Epson P900 and Epson Media Installer when using Advanced Black and White mode

[Jeffrey Saldinger]

I am new to the P900 (I’ve had it for only a few days) and working to get used to the Epson Media Installer.

I’m using Canson Rag Photographique for some of my color and black and white prints. Canson recommends using Epson’s Velvet Fine Art Paper settings, therefore I copied that media profile in the Installer and changed only the RGB profile field (from the original icc profile to Canson’s icc profile for Rag Photographique). Prints have been ok.

When I print using the Advanced Black and White mode, can I use the exact same media profile I’ve made for my Canson paper (or even the “original” Epson profile from which it was derived, i.e. Velvet Fine Art Paper, as recommended by Canson)? As I understand it, although it is necessary to use the recommended media profile to ensure I’m using the printer’s proper mechanical settings for my chosen paper, whatever RGB profile is used in the “RGB Profile” field of the Installer’s settings is ignored because I’m using the ABW mode to print, and the printer driver settings I’ve established on my laptop are what matter; whatever is entered in the the RGB profile field of the Installer is ignored, even though the mechanical settings remain the same and are what is necessary. Do I have this right?

[pflower]

Yes, that's right.  When using ABW mode you don't choose or use a icc profile.  In Lightroom, for example, where there is a choice to select a profile you choose Managed by Printer or in Photoshop choose Printer Manages Colors and not an icc profile.  Then in the print driver select ABW mode - that is used instead of a icc profile.

If Canson Rag recommends the media setting of Velvet Fine Art then use that.  The only downside to using that Media Profile is that, certainly on my old Epson 3880 and now my P5000, you can only select that media setting if you are using the rear feed (or roll paper on the P5000).  I don't know about the P900.

[Jeffrey Saldinger]

Thank you.

[Rand47]

Yes, that's right.  When using ABW mode you don't choose or use a icc profile.  In Lightroom, for example, where there is a choice to select a profile you choose Managed by Printer or in Photoshop choose Printer Manages Colors and not an icc profile.  Then in the print driver select ABW mode - that is used instead of a icc profile.

If Canson Rag recommends the media setting of Velvet Fine Art then use that.  The only downside to using that Media Profile is that, certainly on my old Epson 3880 and now my P5000, you can only select that media setting if you are using the rear feed (or roll paper on the P5000).  I don't know about the P900.

This is the approach I use with 3rd party papers, as well.  The only potential problem would be if the caliper (thickness - “not” gsm) of your paper is thicker or thinner than the Epson target media.  But you can tweak that in EMI, once measured.

Rand

[Jeffrey Saldinger]

This is the approach I use with 3rd party papers, as well.  The only potential problem would be if the caliper (thickness - “not” gsm) of your paper is thicker or thinner than the Epson target media.  But you can tweak that in EMI, once measured.

So, for any given third party paper, one can indeed use the exact same custom profile in the Media Installer for both color and ABW printing, because the ABW “workflow” (if that is the proper term here) simply ignores that proper profile used in the “RGB Profile” field of the custom edited Installer profile. Coming from the P800, this confused me for a while because as I remember it, there was no chosen icc profile used anywhere in setting up for ABW printing.

On the matter of paper thickness, Canson gives a thickness of .466mm for its Rag Photographique 310gsm, and it recommends using Epson’s Velvet Fine Art Paper (VFAP) for the media type. In the Media Installer’s profile for this paper, the default paper thickness is given as .48 mm. In my profile for the Rag Photographique I have left this thickness as is -- one can type “.466” in the thickness field, but the Media Installer changes it to “.47”, and I have been assuming that the difference in the printer’s performance for a thickness difference of 1/100 of a mm ( i.e., .48mm vs .47mm) is inconsequential. Any thoughts on this? (And by the way, I haven’t been in the habit of checking my paper thickness with a caliper or micrometer.)

And as for the platen gap, the default for the VFAP is 2.1mm and the next widest that can be selected is 3.5mm. Yet in this video from Epson about using the Media Installer with third-party papers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiCLT3tWj8k&t=175s), at approximately 2min 55 seconds, there is a chart showing that for papers .35-.80 mm thick, a platen gap of 2.4mm is recommended. I don’t have sufficient familiarity with the mechanical specifications of printers to know whether such apparently small differences in settings (i.e., 2.1 vs 2.4mm) will effect the working of the printer or the appearance of the prints. Any thoughts on this?

[mac_paolo]

I’m using Canson Rag Photographique for some of my color and black and white prints. Canson recommends using Epson’s Velvet Fine Art Paper settings, therefore I copied that media profile in the Installer and changed only the RGB profile field (from the original icc profile to Canson’s icc profile for Rag Photographique). Prints have been ok.

Having profiled no less than 50 papers my suggestion is to -always- clone the suggested EMX, change its name and paper width (which most of the time is specified by the manufacturer, at least that the case for the most famous brands), and use that for color and ABW.

You can perfectly print if the suggested EMX matches also the paper width, but I've found many cases where the suggested paper EOM EMX file had a much smaller thickness value, leading to ink smudges.
When using the renamed (and corrected) EMX (EMY when cloned) media file you even get a second check about the print workflow. If the driver tells you that the paper specified on the computer nis different from the one on the printer, chances are you *may* have dove something wrong. When everything matches (real paper name, profile chosen on the  printer, profile chosen on the computer) you're are pretty sure everything is correct.

[Rand47]

So, for any given third party paper, one can indeed use the exact same custom profile in the Media Installer for both color and ABW printing, because the ABW “workflow” (if that is the proper term here) simply ignores that proper profile used in the “RGB Profile” field of the custom edited Installer profile. Coming from the P800, this confused me for a while because as I remember it, there was no chosen icc profile used anywhere in setting up for ABW printing.

On the matter of paper thickness, Canson gives a thickness of .466mm for its Rag Photographique 310gsm, and it recommends using Epson’s Velvet Fine Art Paper (VFAP) for the media type. In the Media Installer’s profile for this paper, the default paper thickness is given as .48 mm. In my profile for the Rag Photographique I have left this thickness as is -- one can type “.466” in the thickness field, but the Media Installer changes it to “.47”, and I have been assuming that the difference in the printer’s performance for a thickness difference of 1/100 of a mm ( i.e., .48mm vs .47mm) is inconsequential. Any thoughts on this? (And by the way, I haven’t been in the habit of checking my paper thickness with a caliper or micrometer.)

And as for the platen gap, the default for the VFAP is 2.1mm and the next widest that can be selected is 3.5mm. Yet in this video from Epson about using the Media Installer with third-party papers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiCLT3tWj8k&t=175s), at approximately 2min 55 seconds, there is a chart showing that for papers .35-.80 mm thick, a platen gap of 2.4mm is recommended. I don’t have sufficient familiarity with the mechanical specifications of printers to know whether such apparently small differences in settings (i.e., 2.1 vs 2.4mm) will effect the working of the printer or the appearance of the prints. Any thoughts on this?

As to platen gap, go with Epson's recommendation.  As to caliper, and since I’m kind of particular, I use my micrometer to get the actual caliper of the paper and enter that into my created media type.  In the particular case you mention, I doubt it makes any real difference, since the difference is nominal.  But, with some papers, say… those with the Premium Luster as the “base type” the delta between the Epson paper’s caliper, and your 3rd party media’s caliper, can be very different.

Getting accustomed to Epson Media Installer (in my case on a 7570) has been “different.”  But now that I am accustomed to it, I love being able to load 3rd party papers “by name” on the printer LCD and to select that paper type in the driver “by name,” to be really nice.   No need to keep cheat-sheets on “which Epson media for this paper,” etc. 

Rand

[Jeffrey Saldinger]

Thank you, Rand.