3880 & 13x19 paper

[FrankG]

mac OSx 10.5.8 | PS CS4 | epson 3880 using auto sheet feeder.

I am printing a 12x18 inch image centered on 13x19 inch epson exhibition fiber paper.
There is no 13x19 in listed in Page Setup so I'm using the nearest equivalent which is Super A3 ( actually super A3 is 329mm x 483mm).
I am selecting just Super A3 and not borderless or borderless retain size.
Scale image to paper is un-checked and center image is checked.
In photoshop i had increased the canvas to 13x19 inches. The 12x18 printed image is a 1/16th shy on each dimension.
And, the 13 x 19 in canvas size prints outside of the paper size. i know this because I selected all and stroked the canvas size with a 2px black stroke inside the selection. This black 'border' didn't show on the print at the paper's edge.

How can I precisely get a 12x18 image with equal .5 in border all around on 13x19?
Is it a mistake to first enlarge the canvas?
Should I set up a Custom size instead of using super A3? If so with the standard .13 in borders?

[MichaelWorley]

mac OSx 10.5.8 | PS CS4 | epson 3880 using auto sheet feeder.

I am printing a 12x18 inch image centered on 13x19 inch epson exhibition fiber paper.
There is no 13x19 in listed in Page Setup so I'm using the nearest equivalent which is Super A3 ( actually super A3 is 329mm x 483mm).
I am selecting just Super A3 and not borderless or borderless retain size.
Scale image to paper is un-checked and center image is checked.
In photoshop i had increased the canvas to 13x19 inches. The 12x18 printed image is a 1/16th shy on each dimension.
And, the 13 x 19 in canvas size prints outside of the paper size. i know this because I selected all and stroked the canvas size with a 2px black stroke inside the selection. This black 'border' didn't show on the print at the paper's edge.

How can I precisely get a 12x18 image with equal .5 in border all around on 13x19?
Is it a mistake to first enlarge the canvas?
Should I set up a Custom size instead of using super A3? If so with the standard .13 in borders?

I have never had trouble printing the proper sized image centered on Super A3 or Super B on a 3800, but then I haven't put extra canvas around the image and essentially told the printer that a different sized image is coming at it than the paper I've chosen.

You can't get a 12x18 image with equal .5 inch borders all the way around if you're using 329mm x 483mm paper. It'll be very, very close, but not exact since 329mm x 483mm is a metric measurement not precisely the same as 13x19, and 12x18 is an Imperial measurement not precisely .5" less than 329mm x 483mm.

If you set up a custom size, wouldn't it be the same as Super A3? Nothing accomplished. If you want precisely equal borders all the way around, you'll have to print in mm. That's a lot of work when Super A3 is already just a millimeter different from 13x19.

I don't understand "the standard .13 in borders" so I'll leave that to someone else.

Mike

[Pete Berry]

While A3+ (Super A3) measures 12.95x19.02", Super B, which should be one of your options, is exactly 13x19, and will give the exact .5" margins. If not found just specify a custom size of 13x19.

Pete

[FrankG]

Super B is not a listed option.

If you enlarge the canvas around a 12x18 inch image to 13x19, or print an actual 13x19 image,  the printer, in both cases,  thinks a 13x19 image is coming through - right?

If I were printing a 13x19 image and didn't want any image cutoff, would I still select Super A3, or would I need to select Super A3 Borderless Retain Size ?

[Pete Berry]

Super B is not a listed option.

If you enlarge the canvas around a 12x18 inch image to 13x19, or print an actual 13x19 image,  the printer, in both cases,  thinks a 13x19 image is coming through - right?

If I were printing a 13x19 image and didn't want any image cutoff, would I still select Super A3, or would I need to select Super A3 Borderless Retain Size ?

This is making it way too complex. Since the borders with Super A3 don't work as precisely as you would like, you need to simply create a true 13x19 custom page size and print your centered 12x18 image on it - this is how I would do if my iPF 5100 didn't have the 13x19 (ANSI Super B) page size option.

For sure, don't waste your time trying to establish the borders manually, as this throws in the monkey wrench of minimum printable margins of aparently .13" in non-borderless modes. This is why the 2 pixel black stroke in side the 13x19 canvas size didn't print in your first attempt.

Hard to understand why the common-as-grass true 13x19 isn't in the 3880's sheet-feeder media choices - just the slightly off super A3 (or A3+ as Canon calls it), which isn't available in the States AFAIK!

Pete

[FrankG]

when you setup a 'cusom size', you need to enter the size in inches for each of  the 4 borders

[Pete Berry]

when you setup a 'cusom size', you need to enter the size in inches for each of  the 4 borders

This is for the minimal non-printable borders, which vary with the feed source - 3mm (0.125") all 'round for the rear manual feed, I believe, and 3mm sides and 20mm (0.8") top and bottom for the front manual feed. It can't print borderless on non-standard sizes. So by using this value with rear manual feed, you can have 3mm or larger borders, effectively limiting you to a non printer-cropped image of 12.75 x 18.75 or smaller on 13x19 paper, so your 12x18 image should print normally with even 0.5" margins if "center image" is checked.

Or, you might just decide to put up with the slight margin innacuracy with Super A3 size chosen to have the convenience of the sheet feeder. Epson should certainly be able to correct the true 13x19 size oversight in future driver or printer firmware updates.

Pete

[FrankG]

Thank you v. much