I am trying to make a color copy and the copy is much darker than the original. I have it on auto exposure and reset to original settings as well as had it print a test page which was also darker than normal.

Problem Cause Solution Colored lines appear. The exposure glass or scanning glass is dirty. Clean them. See "Maintaining Your Machine", About this Machine . Copies appear dirty. Image density is too high. Adjust the image density settings. See "Adjusting Copy Image Density", Copy and Document Server Reference . Copies appear dirty. Auto Image Density is not selected. On the control panel, select [Auto Density]. The reverse side of an original image is copied. Image density is too high. Adjust the image density settings. See "Adjusting Copy Image Density", Copy and Document Server Reference . The reverse side of an original image is copied. Auto Image Density is not selected. On the control panel, select [Auto Density]. A shadow appears on copies if you use pasted originals. Image density is too high.

• Adjust the image density settings. See "Adjusting Copy Image Density", Copy and Document Server Reference .
• Change the orientation of the original.
• Put mending tape on the pasted part.

The same copy area is dirty whenever making copies. The exposure glass, scanning glass, or ADF is dirty. Clean them. See "Maintaining Your Machine", About This Machine . The same copy area is dirty whenever making copies.

• The original that has already been printed is scanned.
• Original Type is set to [Text / Photo], and an original with text and photographs that can hardly be distinguished from each other is loaded.

On the control panel, press [Generation Copy], and then begin copying. Copies are too light. Image density is too light. Adjust the image density settings. See "Adjusting Copy Image Density", Copy and Document Server Reference . Copies are too light. A light copy may result when you use damp or rough grain paper. Use recommended paper only and be sure its storage environment meets the recommended temperature and humidity conditions. For details about recommended paper and the proper way to store it, see "Recommended Paper Sizes and Types" and "Paper Storage", About This Machine . Parts of images are not copied. The original is not set correctly. Set originals correctly. See "Placing Originals", Copy and Document Server Reference . Parts of images are not copied. The correct paper size is not selected. Select the proper paper size. Parts of images are not copied. Even if you place originals in the ADF correctly, margin of a few millimeters on all four sides of the original might not be copied. Use "Create Margin" function to reduce the image of its original size.
For details about missing image area, see "Missing Image Area", Copy and Document Server Reference . images appear only partially. The paper is damp. Use paper that has been stored in the recommended temperature and humidity condition. For details about the proper way to store it, see "Paper Storage", About This Machine . Black lines appear. The exposure glass or scanning glass is dirty. Clean them. See "Maintaining Your Machine", About This Machine . White lines appear. The exposure glass or scanning glass is dirty. Clean them. See "Maintaining Your Machine", About This Machine . White lines appear. The dustproof glass is dirty. Clean the dustproof glass. See "Cleaning the Dustproof Glass", About This Machine . Copies are blank. The original is not set correctly. When using the exposure glass, face the originals down. When using the ADF, face them up. A moir? pattern is produced on copies. Your original has a dot pattern image or many lines. Place the original on the exposure glass at a slight angle. Black spots appear on the copy of a photographic print. Because of high humidity, the photographic print has stuck to the exposure glass. Place the print on the exposure glass in either of the following ways:

• Place an OHP transparency on the exposure glass, and then place the print on the OHP transparency.
• Place the print on the exposure glass, and then place two or three sheets of white paper on it. Leave the ADF open when copying.

White stripes appear on the OHP. Fragments of paper are stuck to the OHP. Use a dry cloth to wipe any paper fragments off the back of the OHP. The image on the back side of duplex copies has mottled blank patches or is smudged. Missing patches and smudges are caused by moisture leaking from the paper.

• Do not install the machine in areas that are susceptible to low temperatures.
• Use paper that has been stored where temperature and humidity conditions meet the limitations we recommend. For details about the paper storage conditions we recommend, see "Paper Storage", About This Machine .
• Install the Optional anti-humidity heater. For details about the anti-humidity heater, contact your service representative.

When You Cannot Make Clear Copies

You will ahve to set up exactly the conditions you want for the default reset. Color option, quantity, manual or Auto exposure, etc. Then press the additional Functions key, then copy settings, press the down arrow key until Standard Settings is displayed, then depress it and then store key not initilize then OK ( YES ). This should get you in the general area of storing the settings you want.

The following information provides an Overview of the Printer's available Scan Settings. 1. To enter the Scan mode, from the Printer's Main (Copy) Screen press the Menu button.
2. On the two-button selection screen, press the right-hand Scan/E-mail button. Note: If you press the lefthand "Copy" button by mistake you will be returned to the Main (Copy) Screen. You will then have to press the Menu button again to return to the two-button selection screen.
3. The Scan screen consists of three Tabs, with each Tab displaying a number of feature settings. From left to right, the three Tabs are labeled: Basic Scanning, Scan Options, and Image Quality/File Format.
4. When the Basic Scanning Tab is selected, three columns of settings are displayed. The first (left-hand) column of settings contains four "Output Color" selections, including: Auto, Full Color, Grayscale (256G), and Black. The second (center) column of settings displays four scan resolutions. The available selections include: 200 dpi, 300 dpi, 400 dpi, and 600 dpi. The third (right-hand) column of settings displays "2 Sided Original" selections including: 1 Sided, 2 Sided (H to H), 2 Sided (H to T), and More.... If you press More..., a screen displays with two setting selection buttons on the left, enabling you to select either 1 Sided or 2 Sided. If you choose 1 Sided, you can select an original orientation of Head to Top, or Head to Left. If you choose 2 Sided, two additional orientation buttons (Head to Head, and Head to Toe) become available for your selection. Note: To support "2 Sided" (Duplex) Scanning you will need to use the Printer's Duplex Automatic Document Feeder. When changing or viewing More... settings, press the Save button to save setting changes, or the Cancel button to exit the current screen without saving changes.
5. After an Output Color is selected from the first column of the Basic Scanning Tab, and the Image Quality/File Format Tab is pressed, a screen is displayed allowing you to choose and configure the settings for Original Type (Text & Photo, Text, Photo), Image Compression (High, Normal, Low), Contrast, File Format, and Auto Exposure.
- Press the Original Type button to select the most effective scanning for your original image type. Options are Text & Photo, Text, and Photo. - Press the File Format button to select your scanned file format. Options are TIFF/JPEG, JPEG, DocuWorks, and PDF. - Press the Lighter/Darker/Contrast button to adjust scanned image density (lightness and darkness) and contrast. Use the supplied arrows to make the desired setting adjustments. - Press the Image Compression button to set the degree of data compression, used especially with JPEG scans. Options are High, Normal (default), and Low. - Press the Auto Exposure button to enable or disable this scanning feature with the ON or OFF buttons. When changing or viewing settings, press the Save button to save setting changes, or the Cancel button to exit the current screen without saving changes.

Hi,
firstly clean the beneath the copyglass and clean the optics ( mirrors ), then try...

also try to darker the copy and see what happens, if its still light try to change the drum....

PS are you using the original Canon toner?

Sounds like over time, you've changed some settings that affect the image. Why not try a camera reset? Go into the menu and find "reset" and follow the on-screen instructions to return to factory default settings.

After replacing drum catridge you should reset the drum counter in the following way

1.Identify the buttons used for adjusting exposure (darker or lighter copies), amount of copies, clear copies and start copying
2.Now press the following sequence of buttons: [CLR], [AURO], [CLR], [AUTO] all thes one by one
3.Your unit should turn off the numbers in the panel
4.Now press 24 as if asking for 24 copies and press [START].
4.Now press 07 as if asking for 7 copies and press [START].

This should reset your drum and it should stop flashing


RNJ VINOD KUMAR

You can take the machine off auto exposure and manually run the exposure darker using the exposure settting and + and- keys.

It's never going to be perfect (unless the background is quite light in colour), because the copier basically "sees" the coloured background as "gray", and the darker the background the more "gray" it looks. Try setting the original type to "photo" mode, and then adjusting the exposure a little lighter/darker....that's all you can basically do.

use the advanced options page and reset the factor blue and red convergence defaults then do re apply the auto color defaults color at first it seemed very red (which is good because red was the missing factor in the green picture) but after reseting all the color and tints to the normal ranges I then reset the color auto correct again and all seems fine.

No..The exposure will only give you an overall lighter or darker copy.. Dave UK