Question on Canon Pixma Pro 1 Settings

I just took delivery of a Canon Pixma Pro 1 today.  So far I am very happy with it.  The first prints are detailed and rich in color.  I do have a question re proper settings.  I am using a calibrated NEC monitor and have installed the paper profiles from the manufacturer. On opening the print dialogue from PS I choose to have PS manage and select the proper paper profile.  Now the questions come in in the Printer settings choices.  I choose Manual, but then what?  I then chose "Set" for other manual options.  Then clicked on "matching".  Here is where I get confused.  If I pick "driver matching" it seems like I am overriding PS. However within this setting is a choice of "pro" that is supposed to match the monitor as closely as possible.  If I choose ICC profile I can select the paper profile again or leave it on the suggested "auto". Or I can choose "none" which would presumably allow PS to do all the management.

Some on line reviews suggest that the Pro mode is super.  I just don't know.  I do notice that in some very dark areas the prints are a bit darker than the monitor.

So, if any of you have experience with the Pro 1 and its color management I would appreciate your advice.  Eventually I will spring for a colormunki, but I would still have to know and understand these various options.  BTW, right clicking and reading the "what is this" on each of the options is only a bit helpful. Like most manuals it seems to think we know what all this means before you ask, so then why ask if we already know?

Thanks for your help.

In the Canon PRO-1 print driver, the critical setting to make is the one you're on the trail of there, Ed. On the Main tab of the printer driver settings, for Color/Intensity you should choose Manual as you did, then click the Set button. This brings up the Manual Color Adjustment dialog box. On the Matching tab you looked at, you definitely want to pick "None". The last time I worked on a Canon PRO-1, there was no "pro" option so I don't know quite what that's referring to; it sounds like Canon has changed these options a bit. There were two other options on that version I worked with, "Driver Matching" and "ICM"; these other options are not what you want if Photoshop is managing color.

The purpose of Photoshop managing colors (or Lightroom, or any other app you use to print) is that the printing application will already have converted the image data to the proper numbers using the ICC profile you picked in the print window. You want to send this converted image data to the printer driver and have it printed straight up, not manipulated again.

This same thing applies to all printers and their printer drivers. If you're doing the normal color managed workflow, you control image color in the printing application using the proper ICC profile for the combination of printer + paper. And you disable all color adjustments in the printer driver so it doesn't double profile on top of what the printing application already took care of.

I agree that most in-application help tips aren't very useful, unfortunately.

By the way, the ColorMunki Photo printer calibration tool does work pretty well with the Canon PRO-1. I spent some extensive time working with a PRO-1 when it was fairly new, and profiled a bunch of papers on it using a ColorMunki. The results were good. If you decide to go that route at some point, it's a good combination in my experience.

Thanks so much Royce. I appreciate your taking the time to give such a detailed response.  I will print some today.