Lightroom and Epson Print Layout

[Chris Kern]

I've been soft-proofing and printing from Lightroom for years.  Admittedly, there are a a few parameters you need to remember to set before clicking the print button, but I'm accustomed to that and as long as I don't fat-finger any of them, what I see on the screen is what I get on paper.

However, since I have one of the printers that is supported by Epson Print Layout, I recently downloaded the application just to see if there was anything it could do for me.

It does indeed make setting up for a print very easy, arguably easier than Lightroom—but, as I say, I'm used to the Lightroom and Apple print dialog settings.  (I always print from MacOS.)

With that prologue, a few questions:

• When I use the Epson plug-in for Lightroom, I should export my soft-proofed version of the image to the Epson application, correct?
• Is there any reason to make a decision regarding the output rendering intent I want to use from the Epson app rather than in Lightroom prior to the export?  In a properly color-managed environment, the choices should be identical, right?
• If I'm comfortable using Lightroom, are there any technical advantages to making the print from the Epson app?  Maybe something that is difficult to perceive without rigorous comparison testing, which I haven't attempted, but which is known to forum participants who have more sophisticated knowledge of the printing process than do I.

I haven't been able to find anything on Epson's websites that meaningfully addresses these questions.

[digitaldog]

I'll make this somewhat simple: IMHO, the soft proofing in EPL is broken. It doesn't match Photoshop or other color aware applications I've tested. I like the product, but the soft proof is bugged.
So do the soft proofing and everything in LR then if you want, send it to EPL and print.

[Chris Kern]

. . . the soft proofing in EPL is broken. It doesn't match Photoshop or other color aware applications I've tested. I like the product, but the soft proof is bugged.
So do the soft proofing and everything in LR then if you want, send it to EPL and print.

Many thanks for the quick response.

So is there any technical benefit to me in using the Epson application, given that I'm comfortable printing from Lightroom?  Does the Epson app know any post-processing printer pipeline tricks that Adobe hasn't discovered yet?

[digitaldog]

Where EPL shines for me, and the only time I find it useful as an LR print mod user is for Advanced B&W. That is a black box conversion and a good one. You cannot soft proof in the standard print driver but can in EPL. So if you want to do toning and such, you can load your own image and move the controls for the output. I'm not suggesting the soft proof is dead-on (I use ICC print profiles and calibration for a match) but it sure is a lot better than seeing Greg Gorman's female portrait to do this in the standard driver. Other than that, there isn't anything EPL provides over LR and in some terms less; no output sharpening workflow. That is part of LR.

[Chris Kern]

Where EPL shines for me, and the only time I find it useful as an LR print mod user is for Advanced B&W. That is a black box conversion and a good one. You cannot soft proof in the standard print driver but can in EPL. So if you want to do toning and such, you can load your own image and move the controls for the output.

Useful information.  I'll try it out.  Thanks.

Other than that, there isn't anything EPL provides over LR and in some terms less; no output sharpening workflow.

Hadn't noticed that.  Again thanks.

[samogitian]

I love Lightroom, but printing on it is an incredible PITA. The worst was when no matter what size I chose in the dialogues, it would only print on the Epson P900 in 8.5 x 11. I contacted Adobe, did the screen share thing, and the answer was, why don't you use the EPL app? So I did. Never looked back. 

[digitaldog]

The worst was when no matter what size I chose in the dialogues, it would only print on the Epson P900 in 8.5 x 11.

Not sure what you were doing wrong but that isn't a problem for me (and others).
"We" can try to solve your problems unless you've decided to move on, which is cool too.

[samogitian]

Well, the problem is solved. Lightroom Classic can’t print but this method can.

It’s no great loss. I use LC more than I use any image processing program, but the print module has always been a disaster.