Luminous Landscape Forum
Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: davidh202 on September 27, 2010, 09:04:17 pm
-
I am in the process of getting acquainted with my new Stylus Pro 7900 and see that there is no profile listed in the printer preferances, (Media) selection for their Exibition Fiber paper.
I was trying to print from Corels PSPPX3, through the Epson Printer Driver Preferances Window.
#1- Ex Fiber has been out a long time, why isn't it included in the existing profile list?
#2-In accordance with the Epson website I have downloaded their available ICC profile for the paper along with the readme file. I have managed to add the downloaded ICC profile into my sys32/spool /drivers/color, and also into the ICC profiles in the Color Management profiles list in Win 7, by right clicking the file and selecting "install profile" from the dropdown list.
According to the Readme file, the profile requires a few tweaks to the settings for Epsons Premium Luster Photo Paper (260). It appears from reading my manual, and after reading this informative article by Mike Chaney (of Qimage fame).
http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowledge-center/using-icc-profiles-with-epson-printers.html
I have gotten as far as adding the tweaked Premium Luster Photo Paper (260) as a custom profile, named EX Fiber in the printer driver profile settings for Media, and saved them so it shows as a selection for papers in the drop down menu in the printer driver Media settings list.When I go to print do I choose Premium Luster260 when setting the paper choice on the printers display menu since Ex Fiber is not listed there either.
If Epson supplies the ICC profile as a download why am I having to essentially add a tweaked Premium Luster (as a custom profile for Ex Fiber) to the profile list and how does it link to the real EX Fiber ICC that I downloaded from Epson when I go to print.
Am I missing something in translation,? And should I get Photoshop pronto?
Sorry for the long winded Question and Thanks in advance
-
I asked the same question to Epson awhile back. The 'profile/presets' in the printer are considered firmware. Japan engineering picks them based on papers at the time of design. So I would guess that the design of the x900 series was prior to ExFibre. As an aside I use Imageprint. I pick the Lustre260 in the printer and it works fine for IP.
-
There are media settings (in the driver) and there are profiles, completely different beasts. You can (and should) use the Epson EFP profiles WITH the Luster media setting. The profiles are built with an existing media setting so I don’t know that anyone would want to alter such settings if they could.
-
David,
What exactly did the readme file say?
Just curious as the canned profiles and paper settings work perfect for me as is.
-
Not sure what you need to do with Win, but for thread posterity for OSX: if you download and install the latest driver and "common updater," then you'll get Exhibition Fiber as a media choice (no need to choose Luster and increase ink flow 12% as before) and you will have the latest EFP profile loaded in the driver package itself -- the profile is labelled a bit differently than the other stock photo papers as: "SP7900 9900 EFP PK v1".
-
I have had good results using either a profile made with a ColorMunki or the profile available on Epson's web site...
-
Depending on the model of Epson, there’s no option for EFP for media settings, if you use the canned profile supplied by Epson or Pixel Genius, you select Luster.
There is apparently a way with newer Epson’s to either install or build your own media settings I hear. That’s good news (something I found an interesting option on the Canon iPF 6300 I’ve been playing with). IF the new media settings is not exactly the same as Luster, I’d expect you’d have issues using the canned profiles built for EFP. So its possible there’s a newer canned profile built for that setting.
Bottom line, if you use the canned profiles built for Luster media setting, you have to use that media setting.
-
I have a question. Before the profile was included with the update, there were versions for 1440 and 2880. Now there is one profile included and it doesn't mention which setting to use. Anyone know which setting it's designed for?
Noticed this is true for all the other profiles that were originally separate downloads and are now included.
Jim
-
The profiles are output resolution agnostic (you can use the profile for either).
-
The media choice is what determines how ink is laid down initially; luster has different initial ink flow requirements than glossy or watercolor RW. Next, when a profile is initially built, something has to be chosen as the base media, and this choice determines how ink is laid for the target down WITHOUT any other color management being applied. That target is then read and a profile is generated. So, at the end of the day you need to choose the same media option (and ink settings, and resolution settings) as was used for the original target then apply the profile that combo generated to get a managed result.
In OSX for Ex Fiber before we had that media setting in the x900 driver, Epson documentation indicated we should use Luster as the media setting and increase ink flow by 12% in the advanced media settings. Those settings worked quite well with the EFP Pk profile. Of course now it's been simplified with the addition of Ex Fiber as a direct media choice, and the results are excellent.
-
I have absolutely no idea how to apply the downloaded ICC profile for printing even though Epson was so kind to supply it! >:( ;)
First off, you need to have this profile loaded in the profile folder for Win which used to be buried in the system folder under drivers/color, no idea where it is now. And unfortunately I do not know exactly what the Win printer dialog looks like, but suspect it's similar to OSX's, so what you would do then is,
In the Epson 7900 printer portion of the dialog:
1) choose your media -- in this case Luster
2) If required, go into the advanced media settings and increase ink flow by 12%
3) Save this setting as "Ex Fiber" in the Printer settings Presets so you don't have to set it each time you use Ex Fiber
Then in the CS portion of the dialog:
4) Set Color Management to "Document"
5) Set Color Handling to "Photoshop Manages Colors"
6) Set Printer Profile to the downloaded Ex Fiber profile, probably "SP7900 9900 EFP PK v1"
7) Set your rendering intent to Perceptual or Relative Colorimetric, depending on image (I prefer RC with Ex Fiber for most images, but find Perc better for some)
8.) Check "Black Point Compensation"
9) Hit "print".
-
"First off, you need to have this profile loaded in the profile folder for Win which used to be buried in the system folder under drivers/color, no idea where it is now."
In Windows the profiles are stored in Windows\system32\spool\drivers\color.
-
Sorry, I totally missed the part where you are trying to print from a piece of software that is not color managed -- my bad. Simple answer is you are doing yourself a huge disservice to be using a professional, wide gamut printer like the 7900 in any from of non-managed workflow. If you want the best results, you need a fully color managed workflow; anything else is a crap shoot...
-
The profiles are output resolution agnostic (you can use the profile for either).
Understood. That brings up another question: When I make profiles, it has always been my understanding that the resolution has an affect when building the profile so a profiles is resolution specific. Did I misunderstand something or is there a way to make profiles resolution agnostic?
Jim
-
When I make profiles, it has always been my understanding that the resolution has an affect when building the profile so a profiles is resolution specific. Did I misunderstand something or is there a way to make profiles resolution agnostic?
That’s not been my experience but much of this has to do with the specific device. Its easy enough to test if you have the equipment to build profiles (a Spectrophotometer). Print out the target each way and measure, compare the Lab values with a deltaE report (something I’d do in ColorThink).
-
David, you are on the right track. I can't help with printing from CS5 as I now use Lightroom exclusively. They may be similar, maybe not! In Lightroom, you must import the profile so the program sees it. When in the print module, go to Color Management, Choose, Other. It will then take you to the folder where your profiles are saved. Click on all profiles you might want to use, and in the future they will appear on your Color Management list. Let us know how you are doing...this has been an excellent thread!