Epson highspeed on or off: noticeable difference in colour?

[JRSmit]

The other day i was told that printing with high speed setting off does alteratie colour somewhat.  It is said to be visible. Reason being that in the first pass the order of laying down the ink drops is different than in the return pass. Which makes sense. However when i take a teststrips and measure the difference between the two was of printing, the dE-2000 difference is .9 for the largest difference.  Average is more like .2 or .3 (using color think pro worksheet).
Has anyone experimented with this options off or on? If so what are the findings?

[Alan Goldhammer]

On my 3880 I see no difference visually.  I have measured patches and get differences at the low end of the scale as you saw.

[Rhossydd]

the dE-2000 difference is .9 for the largest difference.  Average is more like .2 or .3
Has anyone experimented with this options off or on? If so what are the findings?

The first aspect is have you accounted for the spectro's repeatability errors ? That might account for the average. Do several measurements on the same patches, 10 or 20, and see if there's any variability.

Secondly; If the difference is less than 1 dE you probably can't see it anyway.

In my testing I've never noticed a difference.

[Mark D Segal]

The first aspect is have you accounted for the spectro's repeatability errors ? That might account for the average. Do several measurements on the same patches, 10 or 20, and see if there's any variability.

Secondly; If the difference is less than 1 dE you probably can't see it anyway.

In my testing I've never noticed a difference.

This is a good point. When dE differences are this small, the instrument variability factor becomes an increasingly important explanatory variable. There are, however two aspects to it: (A) "pure" repeatability, which you would see by holding the instrument in exactly the same spot on the patch and pushing the button ten or twenty times (ten should be enough), versus (B) taking separate readings from different spots within the same patch which is supposed to be "the same" colour. In my testing, (B) always produces much more variance than (A). When you see this, it means that the ink laydown WITHIN THE SAME PATCH is not completely uniform. The way to minimize it is to use the highest quality print settings, which Epson and Canon will both tell you includes unidirectional printing and the highest dpi recommended for printing continuous tone photographs. All this said, with good printing practices and the high quality professional printers many of us are using, one would be hard put to notice the difference between unidirectional and bidirectional printing in a large variety of photographs under normal viewing conditions.

[JRSmit]

Yes the spctro read variation is a few thents.  So in fact the recorded differences are small indeed if any. Anyhow it is too small to take into consideration , at least that is my take on this.
Just want ed to know if anyone observered a difference in color that is observableek.

[Farmer]

Also remember that a difference between the two modes doesn't tell you which is more accurate, or more pleasing, or better, or etc.  Just that they're different to a level approaching the limit of the instruments and methods used to measure them :-)

Oh, and remember that the paper has variations and the temperature and humidity will change throughout the day/week/month/year/etc.

[pfigen]

I suppose that if there is any difference that's noticeable, running your profile targets in the same mode you normally print with would compensate for that. Personally, I ALWAYS print in dual direction mode with my 9900 after not being able to see any quality difference in testing when I first got the printer. I print the targets that way and the prints and there's never been an issue.

[BradFunkhouser]

It's my understanding that the high speed on versus off is more of a drying time issue than a droplet placement issue.  Some really soft papers get overloaded at high speed, which can result in swelling, cockling, and potentially head strikes.  For most papers this isn't an issue.

[Farmer]

The dot placement is different both because of the difference in direction of pass and the drying times involved - it relates to the microweave.  The differences are far less than it was, say, 15 years ago.