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Author Topic: Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast  (Read 15295 times)

Frans Waterlander

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Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast
« on: April 30, 2018, 04:52:46 pm »

My R2880 suddenly prints with a reddish color cast for both color and b&w images in normal printing mode and for b&w images in AWB mode. There have not been any changes in operating system, Photoshop version CS2, settings, paper, ink, etc. The nozzle check looks perfect.

Any ideas what may be going on here?
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digitaldog

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Re: Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast
« Reply #1 on: April 30, 2018, 08:59:24 pm »

My R2880 suddenly prints with a reddish color cast for both color and b&w images in normal printing mode and for b&w images in AWB mode.

It's not just ABW mode. But maybe AWB is the issue; no such print mode.  :o
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Frans Waterlander

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Re: Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast
« Reply #2 on: April 30, 2018, 11:32:43 pm »

Very helpful, Andrew!
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Frans Waterlander

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Re: Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2018, 12:39:04 am »

Just read on another forum that the R2880 may have an unreliable cartridge ink level monitor in the sense that when the cartridge gets low, but still OK according to the monitor, ink supply may gradually decrease, causing color casts. My cyan cartridge is low, but according to the monitor not too low to use. If this causes less cyan ink than that would result in a reddish color cast. I've new cartridges on order, so time will tell if this is the issue here. I'll report back after receiving a new cyan cartridge.
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digitaldog

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Re: Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2018, 08:55:20 am »

Very helpful, Andrew!
My pleasure Frans.
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Farmer

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Re: Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast
« Reply #5 on: May 02, 2018, 03:24:28 am »

Just read on another forum that the R2880 may have an unreliable cartridge ink level monitor in the sense that when the cartridge gets low, but still OK according to the monitor, ink supply may gradually decrease, causing color casts. My cyan cartridge is low, but according to the monitor not too low to use. If this causes less cyan ink than that would result in a reddish color cast. I've new cartridges on order, so time will tell if this is the issue here. I'll report back after receiving a new cyan cartridge.

The printer doesn't have an ink level monitor.  It measures shots of ink against the known capacity if the cartridge, so if you're using genuine inks and not refilling or resetting, that won't be the issue, plus you would see the lack of ink in the nozzle check which you say is fine.

The low cartridge also shouldn't be an issue unless it's very old.

I would suggest removing, gently shaking, and then replacing each cartridge and then do a clean and then a nozzle check.  Failing that, it's probably work flow rather than hardware.
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Phil Brown

Frans Waterlander

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Re: Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast
« Reply #6 on: May 02, 2018, 01:45:09 pm »

The printer doesn't have an ink level monitor.  It measures shots of ink against the known capacity if the cartridge, so if you're using genuine inks and not refilling or resetting, that won't be the issue, plus you would see the lack of ink in the nozzle check which you say is fine.

The low cartridge also shouldn't be an issue unless it's very old.

I would suggest removing, gently shaking, and then replacing each cartridge and then do a clean and then a nozzle check.  Failing that, it's probably work flow rather than hardware.

I use Epson ink and paper, no refills, no resetting. The nozzle check will not tell you if the ink flow is lower than normal. I've done the shake, clean, nozzle check routine, but still have the color cast. Workflow, settings, etc. haven't changed, but I double and triple checked just to be sure. We'll see what happens when I get my new cartridges.
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digitaldog

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Re: Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast
« Reply #7 on: May 02, 2018, 02:36:50 pm »

The nozzle check will not tell you if the ink flow is lower than normal.s.
Proof of concept?
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enduser

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Re: Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast
« Reply #8 on: May 02, 2018, 08:22:42 pm »

Somewhere I read that there might be a Win 10 problem with magenta cast too strong.
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Frans Waterlander

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Re: Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast
« Reply #9 on: May 02, 2018, 11:08:44 pm »

Somewhere I read that there might be a Win 10 problem with magenta cast too strong.

I use Win 8. A B&W image prints fine on my general purpose HP printer.
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Farmer

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Re: Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast
« Reply #10 on: May 05, 2018, 07:00:17 pm »

The nozzle check will not tell you if the ink flow is lower than normal.

It will tell you if you a lot of things if you know how to look at it.  It will tell you if you have blocked or deflected nozzles (and you can tell the difference between the two).  It will tell you if you have pigment separation (i.e. you need to shake), it will tell you if you have a significant ink delivery issue without blockages or deflections.  It will tell you if the problems are in the head or in the ink lines.  So on and so on.

Without screenshots of your workflow or scans of the nozzle checks, we obviously can't diagnose further - only provide suggestions.
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Phil Brown

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Re: Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast
« Reply #11 on: May 05, 2018, 07:05:21 pm »

It will tell you if you a lot of things if you know how to look at it.
He doesn’t and he has made up his mind about that and the “problem”.
https://www.photo.net/discuss/threads/awb-mode-with-r2880-suddenly-shows-reddish-tint.5508530/page-2#post-5662235
« Last Edit: May 05, 2018, 07:08:45 pm by andrewrodney »
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Frans Waterlander

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Re: Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast
« Reply #12 on: May 06, 2018, 12:52:50 am »

It will tell you if you a lot of things if you know how to look at it.  It will tell you if you have blocked or deflected nozzles (and you can tell the difference between the two).  It will tell you if you have pigment separation (i.e. you need to shake), it will tell you if you have a significant ink delivery issue without blockages or deflections.  It will tell you if the problems are in the head or in the ink lines.  So on and so on.

Without screenshots of your workflow or scans of the nozzle checks, we obviously can't diagnose further - only provide suggestions.

Thanks for your inputs Phil. Blocked and deflected nozzles - sure, no-brainers. But I would sincerely appreciate it if you could educate me as to how to recognize pigment separation, significant ink delivery issues, head vs. ink lines problems, and so on by studying the nozzle check print.

The nozzles of my printer are not blocked and not deflected. As for a reduced ink delivery of a particular color, say a reduction of 10 to 30%, I don't see how you would recognize that by looking at the nozzle check print, but it sure would cause a hell of a color cast like the one I'm experiencing.
« Last Edit: May 06, 2018, 01:00:30 am by Frans Waterlander »
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Farmer

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Re: Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast
« Reply #13 on: May 06, 2018, 01:13:48 am »

Thanks for your inputs Phil. Blocked and deflected nozzles - sure, no-brainers. But I would sincerely appreciate it if you could educate me as to how to recognize pigment separation, significant ink delivery issues, head vs. ink lines problems, and so on by studying the nozzle check print.

The nozzles of my printer are not blocked and not deflected. As for a reduced ink delivery of a particular color, say a reduction of 10 to 30%, I don't see how you would recognize that by looking at the nozzle check print, but it sure would cause a hell of a color cast like the one I'm experiencing.

Sure!  Pigment separation is evidenced most easily with a blue light/UV lamp, but a loupe can also be enough - you're looking for the clear carrier being ejected without any pigment - so it looks like a blockage or partial blockage but in fact you have liquid hitting the page.  If you can see that the entire line of the nozzle pattern is "wet" but there's no colour, or if you have limited amounts of colour (either patchy or reduced intensity), then you are most likely looking at pigment separation (so check the carts are not massively out of date or more than 12 months since opening, and if not then agitate them and run a clean to move good ink into the lines again).

Similarly, when you're looking carefully at the nozzle checks, or more specifically at a series of them before and after printing, you can see if there's an ink delivery issue through the reduction of liquid in varying places that gets worse after printing.  Head versus lines?  Do the blockages move or not, do they clear and then come back?  True head blockages or head failure will result in missing nozzles that don't change (note that there might be a few peripheral nozzles "moving" but a core of unchanging blockages is what you're looking for here).  On that same note, if you have an entire colour missing that won't recover but all others are fine, it's probably a significant supply issue because it's very unusual to have that occur due to localised blockages or electronic failure (electronic failure will either give you incorrect output during printing or no output across the whole head (rarely you can have other results).

There are other things you can discern, too, but you need to know which printer, which media, and a bit more history (age of unit, environmental conditions, and so on).  Often you need a series of checks and test prints.  Sometimes, though, you need to physically check lines, dampers, and the like, but you try to check what you can without pulling the unit open and that's where nozzle checks and test prints come into it.  It takes time to recognise these things quickly, but anyone can make a good assessment given a bit of time and some tools to help them look more closely.
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Phil Brown

digitaldog

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Re: Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast
« Reply #14 on: May 06, 2018, 09:49:26 am »

As for a reduced ink delivery of a particular color, say a reduction of 10 to 30%, I don't see how you would recognize that by looking at the nozzle check print, but it sure would cause a hell of a color cast like the one I'm experiencing.
More assumptions.
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Frans Waterlander

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Re: Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast
« Reply #15 on: May 06, 2018, 01:07:45 pm »

More assumptions.

So what, Andrew, am I exactly assuming here?
You think that a 10-30% reduction in one ink would not cause a significant color shift in a print? Please explain.
You think that you can detect a 10-30% reduction in one ink by looking at the nozzle check print? Please explain.
An opportunity to be constructive!
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digitaldog

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Re: Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast
« Reply #16 on: May 06, 2018, 01:14:24 pm »

So what, Andrew, am I exactly assuming here?
See Reply #8 on: May 02, 2018, 02:36:50 PM: everything!
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nirpat89

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Re: Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast
« Reply #17 on: May 06, 2018, 02:23:49 pm »

Frans:

This is kind of a wild idea, so take it for what it it's worth - but have you done alignment on the printer lately?  I have had at least one experience (on an HP B9180) where a magenta tint, particularly evident on the shadows, went away after successful alignment on the printer.  Prior to that, it was hanging on the LM ink not properly aligning with the rest (unlike Epsons which as manual alignment procedure, HP B9180 has an auto-alignment facility and you are at its mercy if there is a problem.)  The working theory I have is if the nozzles are misaligned, you could have the dots of various inks on top of each other instead of side by side, shifting the hue ever so slightly as a result.  In the darker areas, the black ink is usually accompanied by M and/or LM to counter the slight greenish tone of pure carbon.  Obviously, this one time observation does not prove the theory.  But it is a simple enough to try.  Never mind if you have done an alignment after you observed the problem...

:Niranjan.

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Frans Waterlander

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Re: Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast
« Reply #18 on: May 06, 2018, 04:44:02 pm »

See Reply #8 on: May 02, 2018, 02:36:50 PM: everything!

I think you mean reply Q#7, but that's besides the point. Maybe you can give some unambiguous answers:
A) Do you think that a 10-30% reduction in one ink would not cause a significant color shift in a print? Please explain.
B) Do you think that you can detect a 10-30% reduction in one ink by looking at the nozzle check print? Please explain.
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Farmer

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Re: Epson R2880 suddenly prints with reddish color cast
« Reply #19 on: May 06, 2018, 06:13:33 pm »

I think you mean reply Q#7, but that's besides the point. Maybe you can give some unambiguous answers:
A) Do you think that a 10-30% reduction in one ink would not cause a significant color shift in a print? Please explain.
B) Do you think that you can detect a 10-30% reduction in one ink by looking at the nozzle check print? Please explain.

A - it would very likely cause a shift, but it depends on what colour you were printing and which colour was reduced.

B - I went through a number of situations in my previous reply.  Such a reduction would be due to either separation or ink delivery issues, but of which are detectable through nozzle check analysis as I've explained.
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