Epson 7900: ink consumption and print quality related to driver settings.

[VitOne]

I would like to know if anybody can explain to me the differences between driver settings in relation with ink consumption and print quality.
I read that the printer will use more ink using some driver settings for media selection (Premium Luster, Premium Semigloss, etc) and less ink using other driver settings.
I would like to know what are your driver settings to get "deep blacks" (low L* value in L*a*b*) and what are your settings to get low ink consumption and if you have any suggestion to improve print quality with Hahnemuhle FineArt/PhotoRag Pearl/Baryta papers.
Thanks.

[Randy Carone]

When you download Hahnemuhle icc profiles from their website you will also find a pdf that will tell you what media type to choose in your Epson driver. This is the media setting that was used when the profile was created. This tells the printer how much ink to put down and sets the feed calibration so no banding will occur. I'd stick with the instructions in the pdf. The icc profile name will indicate whether to use Photo Black (PK) or Matte Black (MK). Of course, the media type choice will result in the printer using the correct ink. Regarding ink comsumption, the average print will consume 1.5ml of total ink per square foot. This may change depending on the media but 1.5 is a good average. If you use less ink than the media requires I don't think you will get a good print. Each coating type, paper base and paper color requires a very specific amount of ink for proper yield. I'm sure that you'll get some detailed info from the profile experts on this forum. Let us know your results once you print on the Hahnemuhle media

[VitOne]

Thanks for the fast answer.

I have an i1Pro device and I use ArgyllCMS to create profiles for my papers. I spent some time reading ArgyllCMS guides and docs, and I am happy with the results I have.

I know that on the Hahnemuhle web site there are profiles for each paper (and they work good) but here I am asking something different. What I would like to know is the result of the different media settings and driver settings in terms of ink consumption, D-Max, dot distribution.
For what I understood reading color managment books when you profile a printer using the OEM driver (and not a RIP) you have 2 main steps:
1) Driver settings; that we could be considered as "calibration process" (setting media, etc).
2) Profile creation (with the program that you prefer, I like ArgyllCMS).

At the moment I am using Epson and Hahnemuhle raccomended settings for each paper, but I was corious about what each media setting does. When I set "Premium Luster" do I have more or less ink on the paper? Will the D-Max be highter or lower? I am sure that this is also related to the media type that I use, but some time ago I read that somebody was using some particoular media settings to get better results in terms of ink consumption, D-Max, gamut, etc.

Do you have any idea about this? What will each media setting do? Do you some settings that you suggest for each paper or you just use the reccomended settings that you can find in the Hahnemuhle (and other paper makers) internet site?

[Ernst Dinkla]

AFAIK Epson doesn't tell the details of media presets. As a reference you could check Gutenprint's media presets for the same media but i doubt they have that for the 7900 already. If you have access to a RIP that supports the 7900 + its media you could check them there. Then there is HP's information on using third party media on the Z models and what the HP media presets have as ink limits + weaving strokes etc. I think Canon gives more information too. Sure, the quality of information goes down with every suggested step.

I wouldn't describe "setting media etc"  as a calibration process. If Colorbase supports the 7900 without the Spectroproofer (it does with) then that could be a way to get calibration but I think it is limited to Epson media only. Other methods could be a print of a greyscale ramp with different media presets but the same paper and checking which has the best Dmax and linearity with an Eye 1 spectrometer. My guess is that Hahnemuhle has done that job of selecting the optimal Epsonn media preset already and it will be hard to improve on that without using a RIP that goes beyond RGB-device drivers.


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst



New: Spectral plots of +250 inkjet papers:

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[na goodman]

Generally the glossier the paper the more ink that is laid down. You could use a density check file and print using different settings. Similar to what Ernst was saying. Here is a link to the file, scroll down towards the bottom of the page.
http://www.inkjetart.com/custom_profiles/manual/CS2/Creating_CS2_EpsonDesk.html

[VitOne]

Thanks again for the answer.
I am only using Epson drivers, and I actually have no RIP or other software for this printers. I am happy with the results I am getting.
I was wondering if there was a way to improve “deepness” of the black on some media using Epson changing Epson/paper producer settings.
I already made some tests with the Epson 4880 to see how each driver settings influence the print gamut, but I was looking for somebody that already did this tests.