Topic: Baffled! Print size not coming out right (Read 8651 times)

Mike Guilbault · « **on:** January 24, 2015, 01:09:54 pm »

In LR I'm printing an image 10.25" x 15.25" on Cold Press Natural 13x19" sheets on my Epson 9900. I've got everything set up the way I usually print, but for some reason, the print is coming out 10 x 14.75" and I have no idea why. Just tried it on my 4900 with the same results. LR is showing the print at 10.25 x 15.25 yet printing 10 x 14.75".

Any ideas?

Dan Glynhampton · « **Reply #1 on:** January 24, 2015, 04:48:03 pm »

Hi Mike

If the aspect ratio of your image isn't 10.25 x 15.25 and you don't have "Zoom to Fill" checked under Image Settings in the Print module that might cause what you are seeing....

Dan

Mike Guilbault · « **Reply #2 on:** January 24, 2015, 06:05:12 pm »

Tried it both ways with the same result.

Wayne Fox · « **Reply #3 on:** January 24, 2015, 07:10:31 pm »

Maybe some screen shots of your paper setup, custom paper size setup and print dialog boxes and someone could pick up on something.

Mike Guilbault · « **Reply #4 on:** January 24, 2015, 07:13:26 pm »

I'm not at the studio now, but if I don't figure it out by the time I get back there, I'll do that Wayne. I've gone through all the settings multiple times and nothing sticks out. It has to be something simple.

BobShaw · « **Reply #5 on:** January 24, 2015, 07:26:30 pm »

It's an Epson feature. I gave up printing from applications long ago as every update seems to affect something and wreck the presets. I now just export a 16 bit TIFF and print from Mirage.

Mike Guilbault · « **Reply #6 on:** January 24, 2015, 09:18:53 pm »

I printed just yesterday and all went well. I'm using a different paper (rather than canvas) so have changed the settings - and it's happening on both the 4900 and 9900. I don't believe it's a printer problem - probably just something set incorrectly in LR Print Module, or in the driver.

Mike Guilbault · « **Reply #7 on:** January 25, 2015, 12:37:41 pm »

Ok.. back at the studio. Tried just a simple square box sized to 4x8" on 8.5x11 sheet of paper. It came out perfect. So tried a 6.5" print of the one I've been trying to print on 8.5x11 and it came out exactly 6.5" wide. (I didn't bother printing the entire length - if the width was off I assume so would the length be). As soon as I switched to a 13x19 sheet and went back to the 10.25" width I wanted, the print came out 10" wide AGAIN!

Here's some screen shots of my LR panel and print panel. I don't see anything that would cause this to happen.

AND... I just tried printing it from PS with the same results. I sized the image to exactly 10.25" wide and it came out 10". If I size the image to 11", it comes out 10.75". Then I took my 4x8" box image. Printed on 13x19 paper, came out 3/16" too short (same with the length). Printed the exact same image, no changes, except to print on 8.5x11" paper and it came out exactly 4x8". Just doesn't make sense!

Eric Myrvaagnes · « **Reply #8 on:** January 25, 2015, 12:52:15 pm »

I don't see in any of your screen shots where you are specifying 13x19" paper.

Also, with an Epson, I am suspicious of trying to set margins to 0, since Epson generally has minimum margins for each paper size (and these are not the same on all four sides, at least on my 3800).

Mike Guilbault · « **Reply #9 on:** January 25, 2015, 01:03:03 pm »

The screen shots should be there... I see them, but yes, I created a custom paper size of 13x19" with 0 margins.

Alan Goldhammer · « **Reply #10 on:** January 25, 2015, 01:09:09 pm »

IIRC you cannot specify '0' margins without doing some hocus pocus. The Epson driver is probably forcing a margin on you which is causing the size change. Redo your custom paper setting and put in the minimum paper margins and you should get the print size you want. This is not a LR problem but an Epson driver issue.

Mike Guilbault · « **Reply #11 on:** January 25, 2015, 01:18:35 pm »

That's what I did Alan. The image size is much smaller than the paper size so the margins shouldn't affect it anyway - at least i've never had that problem before. But I even deleted the old 13x19 paper size I created and created a new one with 0 margins. Is there something else that needs to be done to ensure the margins are not set

I just noticed though.. that when select media, the driver used to say Sheet or Sheet (Maximum), and now that option says Sheet (Centering). What's up with that?

Mike Guilbault · « **Reply #12 on:** January 25, 2015, 01:42:50 pm »

Just tried printing the image on roll paper, and the dimensions are perfect. It's got something to do with printing on sheets and the margins but i don't know what.

AFairley · « **Reply #13 on:** January 25, 2015, 04:08:11 pm »

No idea if this relates but in the 3880 driver in the Main tab there is a click bar labeled Printable Area to the right of the Paper Settings - Source that if you click it opens a pop up with options to check Standard, Centered or Maximum for the Printable Area. If I check Maximum, then I can set margins less than the Epson minimums in LR, otherwise not. However, the Printable Area bar does not show up every time I go into the driver from Page Setup in LR - for example it's there for the 8.5x11 Hot Press Bright preset, but not for the Exhibition Fiber 8.5x11 preset. Similarly, it's there for the 17x22 Hot Press Bright but not for the 17x22 Canson Rag Photographique preset. I have no idea why that is.

brntoki · « **Reply #14 on:** January 25, 2015, 11:42:17 pm »

There are many other variables that I have no clue about, but simplify your print driver settings as much as possible for now. Stop using your custom paper profile (not to mean color profile, of course), and set the printer to borderless, with expansion set to none (perhaps it says "retain" --- I don't know about that particular driver), and make sure through whichever software you are printing from that it is set to print actual size (i.e., not "zoom to fill", but you have to make sure your photo has been sized correctly in the fist place). Again, this might not all come across exactly in the same terms you are seeing in your dialogues as I don't have your particular setup, but generally I think you can get things set as I've said to do a test.

Ray Cox · « **Reply #15 on:** January 26, 2015, 12:01:12 am »

Yes, I have had this happen a couple of times. It always happens with an image that has been printed before ( IE: canvas ) and then an attempt to print on paper media. It appears that the first parameters will get logged into the file and cause a problem when you try to change the parameters, usually after a round trip from Photoshop to Lightroom. After I lost a lot of hair, I used Epson's printer uninsaller and reloaded the 9900 driver from their website. Worked perfectly

Wayne Fox · « **Reply #16 on:** January 26, 2015, 01:30:37 am »

Quote from: Alan Goldhammer on January 25, 2015, 01:09:09 pm

IIRC you cannot specify '0' margins without doing some hocus pocus. The Epson driver is probably forcing a margin on you which is causing the size change.

while you cannot print a page without margins (unless it is one of the full bleed supported widths) if you are printing pages which always include 1 to 3” margins it’s actually simpler to just put 0 in the custom paper sizes. I have done this for years, and have at least 40 presets in lightroom using custom paper sizes with no margin. As long as the document has larger margins than the minimum required margins (¼” top and sides, .56 inch bottom) it will work.

Wayne Fox · « **Reply #17 on:** January 26, 2015, 01:38:15 am »

In your print dialog, I see you are using a “preset” called CPN, and your Lightroom settings are showing 0 margin. I have found Lightroom can get very flakey if using the printer driver presets. (some info I wrote some time ago is here if you are interested)

It is much more reliable to leave the printer driver preset to default. A lightroom preset will be able to remember and recall perfectly every single setting of both the page setup and printer dialog boxes, as long as they don’t include a preset created within the epson dialog box/driver. Once you try to include that, all bets are off as to how reliable things will work.

I am not near a printer so I can’t test everything you describe, but there is certainly an oddity and the only thing that comes to mind is this preset is getting in the way. Try printing leaving this to default and then selecting all the other parameters. I believe this preset can remember things like margin size etc which may cause conflicts with Lightroom margins.

Were I trying to print what you described in the first post I would create a custom paper size just like you did. I would then Choose that paper size int he page setup, and choose the correct media choices in the Priunter dialog but leave that to “default”. I would then set my left and right margins in LR to be 1.375” and my top and bottom margins to be 1.875”. I would then save all that as a preset in LR ... as I mentioned all of the settings in the page setup, printer dialog and the actual LR settings will be recalled perfectly as long as you don’t use a printer preset inside the printer dialog box.

It’s a long shot, but you might want to try it.

Eric Myrvaagnes · « **Reply #18 on:** January 26, 2015, 01:29:37 pm »

I think Wayne is probably right on the money.

I remember reading something years ago about the unreliability of print driver presets (probably from Wayne), and I have always used the "default" coupled with LR presets since then, and I have never had a problem since that time.

Mike Guilbault · « **Reply #19 on:** January 26, 2015, 02:14:17 pm »

Thanks Wayne... that sounds likely. And I did print this particular image as a canvas previously and this time on Cold Press Natural. I'll delete the preset and start fresh. I'll give it a try tomorrow when I get back into the studio. If that fails, I'll have to reinstall the both the 9900 and 4900 drivers then, as it happened on both printers - or are they one and the same - which would explain a lot.

Author Topic: Baffled! Print size not coming out right (Read 8651 times)