Gamut Comparison of Canon 8300 and Epson 9900 on Canson Baryta

[John Hollenberg]

I created a Wiki FAQ which expands on Scott Martin's description of the differences in Gamut between these two printers.  It is still a work in progress, but here is the link:

http://canonipf.wikispaces.com/Downloadable+Colorthink+Movie+of+3D+Gamuts+

There is an AVI file you can download which shows 2D slices for every L* value.  The Epson is the one with the larger gamut in the lighter colors, the Canon is the one with the larger gamut at L* below 50.  Here is the text of the FAQ:

Method:

--ICC profiles of Canson Baryta were made with Monaco Profiler by Scott Martin
--Colorthink Pro 3 was used in 2D mode using the slicer with settings of True Color and Tone Using L*
--Each Level of luminosity is captured in a movie using SnagIt

Notes:

Gamut volumes from Colorthink 3:

Canon 8300 - 888,343
Epson 9900 - 927,347 (4.4% larger)

Dmax L*:

Canon 8300 - 3.9
Epson 9900 - 4.7

Comments:

Epson has the larger gamut above L* of 50, particularly in oranges and pinks at L* of about 60-75.
At L* 50, the gamuts are almost identical.
Below L* of 50, Canon gamut is larger, particularly in the blues and purples at L* of 10-25.

Softproofing using perceptual rendering intent of some bright flower images and Fall Color images, including oranges, yellows, magenta, purple and red in Photoshop showed no significant differences, with the following exceptions:

--some bright saturated orange poppies at L* = 70, where the Canon wasn't able to reproduce the bright saturated orange as well as the Epson.
--some bright saturated yellow-orange leaves at L* = 75-80, where the Canon wasn't able to reproduce the colors and variations as well as the Epson
--some reddish-orange leaves at L* = 60, where the Canon wasn't able to reproduce the colors as well as the Epson

I have uploaded a couple of layered TIFF files you can examine in Photoshop by toggling layers on and off to see the differences:

I don't have either printer, so can't comment on how this would show up in print.

[John Hollenberg]

FAQ has been updated with information on the limitations of gamut comparisons and importance of comparing actual prints.

[narikin]

thanks for this John. interesting. what is the brief but large dip in Canon gamut on both avi movies and about L* 30 or so?  just a reading anomaly or ?

[John Hollenberg]

thanks for this John. interesting. what is the brief but large dip in Canon gamut on both avi movies and about L* 30 or so?  just a reading anomaly or ?

I am pretty sure it is a bug in Colorthink.  One reason for that supposition is that when Colorthink 3.0 came out a couple of years ago, I reported about 60 bugs in the first month.  A year later, most of them still hadn't been fixed.  I didn't see this and report it as a bug, but strongly suspect that it is one.  You don't see this in the gamut when you look at it in 3D.  I think it would be almost impossible to have that big of a dip that is specific to a particular L* value (e.g., doesn't occur at 29 and 31, but does at 30).