HP ePrint 7520 prints photos too dark

[Carlos Silva]

When printing a photo via Linux, the colors are very very dark compared to the original image. Looks like the brightness/darkness of the image was darken to almost total darkness. If I print the same image (same file) using the printer menus, it just works and prints the colors correctly.

Here's the output of hp-check:
---------------
| SYSTEM INFO |
---------------

 Kernel: 3.12.0-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Nov 6 09:06:27 CET 2013 GNU/Linux
 Host: trinity
 Proc: 3.12.0-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Nov 6 09:06:27 CET 2013 GNU/Linux
 Distribution: unknown 0.0
 Bitness: 64 bit

-----------------------
| HPLIP CONFIGURATION |
-----------------------

HPLIP-Version: HPLIP 3.13.11
HPLIP-Home: /usr/share/hplip
warning: HPLIP-Installation: Auto installation is not supported for unknown distro 0.0 version

Current contents of '/etc/hp/hplip.conf' file:
# hplip.conf. Generated from hplip.conf.in by configure.

[hplip]
version=3.13.11

[dirs]
home=/usr/share/hplip
run=/var/run
ppd=/usr/share/ppd/HP
ppdbase=/usr/share/ppd
doc=/usr/share/doc/hplip-3.13.11
html=/usr/share/doc/hplip-3.13.11
icon=/usr/share/applications
cupsbackend=/usr/lib/cups/backend
cupsfilter=/usr/lib/cups/filter
drv=/usr/share/cups/drv/hp
bin=/usr/bin

# Following values are determined at configure time and cannot be changed.
[configure]
network-build=yes
libusb01-build=no
pp-build=yes
gui-build=yes
scanner-build=yes
fax-build=yes
dbus-build=yes
cups11-build=no
doc-build=yes
shadow-build=no
hpijs-install=yes
foomatic-drv-install=yes
foomatic-ppd-install=yes
foomatic-rip-hplip-install=no
hpcups-install=yes
cups-drv-install=yes
cups-ppd-install=yes
internal-tag=3.13.11
restricted-build=no
ui-toolkit=qt4
qt3=no
qt4=yes
policy-kit=no
lite-build=no
udev-acl-rules=yes
udev_sysfs_rules=no
hpcups-only-build=no
hpijs-only-build=no

Current contents of '/var/lib/hp/hplip.state' file:
[plugin]
installed = 1
eula = 1
version = 3.13.11

Current contents of '~/.hplip/hplip.conf' file:
[upgrade]
latest_available_version = 3.13.11
notify_upgrade = false
last_upgraded_time = 1386645385.7803
pending_upgrade_time = 0

[settings]
systray_visible = 0
systray_messages = 0

[last_used]
device_uri = "hpfax:/net/Photosmart_7520_series?zc=printer"
printer_name = Photosmart_C309a
working_dir = .

[commands]
scan = /usr/bin/xsane -V %SANE_URI%

[refresh]
rate = 30
enable = false
type = 1

[polling]
enable = false
interval = 5
device_list =

[fax]
voice_phone =
email_address =

[installation]
date_time = 12/10/2013 02:20:45
version = 3.13.11

 <Package-name> <Package-Desc> <Required/Optional> <Min-Version> <Installed-Version> <Status> <Comment>

--------------------------
| External Dependencies |
--------------------------

 policykit Admin-Policy-framework OPTIONAL - 0.112 OK -
 gs Ghostscript REQUIRED 7.05 9.10 OK -
 network Network-wget OPTIONAL - 1.14 OK -
 scanimage Shell-Scanning OPTIONAL 1.0 1.0.24 OK -
 avahi-utils avahi-utils OPTIONAL - 0.6.31 OK -
 dbus DBus REQUIRED - 1.6.18 OK -
 cups CUPS REQUIRED 1.1 1.7.0 OK 'CUPS Scheduler is running'
 xsane SANE-GUI OPTIONAL 0.9 0.998 OK -

-------------------------
| General Dependencies |
-------------------------

 error: reportlab Python-PDF-Lib OPTIONAL 2.0 - MISSING 'reportlab needs to be installed'
 libcrypto OpenSSL-Crypto-Lib REQUIRED - 1.0.1 OK -
 error: pil Python-Image-Lib OPTIONAL - - MISSING 'pil needs to be installed'
 pyqt4-dbus PyQt4-DBUS REQUIRED 4.0 4.10.3 OK -
 libjpeg JPEG-Lib REQUIRED - - OK -
 libpthread POSIX-Threads-Lib REQUIRED - 2.18 OK -
 python-dbus Python-DBUS REQUIRED 0.80.0 1.2.0 OK -
 python-devel Python-SDK REQUIRED 2.2 3.3.3 OK -
 pyqt4 Python-Qt4 REQUIRED 4.0 4.10.3 OK -
 cups-devel CUPS-SDK REQUIRED - 1.7.0 OK -
 sane-devel SANE-SDK REQUIRED - 1.0.24 OK -
 libusb USB-Lib REQUIRED - 1.0 OK -
 sane Scan-Lib REQUIRED - 1.0.24 OK -
 cups-image CUPS-Image-Lib REQUIRED - 1.7.0 OK -
 libnetsnmp-devel SNMP-Networking-SDK REQUIRED 5.0.9 5.7.2 OK -
 python-xml Python-XML-Lib REQUIRED - 2.1.0 OK -
 python-notify Desktop-notifications OPTIONAL - - OK -

------------------------------
| Compile Time Dependencies |
------------------------------

 gcc gcc-Compiler REQUIRED - 4.8.2 OK -
 libtool Build-tools REQUIRED - 2.4.2 OK -
 make GNU-Build-tools REQUIRED 3.0 4.0 OK -

----------------------
| Python Extentions |
----------------------

 cupsext CUPS-Extension REQUIRED - 3.13.11 OK -
 pcardext PhotoCard-Extension REQUIRED - 3.13.11 OK -
 hpmudext IO-Extension REQUIRED - 3.13.11 OK -

-----------------------
| Scan Configuration |
-----------------------

 hpaio HPLIP-SANE-Backend REQUIRED - 3.13.11 OK 'hpaio found in /etc/sane.d/dll.conf'
 scanext Scan-SANE-Extension REQUIRED - 3.13.11 OK -

------------------------------
| DISCOVERED SCANNER DEVICES |
------------------------------

device `hpaio:/net/Photosmart_7520_series?zc=printer' is a Hewlett-Packard Photosmart_7520_series all-in-one
device `v4l:/dev/video0' is a Noname USB Camera (046d:08d7) virtual device

--------------------------
| DISCOVERED USB DEVICES |
--------------------------

No devices found.

---------------------------------
| INSTALLED CUPS PRINTER QUEUES |
---------------------------------

Photosmart_7520
---------------
Type: Printer
Device URI: hp:/net/Photosmart_7520_series?zc=printer
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/Photosmart_7520.ppd
PPD Description: HP Photosmart 7520 Series, hpcups 3.13.11
Printer ready to printr Photosmart_7520 is idle. enabled since Tue 10 Dec 2013 01:53:23 AM AZOT
Communication status: Good

Photosmart_7520_fax
-------------------
Type: Fax
Device URI: hpfax:/net/Photosmart_7520_series?zc=printer
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/Photosmart_7520_fax.ppd
PPD Description: HP Fax4 hpcups
Printer status: printer Photosmart_7520_fax is idle. enabled since Wed 04 Dec 2013 09:48:55 PM AZOT
Communication status: Good

--------------
| PERMISSION |
--------------

-----------
| SUMMARY |
-----------

Missing Required Dependencies
-----------------------------
None

Missing Optional Dependencies
-----------------------------
None

Total Errors: 2
Total Warnings: 0

Done.

[Carlos Silva (r3pek)]

Here's a photo that shows the problem:

http://cloud.r3pek.org/IMG_20131210_022732.jpg

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

To the HPLIP developers at HP: I have observed this problem on several other inkjet printers from HP. Seems to be a general problem.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Carlos Silva (r3pek)]

Any information on this? This bug looks kinda DOA :-/