Or maybeget a printer, calibrate it, and then proof with that.


My calibrated CRT and calibrated printer don't look WAY off. The overall balance and such is fine so that I'm not getting any whacky surprises, at least nothing like you're describing.


I find that I when printing, I tend to want to bias it a little brighter and keep the absolute contrast a little down to keep some detail in highlights and shadows, but otherwise, I'm not heavily disappointed, though at times I might want to make an adjustment and rip off another copy.


Thing about prints, though, is that they're heavily dependent upon the light you're viewing them with [] I've got some prints that look okay in my house, but much nicer if you bring them out into some nice full spectrum sunlight. I suppose you could get some full spectrum fixtures too, but I'm cheap at the moment.