Fredrix 901WR and the Epson 11880

[jareddimartine]

Hey guys,

I have my first solo photo exhibit coming up in February.  I'm going a bit nuts here, but thats a topic for another thread.  

One thing I want to do is to show the work in a variety of presentation formats, including gallery wrapped canvas, traditional matted/framed prints, greeting cards and coffee table books spread throughout the gallery.

I have everything sorted out except for the canvas.

Right now, I'm just about set on the following:

 - the Epson 11880
 - a 60" roll of Fredrix 901WR
 - a gallon of semi-gloss Clearshield type C - applied with an air powered gravity sprayer.
 - 2" stretcher bars

Unless you guys have any reasons why I shouldn't?  Or a better combo.  

One thing i'm not sure about is stretching the canvas.  I've never done that before.  I'm considering looking at stores or somewhere that would stretch the finished print for me.  If anyone has any suggestions in the Philadelphia area, i'd love to hear them.

I may or may not be printing using Colorbyte's ImagePrint.  I'm very familiar with the software and have trusted it with my prints for the past several years and have been extremely happy.  However, i've recently found that my imageprint license for my old 9800 doesn't work with the 11880, so unless I sort this out I may have to print through photoshop.

I may need a refresher course in printing through PS if that is the case...

So....  That's my plan...  Thoughts?  Suggestions?  ideas?  I'd really appreciate any and all advice.

Fwiw, here's the body of work i'll be presenting:  Film Noir

thanks guys!

[Paul2660]

Congratulations on the show.

The Frederick Canvas is a good one.  You should have no issues with it.  

If you are going to print a long image, much past 90 inches, you might need the imageprint rip for that.  Epson seems to have issues
much past 90 or so inches.  Some people report no problems, others get the print cut off.  Imageprint will take that concern out.   Also
the problem seems to happen more on Windows based machines, at least from what I have read.  Longest print I have made is 85" on a 9880
with the Epson driver and CS, no problems.   NOTE, IMO if you are going that long, you may need some help in handling the prints.  

Also if you have not stretched before, I would job that out, especially if you are doing gallery wraps, and even more if you are doing a mirrored
edge.  This to me is a critical part of the work, and if not done well can have a real effect on the final appearance.   With a larger print this is
even more critical.

One thing to note, Epson printers tend to have problems with the running length with canvas.  Net if you are printing a 40 x 60, 60 inches is your
running length, more than likely you won't get exactly 60 inches.  You may come up short.  This can be a big problem if you are using a gallery wrap
with a mirrored edge.    Here is an example.

On a 30 x 40, with a 2" mirror, your final image will be 34 x 44.  44" is your running length, your mirror will be the outer 2".  Without an adjustment
to the paper feed, you will get a 34" x 43 3/4" image or something close to that.  This means you have to be careful in creation of the the stretcher bars, i.e
don't do them in advance or the final print won't fit.

In more recent publications, Epson has admitted to this and recommends to change the paper feed adjustment depending on
the printer.  I can send you more info on this if you like.  

Paul Caldwell
www.photosofarkansas.com

[Scott Martin]

So....  That's my plan...  Thoughts?  Suggestions?  ideas?  I'd really appreciate any and all advice.

Fred901wr is an excellent value. If you went with the less expensive Canon iPF9100, the PS plug-in allows for long printing lengths and the driver has a nesting feature. Without the expense and hassle of a RIP these are features that might have value to you.

[jareddimartine]

thanks for the feedback guys!

I already have the 11880 so I will be printing on that.  My real dilemma with the printer was whether I should just get a 44" roll and print on the 9800 with Imageprint, or get the 60" roll and possibly have to print with PS.

I'll be completely honest, since i've had access to imageprint i've really become a slave to it.  I love their huge amount of amazing paper profiles, and their new black and white controls make black and white prints like the series i'm going to be printing an absolute painless process.  Hell, I can't remember the last time I actually needed to print a test strip...

So going back to PS printing will require me to relearn some things and force myself back into a process i've long forgotten...

I'm glad to hear the fredrix paper has a favorable image here, and I think i'm going to look to outsource the stretching, although I've yet to find someone in the philadelphia area that comes with a strong recommendation.

How about the protective coating?  Is  the semigloss type-c nice?  Compared to the gloss or matte?  I haven't actually seen any prints with any sheen of type c on them in person...  And the spraying method?  good?

I'll be sure to keep you guys updated on my progress with this.  I'm heading over to Shades of Paper on Friday to pick everything up.