Ink usage and ICC profiles

[disneytoy]

Hello!

Running an Epson 9890. Have been keeping a close eye on each prints ink usage. Have a very good idea of ml ink used atleast for my

Epson Glossy 250
Epson Exhibition Canvas
Aurora Fine Art

I was told that certain papers can use as much as 5x the amount of ink. I haven't seen any irregular ink usage yet. Can I view an ICC profile and determine its ink usage? High or low?

I'm mainly trying to get a good idea of what to charge for requests on different papers.

I have some Moab Entrada, and Epson Exhibition Water Color. If I look in the ICC profile will there be a setting which determines how much ink is used?

Thanks

Maxi

[hugowolf]

Profiles have absolutely nothing to do with ink load. On Epson printers that is determined by the media choice, and if set, the Color Density Slider. ICC profiles only contain color transform information.

Brian A

[disneytoy]

Then is there a way to see what ink usage is for different "media" choices? So if it isn't the profile, then a third party paper/canvas (Moab, Canon, etc), has no influence over the ink density. Since they only provide a color profile.

Am I correct?

Maxi

[hugowolf]

Then is there a way to see what ink usage is for different "media" choices?

Not that I am aware of.

The 3880 has a utility that records ink use to the nearest 0.1 ml for each color and for each print job, but I have never managed to get it to work for wider format printers.

So if it isn't the profile, then a third party paper/canvas (Moab, Canon, etc), has no influence over the ink density. Since they only provide a color profile.
Am I correct?

Essentially yes, except they will also give you a suggested media setting, the same setting that was used to build the profile.

I used to have a list of media settings in order of ink loading, but I cannot find it at the moment, perhaps it is at work. Tissue takes the least load, and lustre takes more than gloss.

Why would it matter? You want the right amount of ink to create the most accurate and saturated gamut.

Brian A

[howardm]

3rd party papers are *based* on an existing printer mfgr paper.  For example, many 3rd party matte papers use Epson VFA as their 'base' so it'd get whatever ink load spec Epson uses for VFA.  Of course, you can and should confirm that via test prints and change the desired media type based on that test result.

[hugowolf]

Here it is, and in all honesty, I may have gotten it from a post on this forum:

Relative Ink Densities (Highest to Lowest)
 
Velvet Fine Art Paper
Enhanced Matte Paper
UltraSmooth Fine Art Paper
Singleweight Matte Paper
Premium Luster Photo Paper (260)
Premium Glossy Photo Paper (250)
Premium Semigloss Photo Paper (250)
Premium Semimatte Photo Paper (260)
Premium Photo Paper Glossy
Premium Photo paper Semi-Gloss
Ultra Premium Photo Paper Luster
Watercolor Paper - Radiant White
Textured Fine Art Paper
Canvas
Plain paper
Enhanced Adhesive Synthetic Paper
Tracing Paper

Clearly tissue paper (a setting that is not available on all printers) may well be 5x lower than other papers, but it isn't a setting you would want to use with other papers. The same goes for 'plain paper'; a setting for uncoated bond/office paper wouldn't be something that you would want to use for anything else.

I can't imagine the othe settings differ in ink load that much, they are probably based on what is optimal.

Brian A

[disneytoy]

Great info! Thanks!

I'd prefer, but may have to test, exactly what is the multiple. I remember when I was getting started calculating media cost for determining prices for customers. Someone said certain papers use 4-5x more ink than Glossy. Since I have very good records of say how much ink a 36x48" uses in Glossy 250. Now I atleast know which paper uses more ink, though not exactly how much more. Guess I will have to do tests.

[JRSmit]

Hugo,

I believe the list slightly different with the Gloss/lustre/semigloss papers on top.

Nevertheless, the inkload with equal image on different media-types does not vary 5x.
One parameter that is set with media-type is the max inkload allowed. To my knowledge that does not vary from 400% to 80% (maybe for tissue or plain, but i leave that out of the equation)

However, between images it can vary a lot more. The darker the more ink is needed. So from a simple line drawing to a almost entirely black or very dark image it can easily be 5x.

[JWB]

Red River Paper has done some testing to come up with exact numbers. They of course weren't testing on Epson papers, but you will find their result illuminating nonetheless.

Overview:
http://www.redrivercatalog.com/cost-of-inkjet-printing.html

Epson 3880:
http://www.redrivercatalog.com/cost-of-inkjet-printing-epson-3800-3880.html

It seems that printing on matte paper costs roughly 25% more than on lustre, but obviously, there are MANY variables.

[RHPS]

That second link is very interesting. I never thought that the relative ink usage of the various colours would vary so much between luster and matte settings on the 3880. The ink partitioning is so different it really makes you wonder how people get good results with PK ink on matte papers.

[Farmer]

In the driver, under Utilities and then Paper Configuration, there's an option called Color Density which will adjust the overall ink load for a given paper (it ranges from -80% to +50%), so with that you can set custom overall ink loads per paper setting.

However, you will affect colour output, so you will need a custom profile for each such custom setting and if you push it too far, you may not be able to achieve a correct profile (at least in some colours).

Personally, I would only use this for a true custom paper where the ink load was a problem (i.e. it was flooding or bleeding or the density wasn't high enough - such as maybe on transparent film).  Attempting to limit inks in this way to save money is fraught with danger in terms of quality of output, longevity of prints and so on.  RIPS enable per channel control, but that is mostly for achieving custom loads on specific substrates or for colour adjustment, not to reduce ink costs.

The best way to get an idea is to run some sample prints that cover the range of things you do, and get the ink usage stats from the printer after each print - best to average over say 3-5 prints for best results.