New Epson printer drivers from Apple Software Update!?

[Photo Op]

On May 3rd, Apple pushed thru its Software Updates, Epson's latest printer driver updates, v2.3.1! When reading the site pdf, many if not all of the individual version numbers still list version 8.17 for the individual printers, with a total file size of @ 650 meg. I have an Epson R2880. When proceeding with the download, I noticed that the "file" size was @ 15meg. When installed, in Preferences (OSX 10.6.3) the driver version # is listed as 8.23 after upgrade! Testing the Printer Utility brought up a new and modified screen with updated options. On to LR 3 beta 2. Printing a test photo, revealed the following changes to the print driver screens-

1. B&W printing can only be accessed by now selecting Managed by Printer, in the LR Print Job. Once Managed by Printer is selected, all options appear to be similar to the "old" options in Print Settings (under Color) EXCEPT 16-bit/Channel is grayed out and not selectable.

2. Color printing with a "custom" profile is similar to previous versions except-
a. Color is grayed (default) and no longer selectable (see above B&W), and
b. Color Setting is grayed, no longer allowing selection of No Color Management.

SO, to the forum Gurus (especially the mild mannered motorcycle rider and Mr. Chan) my questions are are these-

1. With the release of OSX 10.6.3 and now the release of these updated Epson drivers, can I assume that Epson has finally gotten its stuff together regarding the Apple API printing requirements.

2. IF the answer is yes, than will LR 3 when released be compatible with the above changes. Please note, that in B&W printing, the Epson driver does not allow 16-bit/Channel selection, whereas LR in Print Job does (minor issue maybe?).

Appreciate any comments regarding above observations. (I did post this on the Adobe LR3 Forum too, sorry if that is inappropriate)

Thanks!

[madmanchan]

Hi Dave, I will check with the LR team and hopefully have some useful information to provide soon. I should certainly hope and expect LR 3 to be fully compatible with all of these changes.

[Schewe]

SO, to the forum Gurus (especially the mild mannered motorcycle rider and Mr. Chan) my questions are are these-

1. With the release of OSX 10.6.3 and now the release of these updated Epson drivers, can I assume that Epson has finally gotten its stuff together regarding the Apple API printing requirements.

2. IF the answer is yes, than will LR 3 when released be compatible with the above changes. Please note, that in B&W printing, the Epson driver does not allow 16-bit/Channel selection, whereas LR in Print Job does (minor issue maybe?).

I looked through the supported printer list and didn't see any of my printers so I can't really comment, I don't know...but I'm pretty sure LR 3, when it ships will be doing the correct thing...

[Dick Roadnight]

On May 3rd, Apple pushed thru its Software Updates, Epson's latest printer driver updates, v2.3.1! ....When installed, in Preferences (OSX 10.6.3) the driver version # is listed as 8.23 after upgrade!

I have just installed 8.23 (from 2.3.1) for my Stylus Photo 2100...

The printer has been useless since Snow leopard (with the guten print driver) so the main problem was blocked nozzles, but I sorted that without running out of ink, and then ran out of paper...

So I put in what I had, ("Epson photo quality ink jet paper").

I think the printer might be worth buying paper for, but when I tried Epson "photo quality ink jet paper" (which, strangely, according to the box it came in, is not recommended for photos)... and looks like photocopy paper...

...but I could initially find no menu item for "paper type",,, but when I eventually found Print Settings/Media type, it had already defaulted to "plain paper" and there were not many options.

...perhaps it would have worked better on Premium semi-gloss if I had set the "media type" option for it!

[Wayne Fox]

This update lists every printer supported by the OS from what I can tell. It lists epsons pro printers as using gutenberg drivers, so I'm pretty skeptical. Seems more targeted to consumer machines.  I couldn't see the 79/9900 in the list at all.

I'm staying away from it for now.

[Dick Roadnight]

This update lists every printer supported by the OS from what I can tell. It lists epsons pro printers as using gutenberg drivers, so I'm pretty skeptical. Seems more targeted to consumer machines.  I couldn't see the 79/9900 in the list at all.

I'm staying away from it for now.

Can you tell my how/if the 7900 works with ColorBurst RIP and Snow leopard?

[Wayne Fox]

Can you tell my how/if the 7900 works with ColorBurst RIP and Snow leopard?

I don't use Colorburst, but a quick check on their forums indicates the latest version of Colorburst (6.1.2 was the one mentioned) should work.  It apparently does work with the 7900, and since the rip by passes the Epson drivers to drive the printer directly, sounds like everything should be good.

I think I've seen mention of someone using this on the forum, hopefully they'll chime in here to confirm this.

[Photo Op]

Hi Dave, I will check with the LR team and hopefully have some useful information to provide soon. I should certainly hope and expect LR 3 to be fully compatible with all of these changes.

Thanks Eric. I'm hoping Epson has updated their drivers to finally take proper advantage of the "new" Apple APIs. It seems to me that particularly for the R2880 (and I assume others) they have done a major overhaul. I'm also hoping Andrew Rodney might make a comment since I think he uses the R2880.