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Author Topic: Getting started with the z3100  (Read 1872 times)

sloow

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Getting started with the z3100
« on: July 12, 2007, 10:48:42 am »

Hi,

I am a new member to the z3100 club, with a 44" machine, and am needing a bit of guidance navigating this site and making other choices with regards to getting good results from this printer.

I thought I had figured out how to make a profile, using my Epson presentation matte paper, which I have kicking around, but wasn't impressed with the results The black that's printed with the calibration (both printer and paper calibrations) seems good, but when I go to print a photo, it's muddy and low colour saturation. I am using a PowerPC Mac G4 laptop 1.5GHZ, 1.5 GB RAM OSX 10.4.9 with CRT monitor, have updated the firmware to 5.0.0.4


Here are some of my questions so far:

How do I set up the printer driver to use the photo black ink?

Should I be using Application managed colours? Perceptual? Saturation?

Where is the setting for roll paper?

How do you make the decision whether youneed a RIP or not?

If I have a bunch of 8x10s, can I nest them with the HP driver?

Should I get a PC, so that I can use apps like Q Master etc?

What are those acronyms that people are using i.e. APS?

Is there a post that answers a bunch of these questions, that I didn't find in the search?

Thank you so much,

Paul
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Geoff Wittig

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Getting started with the z3100
« Reply #1 on: July 14, 2007, 10:34:40 pm »

Quote
Hi,

I am a new member to the z3100 club, with a 44" machine, and am needing a bit of guidance navigating this site and making other choices with regards to getting good results from this printer.

I thought I had figured out how to make a profile, using my Epson presentation matte paper, which I have kicking around, but wasn't impressed with the results The black that's printed with the calibration (both printer and paper calibrations) seems good, but when I go to print a photo, it's muddy and low colour saturation. I am using a PowerPC Mac G4 laptop 1.5GHZ, 1.5 GB RAM OSX 10.4.9 with CRT monitor, have updated the firmware to 5.0.0.4
Here are some of my questions so far:

How do I set up the printer driver to use the photo black ink?

Should I be using Application managed colours? Perceptual? Saturation?

Where is the setting for roll paper?

How do you make the decision whether youneed a RIP or not?

If I have a bunch of 8x10s, can I nest them with the HP driver?

Should I get a PC, so that I can use apps like Q Master etc?

What are those acronyms that people are using i.e. APS?

Is there a post that answers a bunch of these questions, that I didn't find in the search?

Thank you so much,

Paul
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


1) The printer driver chooses photo black vs. matte black vs. both blacks depending on the paper preset you choose. Exactly which presets do what is spelled out in HP's PDF document " Working with non-HP papers". I'm not clever enough to include a link, but it's easy to find.

2) Application managed color permits you to choose the appropriate profile in Photoshop for best accuracy in color printing. This also enables an accurate soft-proof in Photoshop. By contrast, printer managed color is the best choice for black & white, as it permits you to use HP's very clever black & white settings in the driver, which uses only black/grey inks for completely neutral prints, or lets you choose separate toning for highlights/midtones/shadows.

3) The standard choices for rendering intent for photographic images are perceptual or relative colorimetric. They differ mostly in how they deal with images having out of gamut colors; I tend to use perceptual all the time and it works for me, but there are arguments either way among people smarter than me. You can always try both to see which works better for your specific images. Saturation will give you cartoonish colors; avoid it.

4) Roll paper vs. sheet paper is chosen in the paper tab of the HP driver dialogue box, which comes up from Photoshop's print dialogue when you click on settings.

5) RIP's replace the native driver, and offer workflow/productivity advantages for professionals with high volume jobs. Image Print is probably the most popular, and reportedly offers quality advantages with the Epson X800 printers due to the excellent included profiles, but I don't believe it's available for the Z3100 yet. It's very expensive; and I've never felt the need for a RIP as a devoted amateur. If you're just getting started, it probably makes sense to work on developing your printing skills with the standard HP driver. If you eventually reach a high level of expertise, you'll know when you need a RIP.

6) I don't think there's a graceful way to nest prints in the HP driver, but it's a simple matter to paste several into a single Photoshop document and print all at once. That's worked fine for me.

7) I presume you mean Qimage, which is an inexpensive Windows printing application that many on this forum swear by. I'm happy with Photoshop and the basic HP printer driver, and I wouldn't go out to get a PC just for this. Others may feel differently; YMMV.

8) APS is HP's acronym for "advanced profiling solution", which provides a more extensive set of controls than the basic driver & "color center" wizard for producing profiles with the built-in spectrophotometer. These include adjustments for different ambient lighting conditions, a larger number of test patches, and the ability to edit profiles. Here's the PDF describing it:
[a href=\"http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01080680/c01080680.pdf]http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/...0/c01080680.pdf[/url]
I would suggest working with the basic system for now. If you find after reaching a higher level of skill that you need more control for your profiling, you can order it later. I've found the basic system in the plain vanilla version of the Z3100 perfectly adequate for my needs. Again, YMMV.

You may want to go back and check out Neil Snape's detailed review of the Z3100, which goes over some of the APS issues. It's also well worth your time to read through the longer PDF version of HP's manual for the Z3100. I've found that the procedures spelled out in the manual for printing and profiling have consistently worked well for me.

Hope this helps.
« Last Edit: July 14, 2007, 10:37:23 pm by Geoff Wittig »
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sloow

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Getting started with the z3100
« Reply #2 on: July 14, 2007, 11:58:46 pm »

Thank you for this helpful and generous reply,  I know I asked a lot, and I promise to answer a beginner's posts when I get to the point of knowing something!
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