Profiling Epson 3880

<p>I am struggling with my Epson 3880. I have created profiles with a Data Color Spyder and regardless get muted reds and greens with images that are too contrasty and look like I used an 81 series warming filter. The commercially made prints from the exact same file are close to what I see on my monitor. Any thoughts. <br>

My settings are:<br>

Print Color management (document), Color handling(Photoshop Manages Color) Color profile (generated with spyder for premium presentation matt) Rendering intent (perceptual)<br>

Media type (Premium Presentation Matt) Mode Custom (Off: no color adjustment)<br>

Thanks Andy</p>

 

How do your prints look when you let the Epson driver handle things, with their factory profiles for their own papers?

That's been working far too well on my 3880 for me to bother adding another variable to the mix.

<p>Have you tried using the ICC profile for that specific paper? I would start there before changing much else. Also follow the instructions provided with the printer on color/print management, they tell you which are the optimal settings to use in Photoshop. I have had decent results just doing that from Lightroom, with no monitor or printer calibration. I have found its cheaper to get 16x20s and 20x30s at Costco, believe it or not. They have custom ICC profiles for the specific printer/paper combos at your local store (if you have one). I realize this is not directly related to your question, just saying, ink and paper get expensive if you aren't getting the results you want.</p>

<p>I agree with Mark and Matt, the canned profiles are probably a lot better than the Spyder generated profiles (that product ain’t that great depending on the paper and its assumption of such). </p>

<p><strong>All, Thanks. I will go back to the drawing board with your recommendations. I thought the DataColor Spyder3Studio SR system would help me nail down my work flow. It has good reviews and I am following the instructions for monitor cal and print profiling to the letter but obviously I am missing something. </strong><strong>Just to fill in the blanks the nozzle check I performed is good to go and the paper profiling target that printed off the 3880 appears to be vibrant, my images are just not translating to my prints the way the exact same files do at a commercial lab. I concur that Costco is much cheaper. I bought the printer to scratch a creative itch. I have a workaholic job and printing my own images provides an outlet. I know I will get it right eventually. I have great Thanksgiving. Andy</strong></p>

<p>I have a 3880 also and get more than satisfactory results from it. lRemember, you are using matte paper and that will not give you the same color gamut that you can expect from a paper that uses the PK black. You might want to pick up a small pack of Epson Ultra Premium Luster and try that with the packaged Epson paper and see what your results are; you might find that more to your liking. I don't know if Costco prints on matte papers or not as I've not used them. </p>

<p>if you have a epson 3880, use epson ink and paper.. theres no need for custom profile.</p>

<p>In any case, learn how to correctly print with the epson family paper, then when you are getting better at it, start new paper using the coresponding icc profile from the manufacturer.</p>

<p>theres no way a lab print is better than your 3880 IF and WHEN use correctly.</p>

<p> </p>

<blockquote>

<p>theres no way a lab print is better than your 3880 IF and WHEN use correctly.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>That's certainly been my experience, the only exception being lab-made "fine art" prints which are made using essentially the same sort of equipment ... and the only thing better about those is that they have to keep the extra-large paper in stock to go with their extra-large version of the printer. More to the point, having a lab do the same 17x22 print on, say, Epson's Velvet Fine Art paper it wouldn't take very many of them at all before I've paid the lab a lot more than what the printer costs in the first place. In terms of results, I simply couldn't be more pleased with the 3880's output.</p>

<p>Did you get similar (bad) results with the supplied Epson profiles, or did this problem occur only with custom profile? Are you using Mac or Windows? I have seen in some Epson printer reviews (other than 3880) commenting on double profiling in Mac under certain conditions. (http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/reviews/printer/epson_sp_7880.html - Search for 'A Mac only problem/fix')</p>

<p>I am currently using Epson Premium Presntation Matt and Epson Ultra Premium Presentation Luster and Epson Brand Ultra Chrome K3 Ink set. The Epson ICC profiles I tried today are no better than my custom profiled Epson brand paper. My computing platform is a PC. Still no success. Andy</p>

<p>I used to use a Canon i9900 dye ink printer. It was easy to use and produced great prints that unfortunately have no life span beyond a few years. Andy</p>

<p>Is something getting mixed up in your PC? To be honest, I've never ever had problems with the profiles sent out by paper manufacturers on that printer - the quality is simply outstanding.</p>

<p>I suggest you bin all the profiles you have created, and keep using those intended from the manufacturers. They do work.</p>

<p>Is your monitor really properly calibrated? That might be another issue. Even if you calibrate it, the conditions you were doing this in might have added to a profile that's not accurate. Small chance, but may happen. You don't want to know the results from my previous printer when I <em>thought</em> my monitor was nicely calibrated...<br>

Monika</p>

<blockquote>

<p>The Epson ICC profiles I tried today are no better than my custom profiled Epson brand paper. </p>

</blockquote>

<p>Then you are either using them incorrectly, using incorrect settings in the driver or Photoshop. What exactly are the settings used, first in Photoshop, then in Print, then in the actual driver? </p>

<p>I will attached some screen shots of the settings I am using. Again I am getting good comercial prints that match my monitor and I calibrate it every two weeks. Also I tried reinstalling the software and driver and I updated the driver to match my Windows 7 64 bit. Still no improvement.</p><div></div>

<p>Printer Settings #1</p><div></div>

<p>Printer settings #2</p>

 

<p>Printer settings #2</p>

<div></div>

<p>Andrew, Sorry I reversed printer setting #1 and #2</p>

<p>Printer settings #3</p><div></div>

<p>The settings look fine here. Have you tried using a Relative Colorimetric intent? </p>

<p>Also, try printing using a reference image that has known qualities and see how that comes out (see: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/why_are_my_prints_too_dark.shtml)</p>

<p>Edward,<br>

From your settings, everything looks almost OK. In printer #3, it's set to perceptual - you might want to tick on the black point compensation. There are lots of discussions about whether this should be on or off, as well as whether to use perceptual or relative colorimetric. Might try, though.<br>

In #2, what is hiding between "paper config"? Just curious, because on a mac, it looks so different that I cannot guess whether you might want to modify something there.<br>

Monika</p>

<p>This is something I learned the hard way. It may be that one or more of your cartridges might be clogging your print head. I bought my 3880 printer about 16 months ago, but was not able to set it up until June of this year. I was getting some posterization in my photographic prints. After running a nozzle check, I found out that two of my cartridges were NOT printing out at all! I had to run six cleaning cycles (standard cleaning, which STILL used up a lot of ink!) and that cured my problem. I did call Epson techniical support and found out that the cartridges, IF left UNopened would be good for about two years... and are good for six months AFTER you install them in your printer. I hope this helps. My printer is working absolutely beautifully now!</p>