Canon iPF8300/Breathing Color Experience Report

[bradleygibson]

In early Dec. I took delivery of one of those crazy "Black Friday special" deals for a Canon iPF-8300 printer.

Initially I was underwhelmed with the color (and the sample paper) that Canon provided.  I started a thread on that at the time.  I suspected the problem was a poor color profile as I am reasonably competent in color management.

So in picking out an initial "real" media to try, I came across Breathing Color canvas.  Although I am not a fan of the texture canvas imparts to my image, I have always loved the idea of nothing between my art and the viewer, so I thought I'd give canvas a try.  And oh, yeah, it sells well...

I went on the site and got a bit confused--how big can I go with canvas stretcher bars?  What do the bar extenders do actually?  But I bought a trial canvas kit and some Lyve canvas to give it a try.

Initially the colors were also poor (and differently from my previous trials with Canon's calibration paper).  Shortly thereafter, I got a call from Stephen Warth at Breathing Color to ask how things went.

I told him that I wasn't happy with the color profile (had been built on an iPF 6300), so I couldn't see myself working with this much until I got around to getting a custom profile made.  He talked to his technical person and had an iPF 8300 profile in my inbox that night.

I then went and printed again, and the results were just what I'd expected/hoped for.  The canvas is bright white (without OBA's), the color was accurate, and the results were gorgeous.   My wife is starting a family portraiture business, and so based on this success I ordered another two small canvas stretcher frames so I could walk her through the procedure.

It took us about 10 minutes to put together a canvas, and she was delighted with the result--she now plans to offer stretched canvas prints to her customers.

Stephen was very helpful in explaining the differences in medias, coatings and even canvas stretcher wood types (fir vs American Beech), as well as cost-effective (and more labor intensive) alternatives.  Just great.

I ordered some 44" canvas and am planning to put together my first 40" x 120" pano.  We'll see how things go.

All in all, I wanted to say that the iPF 8300 has been a big improvement in both speed and reliability (no clogging) vs. my old Epson.  And the service and support I've received from Breathing Color has been stellar too.  If you're looking for a nice canvas, you could do a lot worse than Lyve, IMHO.

Best regards,

[Paul2660]

Bradley,

Have you tried any of the matte papers from Breathing color?,  Optica 1, or 30MS or any other brand that is as
thick as the Optica1?    I am curious since I always have problems with the last half of the roll and the extreme
curl with both of my Epsons.

Thanks
Paul C

[bradleygibson]

My order for Optica One and 30MS just showed up on Friday, but I haven't had a chance to run either yet.  Today, I'm working on that large canvas pano I mentioned, trying to finish the file prep.

It'll take me some time to get to the back half of either roll of paper, I expect, but what issues do you run into with curl?

[ftbt]

I second Bradley's comments. I also just took delivery of my 8300. Breathing Color sent me a trial kit containing Lyve Canvas, Optica One and Vibrance Luster. I have had several conversations with both Stephen and Paul (their technical guru) about setting up the printer to get the maximum performance from their media. (Luckily they are only about 20 minutes away from me.) To make a long story short, on Friday Paul sent me new custom ICC and AM1 profiles they just made for the media and the 8300. I loaded the AM1 profiles in the Media Configuration Tool and then the ICC profiles for the media and ... I have to say that I am nothing short of amazed with the quality of the Lyve Canvas and Optica One test prints that I made this weekend. I haven't tried the photo paper yet since one of the profiles they sent me was for a 6300 (don't know if that was an error or if they use the same profile for 8300). I'll find out on Monday.

[neile]

Cool. I have a 44" wide box of the stuff waiting to go in the 8300. Are their new profiles and media config files posted on the site, or do we have to get them direct from Paul?

Neil

[Paul2660]

Bradley

As you get past 1/2 of the roll of either Optica 1 or 30MS, the curl gets very harsh and makes it hard to
work with the paper.  It fights you as you attempt to load it, and when you cut it it springs back hard which
IMO can cause scratching.  The last 1/4 of a roll I tend to pull off and attempt to sheet feed.   
The prints get very hard to work with also until you de-curl them.

Main issue with my Epson's is head strikes on the paper as the curl makes the paper stand up too high.  This is
with max suction on. 

Love the paper and look and at the price point of 30MS not a big deal,  but not true with Optica 1.

Curious also as you use both, Optica 1 and 30MS as to your thoughts on each.  I find them very very similar.

Paul C

[bradleygibson]

ftbt,  the 6300-based profiles were the "best they had" for they 8300 until they got an 8300 in-house and started doing profiles on it directly (according to Stephen).  From the one I've tried the 6300 is too different from the 8300 for the strategy of using one profile across the x300 line to work.

Neil, I haven't been back to the site, but Stephen did say that he pulled the 6300 profiles after talking with me about them.  So presumably, anything you find for the 8300 should be an actual 8300 profile.  If there's nothing there, ping me and I'd be happy to send you the profile Paul sent me.

Paul, thank you for the info--I was most worried about the head strikes, but the other issues regarding handling are a real concern too.  I'll definitely keep an eye out for this as I work my way through the roll.

In talking with Stephen, he mentioned that the Optica One and 30MS papers were very similar--in fact some people are proofing the Optica One using the 30MS (he didn't recommend this, just noted some folks were doing it).

I bought the 30MS hoping to make trial prints for my final work on Optica One, at a lower cost per print.  I'll report back with my thoughts on these papers once I've had a chance to print on them.

Best regards,  

[neile]

I looked on their site and they have an 8300 ICC profile, but no media type file for loading into the printer

Neil

[ftbt]

Cool. I have a 44" wide box of the stuff waiting to go in the 8300. Are their new profiles and media config files posted on the site, or do we have to get them direct from Paul?

ftbt,  the 6300-based profiles were the "best they had" for they 8300 until they got an 8300 in-house and started doing profiles on it directly (according to Stephen).  From the one I've tried the 6300 is too different from the 8300 for that strategy to work. 

I don't believe the "new" profiles (at least for the media that I mentioned) are on their site. I would give Paul a call and ask him to send them to you. (I would be more than happy to pass them on to you ... just PM me.)

Bradley, the 8300 profiles for the the Lyve Canvas and Optica One are supposedly "hot-off-the-press" since BC just received their 8300 recently as well. The profiles they sent me for the Vibrance Luster (2 files ... an AM1 and an ICC) are what I am not sure about. My guess is that the AM1 is probably a new printer set-up profile for 8300, the ICC seems to be for 6300. Because of that, I didn't load the ICC or test the photo paper. I should have an answer tomorrow.

[Light Seeker]

I looked on their site and they have an 8300 ICC profile, but no media type file for loading into the printer

The last video on this page walks you through creating a custom media type for Lyve on the 6300/8300. There is also a profile for each printer further down the page.

Terry.

[Rob Reiter]

I've been using Optica 1 on my 8300 with no problem. It curls a lot, especially towards the end of the roll and requires judicious decurling, but no problem printing it.

Bradley,

Have you tried any of the matte papers from Breathing color?,  Optica 1, or 30MS or any other brand that is as
thick as the Optica1?    I am curious since I always have problems with the last half of the roll and the extreme
curl with both of my Epsons.

Thanks
Paul C

[bradleygibson]

Neil, I'll post the ICC profile I have from Paul at Breathing Color here.

My media configuration for Lyve was built, not downloaded.  I followed the instructions here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eVlYDOTq5o&feature=player_embedded.

For convenience, I've exported my Lyve Canvas media configuration, and attached it here, but note that there is a configuration step where you enter optimal values from printouts for your particular printer, so it's probably best to run the procedure on your own printer.

ftbt, good news is that their profile for Lyve is spot on.  If you're not getting great color out-of-the-box with Vibrance Luster, definitely let Paul/Stephen know--they'll get you fixed up.

[neile]

Thanks for the ICC and video link. I'll do the ICC profile and then do my custom config using the steps in that video.

[ftbt]

... ftbt, good news is that their profile for Lyve is spot on.

Both Lyve and Optica are spot on! Talkled to Paul and he said Vibrance Luster should be spot on as well (even though it is for 6300) and if not ... he'll do a custom for the 8300. How is that for service?

[bradleygibson]

Both Lyve and Optica are spot on! Talkled to Paul and he said Vibrance Luster should be spot on as well (even though it is for 6300) and if not ... he'll do a custom for the 8300. How is that for service?

I know--that's why I had to write them up here!    In my experience this level of service is all to rare--I thought everyone should know.

Haha--my money is on the 6300 profile not being accurate (based on past experience)...  I hope you'll let us know!  I don't do a lot of (ok, any, I admit it!) glossy, but I do get the odd request for Luster...