Epson R3000 and ICC Profiles newbie Question - working in Mac "Preview"

[Hydrology]

Hey guys,
Just this weekend I upgraded to an Epson R3000 from a Canon MP640 printer. I have a quick question on ICC profiles. I sometimes like to just use the OSX Mountain Lion's PREVIEW program to print from (if images have already been exported from PS or LR), but it appears I cant seem to access my downloaded Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl ICC Profile from the Printer Settings window quite like I could with the Canon.
Any ideas?

[Wayne Fox]

When printing from many programs on OS X  and wanting to use profiles (Preview, iPhoto, Pages, etc) , you can select the Color Matching menu option in the pop-up menu in the printer dialog box (if you don't see that menu, click the show details button. The menu you need to click on is normally named whatever the program you are using).  There you will see a radio button labeled ColorSync, when selected a new menu shows up which will probably say automatic, meaning ColorSync thinks the profile that shows under that menu is the one you want to use.  If you want a different profile, click on that menu and you should see all the profiles available to ColorSync on your computer ... select the one you want and now that will be replace Automatic as the menu text.  If you then look at the Printer Settings (using the pop up) you should see that the driver has turned Color Mode off.

Results are very good ... a welcome change which caused a lot of issues when introduced (part of the leopard/snow leopard printing problems) but really took OS X color management to a new level ... before then it was really hard to get a printer to use a particular profile from the OS.

[Hydrology]

Thanks very much Wayne,
I saw that and figured I was on the right path, however, when I select a profile I want (for example Ilford Galerie Smooth Pear A4), and then go back to Printer Settings, the only options available for "Media Type" are the following:-

Photo Paper
Matte Paper
Fine Art Paper
Plain Paper
CD/DVD

Each of these is a sub menu but there is NO option of any Ilford paper here, so am unsure of which media type to select to obtain the best results!

[howardm]

You will never see Ilford paper in the 'Media Type' menu.  Only papers defined in the printer driver itself will be there (ie. only Epson papers) but that's OK because Ilford *tells* you which media type to select and some other settings on their website.

Read *carefully* the README included w/ ICC profile .zip file you downloaded, the part about profile naming explanation.  From what I see, it'll be EPG (Epson Premium Gloss):  n_GPSPP12_EPSr3000_EPGn.icc

On their website...
>>>> If you choose to use an ILFORD ICC profile, please read the appropriate Readme_1st file (downloaded with the ICC profile) for the correct media setting.

Is this all confusing and weird?  Yea, unfortunately, it is.

[Hydrology]

Thanks you howardm, I understand now!!! I did read the README, but I didnt understand fully until you explained it!
OK Im starting to get the gist of it now. Just one more query - any idea what the 'n' after the "EPG" in the profile name is? Is it relevant?

[howardm]

The 'n'  (4th token in the profile name string) refers to the color management.


From the same README file as previously highlighted ..........

2. Color Management (refers to 4 in Profile Naming explanation)
Color management: (lower case last letter(s) in the profile name)
In the printer driver use the following set-ups.
For Canon: In “Properties”, go to “Manual”, in “Color/Intensity”, press “Set” and select “None” in the “Print type” menu. Note: Very Important, especially where Photoshop manages colour.
For Epson: Go to “Advanced“, select “ICM“, in “Color Management“ select “Off”(No Color Adjustment). Note: Very Important, especially where Photoshop manages colour .
For HP: In “Properties”, go to “Color” and select “Application Managed Colors” in the “Color Management” menu. Note: Very Important, especially where photoshop manages colour .


Color management: (no lower case last letter(s) in the profile name)
If there is no lower case last letter(s) (...n.icc or ...amc.icc) in the profile name, keep the Color
Management setting as default value.
n: Color correction:None (Color Mode) (for Canon printers) mmo: Matching Mode: Off (for Canon printers)
n: “Off”(No Color Adjustement) for Epson printers
amc: Application Managed Colors (for HP printers)
mba: Managed by Application (for HP printers)

[Hydrology]

Thanks again guys!
So what happens if I want to print a B&W photo using the same Ilford paper? I noticed in the Epson manual there is the "Advanced B&W Photo" mode in the PRINT SETTINGS section. DO I ignore the Ilford ICC profile selection and just choose the Epson B&W mode, making sure the Epson Premium Glossy paper is chosen (to match the Ilford)?