Thanks for your comments. I'm not very expert in these matters and merely selected an image with vivid colors. I could try other other images, but I think that it would demonstrate what we already know: sRGB is not the best space in which to send images to this printer.
I think the work you did was a superb demonstration dismissing much of what Will and Gary have been preaching which is the crux of this thread. It illustrates a number of data points that one would hope Will and Gary would examine and comment on, namely:
1. Using sRGB to their so called '
sRGB printer'
doesn't produce optimal results. Even Gary admitted this from his prints!
2. Using a real world image with saturated colors is more effective in evaluating the output than using a target. Consider Bill's notes on the detail seen in saturated colors on the print. We'd not see this if the image was a target who's surface is a rather smooth color.
3. Bill used an outside lab and even placed the orders with different parameters, so his analysis is based on real rubber hitting the road.
Hopefully Gary and/or Will can examine just this one test and see that what many have been stating about RGB working space choices for output to print play a role and as I said on his site, sRGB is never the right answer for the best print output (unless again, you are forced by some lab that is rather cluless about color management to send them sRGB).
Further:
Strictly speaking it does not have a gamut, since it will output something for whatever is placed on it.
Exactly. With a scanner, the target (film or a print) has a gamut, and ideally matches or exceeds what we'll scan. Much more difficult with a digital camera. Over the years, we've seen companies attempt to design differing targets, Gary's SG comes to mind. GretagMacbeth wanted a camera target that had a wider gamut so they updated the original with glossy, saturated patches which wrecked havoc on the profiling software if there was any reflections on a patch. Then they produced a 3rd generation target, the DC with no glossy patches but with a smaller gamut as a result.