Wish I could go dig my old printer out of the trash and do CPR on it.

My old printer would print out the pictures I had on my computer totally true to color...if I made address labels, the colors were EXACTLY like my pictures.

Now I have this new jumbo jet all-in-one, and the pictures are darker and the colors are muted. At first I thought, "There must be an easy way to do this", but now I'm beginning to think there's no easy way to do anything with this critter. Grrrr.

What am I doing wrong??

I can't believe I'm now too dumb to use a printer. I keep looking at it sitting there, expecting it to start saying "Steph-a-nie!"

What brand/model is it??
Maybe we can help you figure it out.

Or if it hasn't been bought too long ago, can you retun it and try another brand?

tell then poor print quality as reason for return.

I search & read reviews online for almost everything new I buy anymore, just to see what others are saying.

It got very good reviews, it's an HP officejet pro 8500.

I wouldn't dare return it until I make sure it's not a "duh" on my part. The actually print quality of the text is fine.

HP has a wonderful email response... I'd email them. They will answer within a day.

It is also possible there are contrast settings for you to fiddle with. Perhaps your contrast just needs some adjustment.
You should see what I can do with a poor picture. Just using contrast settings in my graphics program. So there may be a simple solution for you, in the manual. Type in "contrast" in the help and see what you get?

Thank you! I'm going to do some fiddling with it tomorrow, earlier in the day, when I'm a bit sharper. And I'll take your suggestion to email HP for advice.

I typed in "contrast", and thought I hit the jackpot, but the information was for scanning, not printing.

It MUST be something I'm not doing, because, again, it got such good reviews. The one I just scrapped was an HP, and I had it for seven and a half years.

for the photo printing.. do you use a photo editing program?

There are some nice free ones that can sharpen, lighten, crop, auto adjust..
Google's Picasa is nice I've used it for years.
http://picasa.google.com/

You could try making adjustments on a photo and then see if the printer does a better with it.


My Epson has in the main tab of the printing preferences a Mode section for photo enhance, custom, automatic...
Is there something like that for your HP?

Um. Where would it be?

here's the HP pages for your printer , They might have better pics/details than I can give.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...752462&lang=en

[Printer Properties

The Printer properties dialog box is typically where you'll find options governing the printer itself—updating drivers, configuring ports, and other hardware-related customizations.
To open the Printer properties dialog box

1.

Open Devices and Printers by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, and then, on the Start menu, clicking Devices and Printers.
2.

Right-click the printer that you want to use, and then click Printer properties.
3.

Make your choices, and then click OK.

]http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Choosing-print-options#section_2