epson 11880 canvas printing using ABW mode

[jareddimartine]

Just talked to a guy at Epson that told me the 'canvas' media type is not the correct media type when printing on inkjet canvas....  he said that I should be using the 'watercolor media - radiant white', which would also enable me to use the advance black and white mode....

Is this common knowledge?  Am I an idiot?  Did I just run through a complete roll of 24" for nothing!?!?  

I actually can't test this because i'm out of canvas, but holy crap, i'm kind of pissed.  This isn't mentioned ANYWHERE.

[Farmer]

Just talked to a guy at Epson that told me the 'canvas' media type is not the correct media type when printing on inkjet canvas....  he said that I should be using the 'watercolor media - radiant white', which would also enable me to use the advance black and white mode....

Is this common knowledge?  Am I an idiot?  Did I just run through a complete roll of 24" for nothing!?!?  

I actually can't test this because i'm out of canvas, but holy crap, i'm kind of pissed.  This isn't mentioned ANYWHERE.

Depends what canvas you're using.  If it's a gloss canvas, I wouldn't use that media setting, but I might try it if it's matte canvas.  My personal experience is that the canvas setting in the driver, and using either the canned canvas profile or of course a custom profile, works really well for colour or B&W.  It's true, though, that you can't use ABW which is something that I feel should be addressed (seems to be a mismatch of valid resolutions for ABW compared to what's available for the canvas setting).

Previous, various alternate driver settings have been recommended to use with canvas, so to some extent it's a personal choice.  If the results you achieved were good, then I don't think you've wasted a roll.  By all means try the newly recommended settings when next you print, and then compare.

[Wayne Fox]

The media type is determined when the profile is made - whatever was used then should be matched.  I know that Breathing Color canvas is profiled using Watercolor/Radiant White, and MK ink.

[jareddimartine]

so I'm a little less frustrated than I was earlier, now i'm just a little confused.

I'm creating my own profile using the i1iO, and i've done so using the canvas setting in photoshop.  For a minute I thought this was incorrect, and that I would never be able to reach the potential of the paper and printer.

Just out of curiosity, is there a portion of breathing colors site, or any other canvas company for that matter, that tells you what to select when printing?  I have watched breathing colors tutorials, and downloaded their profiles to compare to the ones I created, and I have yet to see anyone recommending the use of the watercolor setting in the photoshop media settiings...

I won't be able to test the difference between watercolor and canvas settings until Tuesday, but i'm very curious to see the results.  I'm also very curious to see how adv. black and white on watercolor with the canned profile differ from my custom made profile using the canvas setting without the adv. black and white.

The answer i'm hoping to find is that my custom profile and the settings i'm using are still giving me the full dynamic range and correct colors because the profile was created with those settings.   I'm really just afraid that the settings i'm on are somehow limiting the ability of the print, and i'm not even aware of it...

thoughts?

[Farmer]

I'm also very curious to see how adv. black and white on watercolor with the canned profile differ from my custom made profile using the canvas setting without the adv. black and white.

ABW doesn't make use of the ICC profile workflow, so you won't use the canned (or any other) profile for output (although you can use one to help you soft proof - Eric Chan has an excellent discussion about that on his site).

[Wayne Fox]

Just out of curiosity, is there a portion of breathing colors site, or any other canvas company for that matter, that tells you what to select when printing?  I have watched breathing colors tutorials, and downloaded their profiles to compare to the ones I created, and I have yet to see anyone recommending the use of the watercolor setting in the photoshop media settiings...

thoughts?

From Breathing colors site ...

How to Use ICC Profiles by Breathing Color
Printer: Matte Black Ink
1. Required Settings for the ICC Profile:
THE FOLLOWING SETTINGS MUST BE USED, WITHOUT QUESTION, FOR THIS PROFILE TO PREFORM ACCURATLEY.
NOTE: The following settings are for the users of MATTE BLACK ink only. If you are using PHOTO BLACK, you have downloaded the wrong ICC Profiles and are viewing the wrong instructions. Please go back.


Media Setting: Watercolor Radiant White
1440dpi
no color adjustment
high speed off
Platen Gap: WIDER


(Link to above is here http://www.breathingcolor.com/support/inde...32&nav=0,1)

If you made your own profiles then I don't believe you will lose much.  The media type setting controls things like platen gap and inking limits.  In reality if you make your own profiles sometimes trying several media types and settings allows you to apply as much ink as possible without going too far.  The Epson Canvas media setting seems to apply plenty of ink, so  I don't think using WaterColor/radiant white (and making new profiles to match) will show much if any visible difference.)

As mentioned if using ABW, you won't use those profiles, and the recommendation for Eric Chan's info on that is spot on.