Matte/Glossy black levels with 3800

[Crying Saul]

Hi all,

I'm starting to get familiar with my new 3800. I'm aware that black is usually much deeper with glossy papers (which is why two different inks are needed), however something still stumps me: with my calibrated monitor (Spyder 3), prints look consistently darker than expected when using glossy paper and, conversely, look consistently lighter than what I expect when using matte paper.

This happens even if I soft proof using the proper profiles.

The papers I use are Epson Exhibition Fiber (for glossy) and Hahnemule Photo Rag 308 (for matte). Every single time, my output on the 308 surprises me as being too light, and the EEF as being too dark.

My question: I can compensate for that, but what is the best way to do it? Fiddle with Curves in Photoshop (I usually raise or lower the exact middle of the curve by a small amount before printing), change the Density parameter in the driver, use Brightness in Photoshop, or something else entirely?

Thanks.

[Conner999]

Getting DEEP blacks on most matte papers, especially 3rd party ones will be tough, especially w/o  custom profiles (see Eric Chan's site for great profiles at nice prices). I've yet to use a paper-company profile for a matte paper that was worth a $%^&. Weak blacks, low contrast, unsaturated colors. A great paper that does a NICE job with blacks and saturation with stock Epson profiles on the 3800 is Velvet Fine Art.

On the EEF, I'd just add a curves layer and play with the curve and then it's opacity to get the look you desire. Easily tweaked on a print-by-print basis, can be saved for use when desired and doesn't open the multi-variate rat holes of playing with printer driver settings

[Crying Saul]

Thanks for your reply. Trying out VFA is the next thing on my list... You recommendation not to touch the driver settings is something I will gladly adopt (since color management is off anyway on my driver, I'm happy to just leave it where it is).

What was surprising to me was the screen vs paper results which, going from dark to light, are: GLOSSY > MONITOR > MATTE (lightest). I'll try VFA and see what I can come up with.

Thanks again.