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HP Recommended
Sprocket
The color on the pictures I print on the sprocket are not the same as the picture i took and the back ground colors kind of blend together
13 REPLIES 13
HP Recommended

Hey there! @Cybilw, Thanks for stopping by HP forums!

 

I understand you have issues printing images from your sprocket printer.

 

Don't worry I will try to help you out.

 

Are you using  HP ZINK Sticky-Backed Photo Paper?

 

Use these recommendations to help improve print quality.
Use genuine HP ZINK® Sticky-Backed Photo Paper. ZINK® makes custom photo paper for a variety of printers, such as Polaroid, LG, and HP. HP recommends using HP ZINK® Sticky-Backed Photo Paper for best results. To purchase genuine HP ZINK® Sticky-Backed Photo Paper, go to the HP Sprocket homepage. You can also purchase genuine HP ZINK® Sticky-Backed Photo Paper from other retailers.
Clean the output rollers with the blue HP ZINK® Smartsheet from the same pack of photo paper currently in the printer. Load the blue HP ZINK® Smartsheet into the input tray with the barcode facing down and the photo paper with the print side facing up, and then send a print job.
 NOTE:
Load photo paper with the Smartsheet to avoid an Out of Paper error message.
Allow the printer a few minutes to cool down between print jobs.
When the printer becomes too warm, a Cooling down... Sprocket needs to cool down before printing another job. Wait to send another photo. a message might display on the HP Sprocket app. Tap OK to clear the message.
Store the photo paper in a cool, dry place and avoid contact with water. If water spills on a photo, wipe it away as soon as possible to prevent damaging the photo.
Use clean, wrinkle-free photo paper. Avoid loading wrinkled or curled photo paper into the printer.
Make sure images have a minimum resolution of 818 x 1258 pixels per inch (PPI) for optimal print quality. Screen-captured images from your mobile device might not have sufficient resolution for optimal print quality. See your mobile device manufacturer for more information.

 

 

Refer this document to further troubleshoot issues with your sprocket printer.

 

 

 

 

Let me know how it goes!

Have a beautiful weekend ahead! 🙂

 

 

 

 

A4Apollo
I am an HP Employee

HP Recommended
Yes I'm using the hp photo paper
HP Recommended

I have the same problem withthe Sprocket printer . I have a 2010 Goldwing trike , candy apple red but when I print the picture it comes out looking orange or gold ??

HP Recommended

@Cybilw, @cutter426, Thanks for your quick response and time.

 

I Appreciate your efforts for trying out the steps.

 

Have you calibrated the photo pack with the Smartsheet card?

The Smartsheet will pass through the HP Sprocket Photo Printer automatically before the first print job.
The Smartsheet® cleans and calibrates the printer for the paper pack. Use a Smartsheet® with each pack of newly
loaded paper for best print quality. Each Smartsheet® is specially calibrated to prepare that pack of paper for use in
your printer. Discard the sheet after you have printed all ten sheets in the pack.

 

If the issue still persists try resetting the printer and check if it helps.

Reset the printer. On the printer,
locate the pinhole near the
charging port, insert a straight pin
into the hole to press the reset
button until the printer turns off.
Restart the printer.

 

Refer the printer manual for more information.

 

 

 

Let me know if this helps!

Have a great day ahead! 🙂

 

 

 

A4Apollo
I am an HP Employee

HP Recommended

Looks like there is a lot of people with same problem.

Mine printed like two or three nice images but then started to print like old ribbon printers, colors washed out, not contrasting, no color accuracy, nothing.

Did the reset... same.
Sheets are new Zink HP Sprocket Paper, printer is cold.

Aren't there any color profiles set to be used with this printer?
Maybe by using an appropriate color profile in photoshop we could get better results?

Please help.
Thanks
Check below:

Original

Original

 

 

 

Printed:
Printed

HP Recommended

@FTrindade, Thanks for your response and time.

As you mentioned even you have picture quality issues with your printer.

Try using a different photo application and check if it helps.

If the issue still persists, try resetting the printer and check if it helps.

Refer my previous thread to know how to reset the printer.

I'll watch your reply!

Have a beautiful day ahead! 🙂

A4Apollo
I am an HP Employee

HP Recommended

Hi MrRobot.

I have tested with pictures saved with:
Picasa3 (ollllld thing),
Photoshop CS7,
for windows;

and:
Android "Gallery" (default)
and even Photo Mate R3 (the best app i could find for RAW image mobile processing)

ALL of those went out like that.

I did the reset... twice!
I have new slips of the paper sold with the printer;
I just opened a NEW packet for that print I annexed here and of course, runned the calibrayion with the card.

This is the result after ALL options I have seen on the foruns about this topic.

So...

Any color profile you are awre that have the BEST results for this?

It would be nice to have a test case (user story) from your side that actually could lead to a succesful print...

Please advice on:
hardware used to take photo;
the software used to edit;
color profiles used;

that may reach the best effect.

Thanks.

HP Recommended

@FTrindade, I'm glad you came back so quick.

As you mentioned even after resetting the printer the issue still persists.

The maximum resolution printed by the sprocket is 313 x 400 dots per inch (dpi).

Also, Make sure images have a minimum resolution of 818 x 1258 pixels per inch (ppi) for optimal print quality. Screen captured
images from your mobile device might not have sufficient resolution for optimal print quality. See your mobile
device manufacturer for more information. 

Refer the link in my previous thread to improve the print quality.

If the issue still persists it is a limitation of the printer.

Have a great day ahead! 🙂

A4Apollo
I am an HP Employee

HP Recommended
Hello again.

The problem is definetely not the images resolution.
As you probably can see from the images I uploaded here, the original is way larger. In fact it is 6000x4000 at 300dpi... comes from Sony Alpha 6300.

313x400 dpis does not makes sense to me. Why are you mixing dimensions with dpis which are a concentration measure, given a linear segment of 1 inch?

My guess is that you are refering to the printer's resolution being 313x400... which is not really 4:3 or 3:2 standard ratios. That is not really important in color rendering, which is the problem.

818x1258 ppi is also something that does not makes sense to me... looks like you are again mixing dimensions with pixel concentration. Nevertheless, as I stated before, images are much larger than that and the printer scales them down correctly, except for the color.

Or are you saying that the horizontal density of the thermal sublimination hardware is difetent from the certical one? I guess not...


Also, I have told that my device is a Samsung S7 edge... so I guess you haven't read me or you are not familiar with the 2k resolution of Samsung S7edge... Anyway... the pictures are not from screencaptures.

I am really thinking that I am not talking to a technical person. Your answers are not satisfying by any means. You keep repeating things that do not make sense and asking things I have already mentioned before.

The link you posted before does not help, as I have already mentioned. Please take the time to read trough ALL I have said so that I don't feel like I am talking to a layman here...

Also...
I HAVE ASKED for color profiles, software to use, etc...
Because I KNOW for a fact that the printer has some limits. And I know what can fix it.

So PLEASE ask someone that knows what he is talking about to try to reply.

Or I guess I will be left with no other option but to return the printer and ask for a refund and of course advice everyone to avoid buying this product.
And believe me... my reviews are seen by some hundreds thousands followers in youtube, instagram and linked in...

You shouldn't treat your customers with a script when you see that they understand "a bit" about technology.

Have a great day

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