Epson 3800 driver question

[kadamjames]

Greetings,

Noticed an oddity with the Epson driver for my Pro 3800 today.  (CS5, 12.0.1; iMac, OSX 10.6.4, with 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7).

The "Print Settings ..." dialog will only open when I select "Photoshop Manages Colors," which is odd, but OK since that is how I print, but ...

when I select "Print Settings ...", then "Printer Settings", I can only select a few "Media Type", as most, including the media I am using are greyed out.  Specifically, I am printing to the ICC Profile Pro38 VFAP (for Velvet Fine Art Paper), but cannot select "Velvet Fine Art Paper" as a "Media Type" in the "Printer Settings" dialog.  All but about 4 or 5 media types are greyed out.

This may be a non-issue, since the printer does seem to correctly apply the profile for Velvet Fine Art Paper, even though the closest "Media Type" I can select is "Archival Matte Paper."

Is this just an unfinished, but unnecessary aspect of the driver, or is there a fix?

Thank you,

Jim

[chocodog]

You have to send the job to print once so the driver can recognize that your need to be able to select the fine art media type.  The printer will not print because it will notice that it showing you the wrong media types.  Once it doesn't print, you will now be able to go into the driver and select the VFAP setting. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw6O45-LeYs

[kadamjames]

Thank you for the reply.  Actually the printer does print with the mismatched media type, so I don't follow your suggestion.  Nor did the YouTube link explain the problem.

Really appreciate the effort,

j

[dk99]

Jim ~~~~ I believe that in the "Print Setting" window you have to set the paper size and the paper delivery method.  Whether the 'manual rear', 'manual front', or 'sheet feeder'.  Once the proper delivery method is determined then the option for "Velvet Fine Art' will not be grayed out. 

hth

-d

[Wayne Fox]

This may be a non-issue, since the printer does seem to correctly apply the profile for Velvet Fine Art Paper, even though the closest "Media Type" I can select is "Archival Matte Paper."

The printer does not apply a profile and choosing a paper type is about the profile.  The paper type sets up things like platten gap and ink load.  The profile itself is used by Photoshop which converts the information based on the output profile before sending it on to the printer.

Using an incorrect paper type many times will not result in an unacceptable print, but obviously it might not be an optimum print.  It is important to use the paper type that was used when printing the targets when creating the profile you are using. For most Epson papers it is obvious, for 3rd party papers they almost always tell you which paper type to use (which is the one they used when they made the profile they are providing you.)

As mentioned if a paper type is grayed out, most likely it is because the wrong ink is loaded (MK vs PK) or the wrong paper path is selected.  This is especially true of thick art papers which are often restricted by the driver to one of the manual paper paths.

[kadamjames]

Wayne,

Thank you for clarifying what the selection of Media Type does. 

The problem does seem to be the paper path selected.  Epson says the Velvet Fine Art Paper can be used, one sheet at a time, in the Sheet Feeder.  The Velvet Fine Art Paper I was using is not greyed out as a Media Type when A3 (Manual - Front), is selected as a paper path. It is, though, when a more generic reference to the Sheet Feeder was selected, which was at the root of my confusion.

I really appreciate your helpful answer.  I'll be interested in comparing the prints I made with the correct Media Type, versus one that was just close.

Again, many thanks.

Jim

[kadamjames]

Thank you, dk!  You are absolutely right.  Manual (A3 - Front) works just as it should. I was confused by assuming that selecting the Sheet Feeder would be OK, too, so long as I fed in one sheet at a time.

Thank you so much,

Jim