pics in photo editing software but I shouldn't have to do that.  I have not seen a printer setting that would keep printed pics from being too dark.  And as I mentioned, this problem always occurred on my previous HP printer as well.  Is there a way to set my HP printer so that printed pics will look as bright as they do on the screens? 

[MKazi]

@cwr64

Thanks for reaching out to us on HP Support Forums. I came across your post and would like to assist.

I understand that your HP ENVY Photo 7155 All-in-One Printer prints photos too dark. I appreciate the steps you have performed and have certainly done a good job.

Are you using original HP ink cartridges or refilled ink cartridges?

Have you tried to change the printer settings from the application you're trying to print from?

Is the printer able to make a color photocopy properly or is the output too dark? 

I recommend you to perform the following steps to isolate the issue and arrive at a fix: 

• Disconnect the power cable from the printer while the printer is still ON.
• Disconnect any other cables if connected the printer.
• Press and hold the printer’s power button for 15 seconds.
• The printer should be directly connected to the wall outlet and not to a surge protector.
• Reconnect the power cable to print and the printer should power ON by itself. If the printer doesn’t power ON then please manually power it ON.

If the issue persists while making a color photo copy too then please perform the steps from this HP article. These steps help in fixing print quality related issues. Please perform step 2 to step 12.

You may also perform a firmware update on the printer via this link. The printer should be restarted after successfully installing the firmware update.

I genuinely hope the issue gets resolved without hassles and the unit works great. Let me know how it goes. Good luck! 🙂

[cwr64]

Well, it is 11/20/2017 and nobody has replied to this problem.  I did get a call from a HP tech who could not find a way to fix the problem.  He asked me about the photo paper I was using and I replied that I was using HP Advanced Photo Paper - glossy.  He said he would try to research a bit further but he had previously looked at my printer settings and the install and could see no problems.

I did read in the Envy 7100 user guide that you can get into the printer's photo printing wizard and edit/control photo brightness, but as far as I can tell from the user guide, that option only exists if you are using memory cards (like an SD card).

Just now saw HP forum reply from 11/15.

As I mentioned:

Running Windows 10 on desktop PC.

Printed photo(s) from this PC via USB and also from cell phone iPhone7 using HP SMART.  Both devices print very well - but too dark.  

This is a new printer and I'm using the new HP cartridges that came in the box with the printer.

This printer was "set up" by the HP remote U.S. tech who was assigned this case by some HP case manager.  I allowed the HP tech access to my PC thru the HP remote control software.

The tech re-checked all the printer settings himself and confirmed there is no way to increase the brightness of photos being printed (unless, of course, I brightened the photos with software prior to printing).

Printed photos using 5x7 HP Advanced Photo paper - glossy.

This problem also was on my previous printer (HP 7520).

There ought to be a solution to this problem.

11/27  HP tech called me and verified that HP says the too dark problem is caused by the missmatch between computer colors and the 3 colors that are mixed by the HP printers.  He says there is no fix but some very expensive printers have different (colors of?) ink that allow for true computer to printer colors (no loss of brightness).  If I COPY a photo on the printer, the copied and output photos seem to have the correct brightness, but there is a "new" problem - the copy function enlarges the photo content by at least 10% and the output photo cuts off the desired picture on all 4 sides.  The appearance is that the camera was placed too close to the person being photographed, so on the output photo it cut off the top of my son's hair, at least 1 button on the front of his shirt, and a bit of each of his arms.  The HP tech told me that he will consult with HP about this and will call me back in a couple of days.  

Below is the email text from the HP tech:

"

Okay, so upon further and deeper research I have found an article concerning the printing issue. 

The over all it appears to be a situation were the issue is with the ink and the way the ink is mixed together to create an image. While we are advanced in some ways it looks as if we are stil behind in others. 

The major issue with the printing process is that the three colors that are used: Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow are unable to combine together and make a complete black. Thus, Black must be added for shading and this does make the color of a photo just a tad darker than what appears to be on a color screen of a computer. 

Furthermore, The color scheme on a computer uses what is called Red, Green, Blue system. This can create a form when mixed together can create black. There will always be a slight shift in the colors from screen to actual print. 

As for the scanner making things just a tad larger, I have yet to find the reason as to why this occurs. 

Here is the ink that explains the color. 

https://envato.com/blog/rgb-vs-cmyk-guide-color-systems-designers/

" 

[BillFilms]

Having purchased an Envy 7155 just before Christmas (having been assured via a phone call to HP that this represents the best of their current consumer photo printing machines), I have been extremely frustrated that all photos (either individual or mosaics) are printing decidedly darker than they should....and there appears to be nothing in the way of an overriding menu control to address it.  Seriously?  My old Photosmart 8450 (from 2004) did a superb job with similar photos, and had all manner of advanced controls to adjust color, brightness and contrast?  How can HP possibly be putting out a new generation of (improved) photo printers that totally lack comparable controls??  I spent a total of 3 hours over two days on the phone with HP techs as they struggled to come up with a solution - following additional firmware downloads, greyscale prints and LONG periods of silence while presumably consulting with others.  It is very difficult to get the extremely ink for the old 14 year old Photosmart, but it prints a far superior photo image. Surely, SURELY, HP is going to come up with a workable solution (as I've signed up for the Instant Ink option, et al)???  The box for the Envy 7155 prominently promotes "Advanced Controls."  Not just misleading...but wrong. There are NO advanced controls of any kind, and nothing comparable to what the old Photosmarts apparently offered.  At this point, I would love to hear HP's explanation as to a) how this came about and b) what they plan to do about it relative to those of us who made this new investment in 2017/18 (evidently inferior) technology.   How could this be anything but a screw-up....?

[cwr64]

You probably read the reply I put  out there after I had finished working with the HP tech - with the ink in the 7155 not being in enough colors to get the job done right.  In the end, HP offered to buy back the printer from me but I print so few pics that I did not accept the offer - just more hassle for me.

ANYWAY..  A few days later a different tech from HP called me out of the blue because of my report that the 7155 was "blowing up" my pics so that they were not the exact size that they should have been.  That is, the pics being printed were being up-sized so that some of each of the 4 sides of my subject was being cut off the edges of the printed pic.  For example, I took a 5x7 physical picture (of my son) from it's frame and used the 7155 to COPY that pic to 5x7 HP photo paper using the 7155's COPY function.  The copy process took the perfect input pic and acted like it very slightly zoomed in to the picture of the boy, cutting off a bit of the top of his head, the bottom button of his shirt, and a bit off both of his arms.  I then did another test COPY using paper on which I had markers on all 4 sides.  The copy process cut off a bit of my markers on all 4 sides.  The tech took my info and reviewed all of my printer settings which he said were perfect.  He told me that he needed to recearch this a bit and he would call me back.  He never called me back and some weeks have passed. 

The 7155 printer should never have been released to production with these engineering faults.

[sir_alexander]

Unfortunately, every time you print a borderless photo, HP zooms in on the photo. This is done to prevent accidental white borders since print head allignment is not that precise (a tiny bit of the photo gets printed onto the roller inside the printer). And of course, when you are making a copy, you are essentially scanning and then printing the result in borderless mode.

[Lordfonnereau]

Would a compatible ink , Stinky Ink, make prints dark-blackish?

I've just changed both cartridges, colour is HP, but the results are disappointing.

[kevin-t]

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