Custom paper sizes revert to 4x6 on DNP 620A Dye Sub printer in macOS

Dye Sub printers from DNP 620a

I was told to buy a PC to do event printing and now I know why. I have diligently attempted to print using Dye Sub printers from DNP, specifically the 620A. This is pretty much the standard for doing event photography. I have tried to use Lightroom and Photos app to do small edits and then print directly. First there is no way to create a new paper size in these photo apps, it has to be standard paper sizes ie 8.5x11 or tabloid, A4 etc. This is useless as a photographer. The work around I used was to open Pages and create a custom paper size and then try to go back to Lightroom and then select that size. The problem in researching this is that supposedly Apple decided many years ago to make 4x6 the standard for Dye Sub printers, probably because of the tiny Canon sephy printers.

When you try to print the custom size ie 5x7, it might work once then OS reverts back to 4x6 and the printer wastes another sheet of paper. This happens over and over again, reboot retry and same thing. I updated my M1 Studio to OS 27 which was back two OS versions, no luck, more wasted paper. I ended up using my 2016 iMac (Monterey) to do the job and I was able to get through printing 700 prints in the evening. (using two printers working in tandem)!

Its 2026 and this is still an ongoing issue with Macintosh. This issue is stopping developers from making apps for Mac OS specifically for doing event photography because of this problem. I will be looking at a PC just to print and to use the custom event software available within.

Posted on Oct 29, 2026 8:12 AM

1 reply

heliokanat

Level 2 (354 points)

Nov 7, 2026 10:15 AM in response to Geoff Parkin

The reverting is the queue default winning, not your app forgetting. The fix that sticks for event printing on the DNP drivers is to change the default at the queue level, not just in the print dialog:

1. First check how the printer was added. In Settings > Printers & Scanners, the 620A must be using the DNP driver. If it was added as AirPrint, delete it and add it again with the current DNP macOS driver, AirPrint queues lose the DNP paper sizes and fall back to 4x6.

2. Enable the CUPS web interface if you have not (Terminal: cupsctl WebInterface=yes), then open localhost:631 in a browser, go to Printers, pick the 620A queue, and in the Administration menu choose Set Default Options. Set the media/paper size to 5x7 there and save. That changes what the queue itself considers normal, so jobs stop snapping back to 4x6 between prints.

3. In your app's print dialog, set everything once (5x7, media type, finish) and save it as a named preset from the Presets menu, then print from that preset.

4. One hardware check: the DS620A can only offer sizes that match the media set actually loaded. 5x7 prints need 5x7 or 6x8 media and ribbon in the printer. With a 4x6 media set loaded the driver is correct to limit you to 4x6, so confirm the loaded media SKU matches the size you are asking for.

If the queue default is 5x7 and the loaded media supports it, the one print then revert behavior goes away.