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Author Topic: Do I Need a RIP for decent color with Epson 4000  (Read 2296 times)

Photolandscape

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Do I Need a RIP for decent color with Epson 4000
« on: January 19, 2007, 03:03:55 am »

For the past few months I have lived in what a recent contributor to The Luminous Landscape aptly called "color management hell".

I have an HP2335 LCD monitor, Mac G5 with plenty of memory and hard drive space running the latest version of OSX, and an Epson 4000 using only genuine Epson inks. I check for clogs often.

What I see on the monitor vs. the print (I have had lots of profiles made by a local guy and via mail and also have tried Epson's, Crane's, and Hahnemuhle's profiles) varies greatly. Lately, the prints have come out much more yellow overall than the image on the screen (it too has been carefully calibrated with an Eye-One). I let Photoshop determine colors. I am very careful to set up things properly in the printer software--no color management, no high-speed printing, and all of that fine stuff.

I know it can be done. I profiled an old Mitsubishi CRT 4 years ago, as well as my old printer, an Epson 2200, and the results I got from the printer which very satisfactory, so I have to think my situation can be improved.

So the latest advice I've received is--get a RIP. My question is, considering the relatively high expense, if that really going to make a difference--why, and how? If it would help, count me in, but I'm low on money and lower on patience. If I do go the RIP route, do I go with Colorburst, Bestcolor ERI Designer Edition, Imageprint?

I'm a drowning man. Please help if you can. Thanks.
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Stephen Best

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Do I Need a RIP for decent color with Epson 4000
« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2007, 03:28:51 am »

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« Last Edit: January 19, 2007, 03:48:02 am by Stephen Best »
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paulbk

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Do I Need a RIP for decent color with Epson 4000
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2007, 07:09:56 am »

Do you soft proof in Photoshop? And if yes, do your prints look anything like the soft proof?

Do you check for "out of gamut" while in soft proof?

I use an Epson 4000 and get very good results. No RIP. Use a combination of factory profiles and a few custom profiles depending on the paper. The Hahnemuhle factory profile for Photo Rag is very good.
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paul b.k.
New England, USA

Brian Gilkes

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Do I Need a RIP for decent color with Epson 4000
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2007, 06:25:15 pm »

Don't spend $ on a RIP until you at least findout what your problem is. It is highly unlikely  RIP will solve anything.
The 4000 should be printing very close to the screen appearance when softproofing on a  correctly calibrated monitor.
What is going wrong is very hard to determine from the information provided .

It really need someone to carefully go through each step with you .
Turning high speed off normally makes no difference to colour , luminosity or density
Apart from reinforcing Paul's comments I can't help further at this stage.

Brian
www.pharoseditions.com.au
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