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Author Topic: Epson SC P800 and fine art paper  (Read 13422 times)

rdonson

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Epson SC P800 and fine art paper
« on: August 08, 2015, 07:09:18 pm »

OK, I'm stymied and its probably something pretty simple that I'm overlooking but...

I'm trying to print on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Satin.  I've downloaded the ICC profile and instructions from Hahnemuhle for this printer.

- I swapped to Matte Black ink and the printer shows that was successful.
- I've loaded the sheet paper successfully with the manual feed tray. 
- The manual feed tray has been closed. 
- The output tray is extended.
- I can see the paper on the rear paper support extension

Here's the hangup.  When I try to print from Lr CC 2015 and I try to select Fine Art Paper from the print driver all the options are grayed out.  Hahnemuhle recommends I choose Velvet Fine Art Paper.

What have I missed???

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Ron

Jager

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Re: Epson SC P800 and fine art paper
« Reply #1 on: August 08, 2015, 07:15:05 pm »

Install the driver again.  Make sure you DON'T select the 'Airprint' option (I think it's the default).

The regular Epson driver will have all the selections for appropriate paper types.  Someone here described the 'Airprint' driver as brain dead.  That's a very apt description.

howardm

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Re: Epson SC P800 and fine art paper
« Reply #2 on: August 08, 2015, 07:21:54 pm »

does the SC800 have a 3 paths like the 3880?  (top/auto, rear sheet, front sheet).  

on the 3880, you HAD to select the rear or front path in order for the fine art papers to be non-greyed.

edit:  yes, it has 3 paths and I can assure you you need to use the rear, not the top/auto.

here is what the brochure says about the rear input
- Ideal for printing on roll-based photographic and fine art media types

edit2:  yea, that was me that said it was braindead and do make sure you dont have it active but that probably isn't the cause of this specific problem.  you wouldn't see the 'normal' options we see when trying to do color managed printing etc.

rdonson

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Re: Epson SC P800 and fine art paper
« Reply #3 on: August 08, 2015, 08:13:45 pm »

Install the driver again.  Make sure you DON'T select the 'Airprint' option (I think it's the default).

The regular Epson driver will have all the selections for appropriate paper types.  Someone here described the 'Airprint' driver as brain dead.  That's a very apt description.


Thanks.  I've been quite successful printing on matte papers and photo lusters up till now.  It's just when I tried the Fine Art Papers that I got the glitch.

I did NOT install Airprint that I'm aware of.  I have been printing successfully over wi-fi and the printer web page says everything is fine.

I guess I'll download and install the drivers again.  I don't have anything to lose other than the time.
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Ron

howardm

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Re: Epson SC P800 and fine art paper
« Reply #4 on: August 08, 2015, 08:21:44 pm »

did you not see my post?  re-doing the driver isn't the answer.

Jager

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Re: Epson SC P800 and fine art paper
« Reply #5 on: August 08, 2015, 08:29:49 pm »

Howard, unlike the 3800/3880, there is no rear feed in the P800 except for roll paper.  Alas.


OP, if you've been printing successfully to-date, that certainly would indicate it's not the driver.

In that case, go into 'Page Setup..." and make sure you've selected 'US Letter (Front Fine Art).'  If you just select 'US Letter' your fine art paper options will be grayed out, as you're experiencing.


howardm

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Re: Epson SC P800 and fine art paper
« Reply #6 on: August 08, 2015, 08:40:09 pm »

ah, I guess they sacrificed the rear feed to the roll and improved the front feed to do what the rear and front used to.  Good to know.

rdonson

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Re: Epson SC P800 and fine art paper
« Reply #7 on: August 08, 2015, 09:05:08 pm »

Thanks, guys.  I haven't reloaded the driver.

There is no rear feed on the P800.  Its has a front feed with a special rear paper support just for fine art and thick paper.
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Ron

howardm

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Re: Epson SC P800 and fine art paper
« Reply #8 on: August 09, 2015, 08:53:54 am »

so if there is no rear slot, how well does loading big sheets (13x19, 17x22|25) into the front work?  is there a support 'tray' (like there was on the 3880) or as the sheets get larger, it makes more sense to simply use roll ?

rdonson

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Re: Epson SC P800 and fine art paper
« Reply #9 on: August 09, 2015, 10:14:22 am »

Here's a link to the manual where you can see for yourself how the front loading works - go to page 43

https://files.support.epson.com/docid/cpd4/cpd43251.pdf

IMHO it works OK.  There is a tray on the front that pops out.  The whole process is probably more complicated than you might expect but it works.  I think it is somewhat clever in that it keeps the size of the printer in the realm of "desktop" printers. 

You would get tired of this act of feeding single sheets if you had to produce a large number of fine art prints in a short period of time.  Then you'd want to go to roll paper.  Even then if you had to produce a lot of prints from a roll you'd likely regret the lack of a cutter.

The printer is what it is.  Its not designed for high volume work.  It does produce results that I'm very pleased with.  It meets my needs quite well.

My only problem so far has been trying to figure out why the Fine Art Paper options are grayed out in the driver.
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Ron

howardm

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Re: Epson SC P800 and fine art paper
« Reply #10 on: August 09, 2015, 10:27:32 am »

You're *still* seeing the FA papers all greyed out *after* you go into the Page Setup and select the size *and* Front Tray?

rdonson

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Re: Epson SC P800 and fine art paper
« Reply #11 on: August 09, 2015, 12:24:43 pm »

You're *still* seeing the FA papers all greyed out *after* you go into the Page Setup and select the size *and* Front Tray?

Howard, I owe you a virtual beer (maybe two  ;D).  I knew it had to be something silly that I missed.  Front Tray in the Page Setup was the magic incantation.

Thank you!!!
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Ron

howardm

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Re: Epson SC P800 and fine art paper
« Reply #12 on: August 09, 2015, 12:45:25 pm »

2 at least and none of that Bud Light crap  ::)

Glad you finally got it resolved and I learned about the 800

rdonson

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Re: Epson SC P800 and fine art paper
« Reply #13 on: August 09, 2015, 01:01:37 pm »

First, light beer isn't beer.  Its flavored water.   ;D

BTW, the P800 really did well in its first outing with the Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Satin 310 gsm. 
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Ron

howardm

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Re: Epson SC P800 and fine art paper
« Reply #14 on: August 09, 2015, 01:20:55 pm »

I'm sure.  if you haven't seen what the 3880/P800 series' can do on FA paper, it's pretty impressive.

MHMG

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Re: Epson SC P800 and fine art paper
« Reply #15 on: August 09, 2015, 01:29:33 pm »

First, light beer isn't beer.  Its flavored water.   ;D

BTW, the P800 really did well in its first outing with the Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Satin 310 gsm. 

FWIW, I think HN Photo Rag Satin works better with the new Ultrachrome HD PK ink than MK ink. I Know Hahnemulhle's ICC profile calls for MK ink. However, Photo Rag Saitin is s rather unique paper that looks more matte than glossy in the unprinted media white areas but then gradually rather than abruptly builds more gloss as the ink load gets higher. The MK black sends it right back to a matte appearance while the PK ink retains the higher gloss so, IMHO, blends visually much better into the deepest shadows. And the Dmax is excellent with the PK ink, the MK ink offering no DMax advantage on this paper as far as I could tell.  So, I'm rather surprised Hahnenuhle recommends the MK ink with this special surface paper, and hasn't AFAIK yet offered a PK optimized Profile. Indeed, a selling point for this paper if you primarily use glossy/luster type photo papers is that you can get a more fine art matte/satin look from this paper with excellent Dmax while still using the UCHD PK ink and not have to switch over to MK.   I rolled my own custom profile for the Photo Rag Satin paper on my P600 (the little brother to the P800), and the PK ink won out handily on image quality over the HN profile tailored to the MK ink.

cheers,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com
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howardm

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Re: Epson SC P800 and fine art paper
« Reply #16 on: August 09, 2015, 01:52:29 pm »

Mark,

What Epson paper did you use as your 'basis' for that PR Satin/P600 profile ?

And would you say the same/similar PK performance is applicable to the 3880 inkset?

MHMG

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Re: Epson SC P800 and fine art paper
« Reply #17 on: August 09, 2015, 03:04:12 pm »

Mark,

What Epson paper did you use as your 'basis' for that PR Satin/P600 profile ?

And would you say the same/similar PK performance is applicable to the 3880 inkset?

I used the Epson Premium Luster setting, also, 5760dpi, high speed off, and in the advance media setting I chose platten = wide, and thickness = 5. These setting are by defuault at platten = standard, and thickness = 3 for the thinner Premium luster paper.  My profiles were generated with PM5 software.

I actually went through two complete rounds of profiling making, building both a custom MK profile using the HN recommended VFA as the setting, then the PK version using the settings noted above. First, although anything over 1440dpi is generally considered overkill for fine art media (and hence Hahnemuhle profiled to that setting) I determined that the 5760dpi setting does indeed edge out the 1440dpi setting in terms of sharpness albeit at a sacrificed production speed, but for me, quality is paramount, so I accept the slower output speed tradeoff with the higher quality output. The P600 does not have a 2880 dpi setting like the P800 so I couldn't try an "intermediate" setting, and conversely, I don't believe the P800 supports 5760dpi, but my guess is for P800 owners, they may also find improvement in sharpness by going for the P800 higher 2880dpi setting with fine art matt papers.

L*min ( i.e Dmax values expressed in L* units rather than density) were quite interesting. They are as follows

MK ink, no additional coating:  Lmin = 16.0
MK ink, post coated with two light coats Premier Print shield: Lmin = 18.1 (note with MK ink the coating increased the Lmin >:( )

PK ink, no additional coating: Lmin = 19.0
PK ink, post coated with two light coats Premier Print shield: Lmin = 14.9 (note with PK ink, the coating reduced Lmin to better than uncoated MK  ;D )

Also, although I'd have to go through past notes to confirm my recollection, I seem to recall the Epson 3880 delivered an MK black result at L*minimum of approximately 18-19 with this paper, so the P600 MK is superior going just by the numbers, and the UCHD PK is darn close to the K3VM MK's performance on this paper. IMHO, the 0/45 geometry of the spectrophotometer doesn't always give us a perfect visual correlation with how we observe maximum black richness on these fine art inkjet media, so just looking at the results of prints made on the P600 using this paper and with no additional overcoat, for me, the custom profile I made using the PK ink and the Premium plus luster setting was overall superior despite the dmax being slightly inferior if going solely by the instrument numbers. And if those numbers are to be totally believed then post coating the PK printed version with two light coats of Premier Print Shield becomes the ultimate quality winner for this HN Photo Satin paper and the new Epson UCHD ink set.

best,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com

 
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rdonson

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Re: Epson SC P800 and fine art paper
« Reply #18 on: August 09, 2015, 07:59:35 pm »

Thanks for the info, Mark.  Looking at my print driver the P800 maxes out at 2880 not 5760.  Using Premium Luster and PK is intriguing.  If I used a lot of Photo Rag Satin I'd pony up for someone to make a profile.  At this point I may use more Photo Rag than the Photo Rag Satin but I'm keeping that in the back of my head.  For some images the satin is just great.  I do like your recommendation for the spray with it as well.
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Ron
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