Epson R300, time to upgrade?

[WayneDrury]

I currently have a Epson R300 printer which until I became more serious with photography last few  I was happy with.  Around 7mths ago I started to use profiles for both my monitor (now calibrated with Spyder2) and Epson R300 default profiles.

However, I am still not quite happy with the prints I am getting from Lightroom or the trial of PS.  They seem a little dark in relation to my screen, like a little to much contrast.  Both applications are setup to do the colour management through the selected profile.  I have made sure the driver has No colour Management turned On.  I am running on Vista Ultimate.

Therefore I have been looking at the Epson R800 or R1400 as an upgrade.  I currently print only upto A4, but to have A3 would be a nice addition.

Your advice or thoughts would be much appreaciated.

Thanks in advance.

[situgrrl]

Since no one else has replied, I'll do my best but this area is not one of my expertise in comparisson with many on here!

The problem you are having sounds like it is with your screen rather than your printer.  Turn the brightness on your screen down to match that of paper and then recalibrate.  Your screen and print will never match perfectly; your screen is illuminated whilst your print is reflective - it's just not possible.  Have you seen From Camera to Print?  There is a section on this sort of thing.

There are a number of reasons for your prints having more contrast than you would like.  The first is discussed above.  The next two questions to ask are "Are you soft-proofing?" and "Do you understand rendering intent?"

Hope that helps some

charly

[WayneDrury]

...

The problem you are having sounds like it is with your screen rather than your printer.  Turn the brightness on your screen down to match that of paper and then recalibrate.  Your screen and print will never match perfectly; your screen is illuminated whilst your print is reflective - it's just not possible.  Have you seen From Camera to Print?  There is a section on this sort of thing.

There are a number of reasons for your prints having more contrast than you would like.  The first is discussed above.  The next two questions to ask are "Are you soft-proofing?" and "Do you understand rendering intent?"

Hope that helps some

charly
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Thanks for the reply.  

Yes I have got the Camera to Print videos and they helped a lot.  The main reason for the purchase was this issue.

You mention dropping the screen brightness, but am I not suppose to leave it at the default 6500K for calibrating?  I am new to this area and followed the instructions in spyder2, which recommends leaving it at the default or is this just a guide?

I will try a re-calibration with alower kelvin for the WB - any recommendation as to what kelvin should use?

Thanks again

[situgrrl]

Someone chime in here!  This is why I didn't reply in the first place - my understanding here is limited.  This is my understanding of what is going on - it might be wrong but I'm sure someone will say so.

6500K refers to the screen gamma/white point.  Adjusting the brightness changes the number of lumens outputted by the LCD - which is why your must recalibrate - in adjusting your display brightness you will shift the gamma point - and therefore must reset this by recalibrating the screen.

I suggest that you leave your gamma at 6.5.  If you are on a Mac, you adjust the display brightness in the Displays tab of System Preferences.  On a PC, I think it will be in Control Panel.  On a laptop, you may have F keys additionally used for screen brightness.  Otherwise, you may have a hardware switch on the screen itself for turning it down.  I would assume that using hardware control is more accurate than software but could be wrong.  Regardless, every time you change the brightness, you must recalibrate.

[woffles]

Have you tried using the 1400 profiles with the 300?  I'm using them with my R260 and getting great results on matte paper.