Epson 9880 printing dilemma

[eleanorbrown]

I have a printing dilemma regarding printing on the new Epson 9880 (or the 7880 for that matter).  I have the 9880 on order and it will arrive next week.  I am debating over whether to invest in Imageprint for this printer as I'm not sure IP will be any better than the new Epson 880 series screening.  I have used Imageprint on every printer I've had and currently have it on my 7800 and 2400 printers.  I only do fine art printing so don't need all the extra "stuff" that IP has to offer.  And printing through Lightroom with the epson driver is really slick.

The problem with using the Epson drivers is that I can't find any custom profiles for the 9880 printer on the epson site.  Bill Atkinson has profiles for the 11880 because he's done these for his printer and is kind enough to share them.  But there are no profiles for the 9880 available for free download either on Bill's site or the epson site, as with my 7800.

Does anyone know if Epson plans to offer custom high quality profiles?  I know Pixel Genius has profiles for the Epson Exhib. Fiber for download. (No I don't want Colorburst either).

Any ideas by anyone who is printing with one of the new 880 series printers?   Thanks! Eleanor

[DougMorgan]

The epson profiles install with the driver but they are not entirely complete.  

There are the usual suspects but a couple are missing.   No Piezo pro and I think the new exhibition paper is missing as well.

Doug

[canlogic]

I bought a 7880 a couple of weeks ago and debated the same thing. I also have an Epson 4000 and use the latest version of IP with it. I kind of regretted purchasing the upgrade to version 7 as I really don't use all the features. Also I like printing from within Lightroom. I ended up buying the new Spyder studio 3 from Datacolor and doing my own profiles for the 7880. It is not that expensive and find you can get very good results with it. Pixelgenious has free downloads of profiles for the new exhibition fiber papers.

[eleanorbrown]

I've downloaded the Pixel Genius EFP profiles and I'm wondering if the D max with the Epson Exhibition Fiber is as good, using these profiles, as I would get using imageprint.  The Epson Exhibition Fiber is so good it probably is going to become my standard paper not only for black and white, but for color too, beating out even the new Harman.  If only epson would make this paper in  large sized rolls.  I hear epson is afraid the roll paper won't flatten, but I would rather have curly EFP than something else.  Eleanor

I bought a 7880 a couple of weeks ago and debated the same thing. I also have an Epson 4000 and use the latest version of IP with it. I kind of regretted purchasing the upgrade to version 7 as I really don't use all the features. Also I like printing from within Lightroom. I ended up buying the new Spyder studio 3 from Datacolor and doing my own profiles for the 7880. It is not that expensive and find you can get very good results with it. Pixelgenious has free downloads of profiles for the new exhibition fiber papers.
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[Doyle Yoder]

Instead of the money you would put into a RIP. Why not put that money in to a profile package?

Doyle

[canlogic]

I've downloaded the Pixel Genius EFP profiles and I'm wondering if the D max with the Epson Exhibition Fiber is as good, using these profiles, as I would get using imageprint.  The Epson Exhibition Fiber is so good it probably is going to become my standard paper not only for black and white, but for color too, beating out even the new Harman.  If only epson would make this paper in  large sized rolls.  I hear epson is afraid the roll paper won't flatten, but I would rather have curly EFP than something else.  Eleanor
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I don't know if Jeff Shewe did the profiles himself but he is a principal in Pixelgenius and it wouldn't surprise me if he did. He is pretty highly conected with both Epson and Adobe so I would imagine that these profiles would be very good. I am still waiting for my order of the Exhibition Fiber to try. While the profiles with Imageprint are very good you are paying for all of the features of IP. I have found that the profiles I am getting from the Datacolor system are quite good and less than the cost of IP. I have done a profiles for the Harman Gloss and find the paper really amazing. It comes in 24 inch rolls as well.

[Schewe]

I don't know if Jeff Shewe did the profiles himself but he is a principal in Pixelgenius and it wouldn't surprise me if he did.
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Actually, Andrew Rodney made the profiles...

[eleanorbrown]

I've tried these epson exhibition fiber profiles on prem. luster just to get a little idea how they might print.  (I had a few sheets of the epson exhibition fiber to test  but none left to try these new profiles on).  They look very very good even on the luster paper---only thing is, they don't look good when printed in 1440, only 2880 and I don't see that any are labeled 1440 on the pixel genius site.  Wonder if there is any reason for this.  (I Use 2880 for medium and smaller prints but on large printing I prefer to use 1440/8 pass. ).  Jeff, or anyone, is there any reason the profiles are only labeled 2880 and don't do as well at 1440.  I'm currently printing on my 7800.  Thanks, Eleanor

Actually, Andrew Rodney made the profiles...
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[PatrikR]

I've tried these epson exhibition fiber profiles on prem. luster just to get a little idea how they might print.  (I had a few sheets of the epson exhibition fiber to test  but none left to try these new profiles on).  They look very very good even on the luster paper---only thing is, they don't look good when printed in 1440, only 2880 and I don't see that any are labeled 1440 on the pixel genius site.  Wonder if there is any reason for this.  (I Use 2880 for medium and smaller prints but on large printing I prefer to use 1440/8 pass. ).  Jeff, or anyone, is there any reason the profiles are only labeled 2880 and don't do as well at 1440.  I'm currently printing on my 7800.  Thanks, Eleanor
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Hey Eleanor,

Why don't you make your own profiles. I have Gretag eyeone Photo package and the profiles are really good. The software is easy to use and color and shadow detail are perfect. Once I saw how a $150 profile was made I figured anybody can do it. I also believe that files should be printable anywhere and not require specialty software to print good. But anybody please correct me if I'm wrong.

I can't say anything about imageprint but to me it's tremendeously expensive. Their pricing is bizarre too. Luckily one EyeOne Photo can profile more than one printer

I have Epson 7800, 4800, R300 and C3800 Color Laser printer and with my own profiles they all print beautifully and best all feature similar shadows and colors. Even the C3800 looks really good on std copy paper.

EyeOne Photo has been well worth its money (around $1000).

[Brian Gilkes]

Why don't you make your own profiles. I have Gretag eyeone Photo package and the profiles are really good. The software is easy to use and color and shadow detail are perfect. Once I saw how a $150 profile was made I figured anybody can do it. I also believe that files should be printable anywhere and not require specialty software to print good. But anybody please correct me if I'm wrong.

/quote]

With respect, making excellent profiles is not easy. I have recently observed analyses of a  number of commercially made custom  profiles,  using Profile Inspector and other software, that has revealed major distortions in most profiles. Many vendors are not taking sufficient readings, do not control ambient light coditions, do not edit the profiles and so on. Most errors are in deep shadow tonal seperation, the rendering of dark saturated colours and in the mapping of out of gamut colours with Perceptual rendering.
If one works carefully and is expert in profile building, a few hours should be sufficient for the building of an average profile. For critical applications such as rendering of gold and silver paints, or reproduction of artwoks eg tapestries , tempura, jewellery etc and of course  fine art prints , profile building can take many days. Learning the art and craft of profile building can take years.
Despite claims by manufacturers that quality control and linearity adjustments will result in profiles that work on more than one printer (of the same model , of course) it just isn't so.
Pigment inks also wear print heads, so you need to continually remake profiles , just as you reprofile your monitors.
To make all this worse manufacturers modify their coatings.
Cheers,
Brian
www.pharoseditions.com.au