Help a beginner, why are my color prints darker?

[Engine-Number9]

HI, I have a Canon Pixma printer.

And I like to understand why my colorprints (without any pre-manipulation in photoshop) are always 1-2 stops darker on (fglossy) paper.
Yes I do select glossy paper in the printer dialog. And even using canon brand glossy paper the results are the same.

Whether I set 'Printer manages color' and set the driver color matching to ICM. Or set 'Photoshop manages color' and set the driver to 'matching none' it is the same result.

So my workaround. I set the levels (ctrl+L) as 0, 1.22, 244 (original: 0, 1.00, 255) and this comes close to what I see on screen in terms of brightness.
Also this printer prints skintones a tad red. So I set color balance to -11 red. And +4 blue. This matches what I see on screen very close.

I've read that the monitor is backlit and therefore always brighter. But when matching the brightness level of the monitor to the print. I'd have to dim the monitor down so much it becomes unworkable to edit images. And I can't distinguish white text from the background anymore.

So is this normal?
Would I have less of this trouble when I buy a more expensive printer?

I do have a Epson XP-15000 new and doing nothing currently. But I like to tackle this problem first.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

The situation is slightly more complex - how do you know that your images come with a neutral white balance - w/o color cast/tint - in the first place ? Is your monitor calibrated ? What are your viewing conditions - as bright as the monitor brightness ? And where are your images coming from - your camera shots ? Getting all this under control is called color management. Why should a print look like on the screen - why not the opposite - the screen should look like the print output ? Monitor and printer don't know from each other at all how they render the colors - so their output needs to be standardized - color management

https://www.northlight-images.co.uk/why-are-my-prints-too-dark/

 

[Engine-Number9]

The images I print come mainly from Dreamstime and Shutterstock.

I reduce the colorbalance of reds and add a bit of blue. Then set the highlights to 245 and the midtone levels to 1.22. This comes real close to the original. I just find it odd color printing is so darn difficult. No wonder ain't that popular

Besides my Canon pixma leans towards red. That's weird too. Pixmas makes skintones ever so slightly redish.

 

[The Hat]

The images I print come mainly from Dreamstime and Shutterstock.

If you’re having colour image problems on any of your printers then print a nozzle check First and check that all the nozzles are firing properly.

Next copy and paste this image into your standard photo imaging software, then load a sheet of photo paper into your printer and just hit print, don’t alter the image in any way and allow the printer to handle the colour..

That should tell you one way or the other as to what might be going wrong with your colour prints..
click to enlarge..

 

[PeterBJ]

The images I print come mainly from Dreamstime and Shutterstock.

I reduce the colorbalance of reds and add a bit of blue. Then set the highlights to 245 and the midtone levels to 1.22. This comes real close to the original. I just find it odd color printing is so darn difficult. No wonder ain't that popular

Besides my Canon pixma leans towards red. That's weird too. Pixmas makes skintones ever so slightly redish.

I have owned and used several second hand Canon Pixmas. Most or all have shown a reddish or magenta cast if used with OEM ink or a good refill ink. I think this is typical of Canon Pixmas.

It looks like you have found out how to get a good print of your images. Here is a test image that might make the correction easier.

 

[flyboy]

This info may not be apropos for your situation but I have an Epson ET3750 with tanks for each colour. I notice that it is best to keep the tank levels up higher as the colours don't show as well. I tried to make gold and ended up with some shade of pink.

The problem was not obvious at all because even tho I am not colour blind, I suspect I may be colour challenged....

Once I topped the magenta all was well.