Fixing Faint or Faded Photo Prints on Canon MegaTank G3270 When Using Windows Photo Viewer

Question:
My Canon MegaTank G3270 prints photos that look faint, faded, and dull when I use Windows Photo Viewer. Interestingly, documents print just fine, and the colors only come out right when I print from other programs. Is this still a problem in 2025, and how can I get accurate colors when printing photos?

Answer:

This issue you're seeing is not actually a hardware failure-it's a software color management problem that still persists in 2025. Specifically:

1. Windows Photo Viewer and Color Management

Windows Photo Viewer (and even some of its replacements) has long been known for poor handling of ICC color profiles. When you print through it, the software often fails to apply the printer's ICC profile correctly, leading to photos that look dull, washed out, or muted. This is why your documents look fine-the problem mainly affects photos where accurate color reproduction matters most.

2. Correct Fix: Use the ICC Profile

To solve this, you need to ensure that your printer is using the correct ICC profile for your paper and ink combination. ICC profiles are color translation maps that tell your printer how to accurately reproduce colors from your screen onto paper. Without them, the printer just guesses-and the results are often faded or inaccurate.

• Go into Printer Properties → Color Management in Windows.

• Assign the correct ICC profile for your Canon MegaTank G3270. These profiles are usually installed with the printer driver, but you can also download updated ones from Canon's support page.

• When printing photos, make sure color correction is not being double-applied (for example, disable printer-managed color correction if your application is already applying the ICC profile).

3. Alternative Viewing/Printing Software

Since Windows Photo Viewer is the culprit, you may want to avoid it altogether for photo printing. Instead, try:

• Canon Easy-PhotoPrint Editor (Canon's own software optimized for its printers).

• Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom (if available, excellent for ICC management).

• Free alternatives such as IrfanView or GIMP, which allow you to select the correct profile.

4. Why Documents Look Fine but Photos Don't

Documents usually use standard black and simple RGB values that don't require advanced color handling, so even if the ICC profile is mishandled, the print looks acceptable. Photos, on the other hand, rely on subtle tonal ranges, so when the profile is ignored or misapplied, they appear flat or faded.

Addressing printer issues can be a complicated affair due to the hands-on nature of the problems. For that reason, we're unable to provide live troubleshooting or call-in support for printer repairs. However, we do offer in-person evaluation and repair services at our local diagnostic facility (https://bchtechnologies.com/printer-repair-service). Please note that service is provided on a first-come, first-served basis, and it may take several weeks before we can process your printer. While our service covers full printers and parts, we recognize that our rates aren't always the lowest, so we strongly encourage using self-help resources first. A great place to start is our YouTube channel homepage (https://youtube.com/@bchtechnologies). Use the search icon next to "About" on the menu bar to find specific tutorials-after nine years of content, searching is the fastest way to locate what you need. YouTube may also suggest helpful videos from other creators.

Thank you again for reaching out and sharing your experience. We appreciate your support and hope this helps you get vibrant, accurate photo prints from your Canon MegaTank printer.