Aperture 3 Printing Problem

[archiM44]

Printing from Aperture 3 gives me poorer results than from LR2 or LR3 or PSCS4.
Prints from Aperture 3 are slightly darker, very slightly more Cyan and slightly more saturated. LR and PS prints match the screen image practically exactly, Aperture prints don't.
I printed the same files, each time using the same printer profiles.
Monitor calibrated and custom paper profiles using x-rite i1Pro. Printer Epson 3800.
Very disappointed as the program has many fine features I would have liked to use.
using the same DNG file from my M8 I get the same result using different workflows
Printing in Ap3 and LR directly from the same unedited DNG
Adjusting in AP 3 and exporting as TIF, then importing the tif into LR3 and printing with LR3 and AP 3 gives exactly the same results and differences which didn't surprise me.
Detail is about the same in both with maybe a small edge to LR but that's next to negligible and may be more a question of different sharpening in the software than detail resolving. Besides, when I want the highest possible detail I use Capture One 5 and print using LR of CS4.
In the comparison prints, skin tones had a little more cyan in the Aperture prints in comparison to the on screen image whereas LR was spot on and the blue of Jeans in the Ap 3 print were slightly too dark and tended slightly to turquoise due to a slight cyan cast.
Surprisingly enough the on screen image in Aperture and Lightroom were identical! This may be because my custom LR camera profile renders nearly exactly as Aperture.
Having enlarged slides on Cibachrome in my own darkroom for many years I am quite critical about color shifts.
Using the adjustments in the Aperture print window is not an option, because they also affect the on screen image and the print always will be darker than that. I could adjust my paper profiles in the x-rite program, but I don't want to go that route.
Sorry for the long post,
maurice

 

[Eoin]

Perhaps you could try this, which was my workflow for Aperture 2

Select the image on screen and Menu item View, Proofing Profile.

Select the ICC profile for the paper you wish to print with,

Aperture will now make a slight adjustment to the displayed image to take
into consideration the paper/ink combination.

Adjust to taste.

When done, Menu item File, Print Image. In the Menu that appears, select the printer you wish to use, then under more options you can select the paper ICC profile you want and adjust the brightness, contrast and saturation as well as sharpening options. Aperture 2 always needed a .10 adjustment in Gamma which seems to have been replaced with BCS sliders in Aperture 3.

You could also try other combinations of Relative Colour or Perceptual along with Black point compensation to see which is the ideal combination for your paper/ink sets.

All these settings can be saved into presets and recalled at will, retaining the information.

Don't forget to disable colour management in the actual printer driver settings which will come up after you press the Print button in the Aperture print window. Otherwise you'll have doubled colour profiled your print.