Roll paper printing on Epson 4800

I am thinking of buying roll paper for my Espon 4800. I have always

used sheets on this, and every other, printer I have owned. I did a

search on Photo net and the Internet regarding my question but none

answer my specific quiestion. I have also looked at Epson's guide to

using roll paper and it comes close to talking about it, but not

specifically.

 

My question is........This printer's roll paper being 17 inches

wide, let us say I want to print a 5x7 inch print on it. And let us

say that I want to conserve paper, so I print 3 of them....either

the same image file, or more than likely different image files. Is

there a way to tell the printer to print these across the 17 inch

direction. This would give me 3 5x7 inch prints...taking up 5 inches

of the 17 each, with room for 1/4 inch borders (and some to spare).

 

Or do I really have to print one 5x7 and at a minimum waste the

other 10 inches or so?

 

Or, is there some other method of minimizing paper waste in these

situations where one side of the image does not come close to 17

inches?, Like 8x10s for instance, that I haven't thoought of

 

any help would be appreciated....especially seeing as I have never

used roll paper at all. a website......a book......thanks in advance.

I only have a 2400 so I can't specifically comment on your 4800, but you can make a PS file 17 inches wide with the three images on it as you described, couldn't you?

I thought of that too Paul, but because editting (and combining 3 images to one image is editting) causes slight changes in the image file, so I always USM last. And, 50% of the time, I tweak each image's USM just for that image. Therefore I kind of decided that the move 3 images to one method is not what I was after. If I err in this assumption, please feel free to correct me.

"...because editting (and combining 3 images to one image is editting) causes slight changes in the image file, so I always USM last. And, 50% of the time, I tweak each image's USM just for that image..."

 

Thomas, Paul's advice is perfectly valid.

 

You can manipulate each image separately to achieve whatever results you want, then just create a new file with a properly-sized canvas, and place your images (using the copy/paste/move tools) on the new canvas.

 

Combining images in this way does not cause any changes whatsoever in the image file(s).

 

The only caveat is that the images must all have the same resolution.

You either have to create a 17" x 7" canvas in Photoshop and then layout your three 5x7 pictures vertically side by side, or, you can purchase a RIP (like ImagePrint) that will take a directory full of images and automatically lay them out on roll paper so you don't waste any space. The RIP will then use the built in cutter to cut off strips of pictures for you.

 

For minimizing wastage when using a variety of sizes, I manually do layout in ImagePrint (say a single 8x10 with two smaller pictures next to it).

 

Image layout for printing on roll paper is one of the reasons that people turn to RIP software.

thanks...I have done it the photoshop "move" way in the past on sheets for smaller prints, but always thought of it as just a quick and dirty way of doing it for family snaps and what not. thought I'd ask before I started selling anything to anybody.

The Imageprint RIP using Autoprint does this very nicely. We use it all the time on our 44" printers. It might be costly but worth every penny. It saves a lot of production time. One thing that you may want to consider, and you should check it out, I may be wrong, is that the 4800 only hadles only 2" cores. There's trouble with curling on a 3" roll with some papers, but a lot more with a 2" roll, specialy when you near the end. On the positive side you will find paper bought in rolls to be cheaper per square foot then sheets.

RIPs are not necessarily costly. I have an Ilford Studio RIP for my 4800, and I got it for about USD 200 when buying a couple of Ilford rolls. It has this functionality you ask for.

 

The 4800 handles 3" rolls.

 

Jakob

I have the Epson 4800 and 7800 printers and I have found a RIP not that necessary on a 4800. The best option for 4800 and 7800 is a program called Qimage. It does all you are asking, for US$49.95. Layout, sharpening, pixel enlargement, colour management.

Get the free download and they also have a profiler program as well which I haven't purchased. I currently use the Spyder 2 Pro.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Peter Banks

Peter, that Qimage looks interesting. Definitely good for what I mentioned. does it really do all that image quality stuff on their website? I mean, does it actually give a better image than CS2? Is it easy to set up?

Yes Thomas it's that good. Better sharpening. Photoshop's sharpening engine is several years old now. I think it's still back in the P/S 5 days. The best way to use the program is to use the filter within P/S CS2 and then use Qimage to change size and then print. There are preset sizes plus you can create your own. Layout is simple and the results are amazing.

I took a file from my Canon 20D and blew it up to 36" x 24" using Qimage and then took it to a friend who had a NZ$5000 Colorgate Rip and printered the same size image and there was very little difference. The color was more yellow with Qimage but I had not done any calibration on my system. The difference between programs was very minimal.

 

Here is the link to the Qimage site http://www.ddisoftware.com/

 

Also here is another link to their forums http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/view_forum.php?id=33

 

 

Good Luck

yeah....I've been surfing the web since you mentioned it.....found the Yahoo Qimage group...joined it....and found the steve's digicam article that Mike (qimage guy) did.....thanks on the steve's digicam forum link.

 

glad to see the mention of the 20D doing so well with it....that's what I own also. I assume it works well with film scanned images also. Think I'll be buying a new piece of software..........heh..........along with my first roll of Museo Silver Rag....talked with the guy from Shades of Paper today. He actually lives about 10 miles from me....heh. feel like a kid in a candy store ;o)

Glad to be of help. Let me know when you get the program what your results are like.

Qimage has lots of options and I'm still learning and Mike updates the program quite often. When you purchase you get updates for life. Keep an eye on the "About Qimage" under help as this detects when an update is available.

 

Good luck and I'm pleased I could help.

It is a very useful program, I like it alot and yes, you get updates for life, BUT...

 

You have to stay up to date in order to get updates as I just learned.

I paid for the Pro version A little under 2 years ago.

Recent changes to the update process makes it very frustrating and it is easy to get stuck owing $7.00 to get a new password or re-register software you already paid for.