Epson SC-P900: questions on (a) icc profiles Hahnemühle -- (b) quality settings

[Dutch_Capture]

(a)  I printed a photo on Canson Edition Etching Rag (size A4), with both my (old) Epson SC-P600 and my (new) SC-P900,
using the respective icc profiles provided by Canson. The two resulting prints were for me indistinguishable.

Doing the same experiment with Hahnemühle FineArt Baryta leads to different results. The colours on the SC-P900 print
are a tiny bit less saturated, notably the blues and cyans. Also, what I see as a soft proof on my screen is closer to the
P600 print than the P900 print. Nothing that can't be corrected in photoshop, but it would require
additional work. Any comments?

(b) What are the best quality settings to use (when printing from photoshop)? I know this topic has come up here before, but I cannot seem to find it.

[MfAlab]

Call Hahnemuhle support to made a new ICC profile if they can. Or you should made your own ICC profile.

If you use a ICC provided by paper brands, follow the setting they said. The ICC profile is made under the setting. Do not change media type (reference paper) and print quality (ink drop resolution). You can change uni or bi direction, head height (platen gap), paper suction to fit actual situation.

Good head alignment and paper feed adjustment can increase quality. And set the image resolution to 360/720 dpi rather than normal 300 dpi.

[I.T. Supplies]

The image resolution is really determined on the size of the print too.  If you're doing a pretty massive one (36x48 or larger), than yes, you'd can set it around 700 dpi.  Doing letter up to 24x36, 300dpi will be fine with the proper settings and ICC.  Also, if you're monitor isn't calibrated properly, you won't get the close output that you will see.  If you do soft proof and the colors aren't as good, this is probably because it's an updated ink from the previous series.  Each new series will have newer ink formula which will possibly show a slightly different result than before.  It's going to happen if you started with a Photo 2200 and went to a P900 (example)...many ink updates throughout.

But getting the proper profile (unless you get one created or make one yourself) is a really good start.

Select "Black Point Compensation" and Relative color metric for photo/fine art prints helps too.  You can always adjust the settings in Photoshop to "hopefully" get it closer to a previous printer output, but this may not be realistically doable due to different inks.

But definitely make sure the nozzles are firing properly before the print and all settings for printing (computer side) are selected (to the best of your ability).  This "should" give you the closest print from what you see on screen.  If not and you've done cleanings and what not, than you may need to speak to Epson and go over things in case it's the printer.

Good luck!

[Dutch_Capture]

Thanks for your comments. In the end, it might have been a printer issue. I was running out of ink,
had received a warning that ink levels were low but was allowed to continue printing, even after (as it turned out later),
some cartridges were completely empty. Having not been able to make sufficient test prints, I returned
the printer as a DOA. I am looking forward to a new one, which has been ordered.