Media selection for EEF on Epson 7900

[GeraldB]

My question is a general question and a specific question.
In general what is the effect of the media choice. Is this what tells the printer simply whether it is printing mat or gloss or is it telling the printer much more?

The specific question is what media type would I choose for Epson Exhibition Fiber on an Epson 7900 since that paper is not given as an option?


thanks
Gerald

[abiggs]

Gerald, there are 2 main things the media type conveys to the printer:

1) which black ink to use
2) how much ink to put on the paper

What doesn't make sense to me is why Exhibition Fiber requires another media type, as well as a +12 density adjustment. Why not make Exhibition Fiber into the printer driver's media type selection menu, and bake the ink density into that media type. Kind of weird.

[GeraldB]

Andy, what media type do you select for EEF and how did you know that it needs a +12 density adjustment?

[Schewe]

The specific question is what media type would I choose for Epson Exhibition Fiber on an Epson 7900 since that paper is not given as an option?

Assuming you are using the EFP available in North America, you'll want to use Luster 260 as the media type and then set the Paper Thickness to 5 and the platen gap to Wider in the Advanced Media Control (at least in the Mac driver)

[GeraldB]

I'm using Windows 7.

The attachment shows the driver media selection options. You're suggesting that I use the "Premium Luster Photo Paper (260)"? How does one know that. Is it trial and error or does Epson publish this somewhere on their site. I've not found anything yet. It also concerns me that the selection you suggest is 260 gsm and the paper is 325.

I also find it strange to set the paper width to 5 when on the box it says it is 13 mil. Why not 13?

Questions, questions, .... ;-)

thanks
Gerald

[Schewe]

You're suggesting that I use the "Premium Luster Photo Paper (260)"? How does one know that.

Because I was involved in the development of the paper and worked with Epson and Andrew Rodney to produce the first round of EFP profiles...as for setting to 5 instead of 3, that's what Mac Holbert of Nash Editions suggested...seems to work fine.

[Dano Steinhardt]

I'm the Marketing Manager for Pro Imaging at Epson America and thought I could offer some additional insight

I had the privilege of working with Jeff and others he mentioned in the development of Exhibition Fiber Paper (EFP)

Extensive testing was performed prior to launch and it was determined that optimal print quality would be obtained selecting Premium Luster or Premium Glossy as the Media Type in the driver.  There was no noticeable difference between these two papers when selected as Media Types. There is of course differences in the papers themselves and they do have different paper profiles.  In North America, custom profiles were made with Premium Luster as the Media Type and to ensure consistency the reccomendation from Epson America on the instruction sheet in the box was to use Premium Luster. 

Tests also indicated the possibility of print head strikes due to the caliper of EFP and that this could be prevented by increasing the platen gap.  Many do not change the platen gap and have success, but there there is some risk of ruining a sheet of paper this way.

Outside of North America the same paper is called Traditional Photo Paper.  At launch the instructions in those boxes recomended Premium Glossy as the Media Type.  Which was fine but it did lead to some confusion for those who work in North America and Europe.

Many have asked why new papers are not incorporated into the driver.

There are several reasons but over time we are indeed starting to see new papers in the drivers of some printers and some operating systems.

Attached is a screengrab from my MacBook Pro running 10.6.4 with Ps CS4 using the latest driver for the 7900 posted May 13th of this year.

Exhibition Fiber Paper is now in the "Photo Paper" section of the driver.  In addition the Hot and Cold Press papers have been added and are located in the "Fine Art Paper" section of the driver.

There will be no difference in print quality if one sets Premium Luster or Exhibition Fiber as the Media Type, but it is reassuring and may help to prevent a mistake.

[GeraldB]

Thanks Jeff and Dano.
I'll use those settings.
Interesting that I have the latest Windows 7 64bit driver and it does not show EFP