...it tells me its a non postscript printer and then churns out bad photos with horrid colours.
The message is absolutely correct, your R 200 Photo is most definitely
not a postscript printer. Unless you are working with an EPS image or file I am not sure why Elements would even give that warning. In any case, that does not mean you should expect bad color rendition. I use Elements with an Epson Photo 820 and get outstanding color results. To get accurate color there are some preparatory steps you must go through before you begin.
Go to System Preferences > Displays and click on the Color tab. You will find a list of color profiles for your monitor. Select the one that most closely matches your monitor and click on the Calibrate button. Check the box labeled Expert Mode and then follow the instructions to adjust the color calibration of your monitor.
On the Elements menu select Color Settings and select the type of Color management (profile) you would like to use when working with images in Elements. Limited is appropriate for images to be used on the web and full for print images. When you open an image file if there is no color profile attached, Elements will prompt for the type to use.
When you get read to print from Elements click on File > Print and go through the Elements page setup being sure to use the paper size you have loaded in your R200 Photo. Then click on the Print button at the bottom of that window to get to the printer dialogue.
I am going to use the GutenPrint (formerly known as GIMP-Print) driver in my example as I personally like it the best, but using the factory driver is not a lot different.
- Select the GutenPrint printer driver
- On the print dialogue window click on the menu that says, Copies and Pages
- Select ColorSync
- If there are any color conversion options available select the most appropriate one
- Click on ColorSync and select Printer Features
- Choose the color model you wish to use, I generally choose CMYK but there may be other alternatives with your R200
- For Color Precision I have never found a reason to use anything other than Best
- Select the appropriate paper type. (I generally have the best results on Epson printers using Epson papers)
- Set print quality, Image type, and resolution appropriately. Automatic usually works well for me, but you can experiment to see which works best with your printer and paper combination.
If you use the Epson factory drivers you will get a Color Management option on the menu and you will have the option of choosing ColorSync and even adjusting the Brightness, Contrast, Saturation and color levels to your personal taste. In either the factory or GutenPrint drivers when you arrive at settings that work consistently well then in the Print Dialog labeled "Presets" click on the menu and select "Save As". Then you will be able to call the settings up at any time without having to go through the entire process again.
