Media type on Canon 8400 for Epson Luster? 3 sources use 3 diff types for luster

[alan a]

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.  

(1)  My question is related to picking a Canon media type when using Epson Premium Luster 260 (roll) on a Canon 8400.  I’m totally puzzled about what media type to use with it, and I googled and searched the web and came up with nothing.  Here’s my confusion.  Here is what three sources use for luster type papers:

Breathing Color — for their luster paper they use Canon media type RC Photo Luster (seems like a logical choice to me)

Red River Paper — For all of their luster, satin, and pearl papers, they use Canon media type Premium Semi-Glossy Ppr 2 280  

The Canon wiki and John Hollenberg — Specifically for Epson Luster, Hollenberg recommends Special 5

So three different sources use three different Canon media types for luster type papers.  And these papers don't differ all that much.

(2)  What are the 10 or so "special" media types that Canon includes in their driver, but Canon provides no information about them?

Many thanks for your help!

[I.T. Supplies]

I would always use Canon's (Canon Satin Photo Paper 240gsm) setting and it gives a great look, even at a standard Print Quality.  When we had customers come over for an open house, I used the same profile and they were completely amazed on how well it turned out vs the Epson or HP printer quality.

But, it is also user preference as the quality that we see may differ from what you (or your customers) see.  Canon Premium RC Photo Luster can also work.  I would recommend doing small sheet tests with each profile to see which works best for you.  Semi-gloss can also work, but semi-gloss doesn't have a pearl finish and is more of a flat gloss (hence the reason why I use the luster profile).

[Wayne Fox]

You need to use whatever media setting was used when the profile was made.  If you are making your own profile then you need to determine which media setting delivers the best ink load to the media without going too far.  Doesn’t really matter what others recommend, they are creating profiles for their own papers which may or may not handle ink the same as Epson.

Personally I would go John.  Back when I was using a Canon I was involved in a little in the wiki and discussion with John, and the most important part of any media preset is the ink load.  In talking with Canon there was a discussion on how best to determine that, and with testing using one of the special settings resulted in a better profile (higher ink density) than one of the canon preset’s when using Epson media.  John and the wiki have been around a long time and have a lot of experience.  I think this is main purpose of the special settings ... to control ink load.  At the time I believe the test was printing a file that involved yellow on black and using a loupe determining at what point the yellow/black edges showed pollution from the other colors. I’m assuming John used this or some other method to find the optimum ink load for the media ...

Of course you have to make your own profile with those settings ..

[bill t.]

Canon special media types 1 to 5 control glossy inkload.  1 is the least.
Canon special media types 6 to 10 control matte inkload.  6 is the least.

Special 5 seems like a lot of ink for RC paper.  If you've got some time to kill run profiles at 1, 3, and 5.  1 will probably look pretty weak in the dark areas.  The higher numbers will make beefier looking prints, but I suspect you won't see much difference starting with 3.  I have looked at profile sets like that with Colorthink, and found that at some inkload the bottom of the gamut envelope just stops pushing down any further, and the bright areas at the top start to lower.  Excessive inkload will increase drying time which is an issue with RC papers, given their generally slow drying times and outgassing tendency.