shawn_poynter Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 I realize this subject has been beaten to death, but I can't find an answer in the archives that addresses my specific question. I've just set up a new Epson R800 and started printing. Glossy prints fine, but the matte (I'm using Enhanced Matte) is not fine. When I print with the (U.S.) supplied profiles, the shadows become desaturated and lose their "ooomph", if that makes sense. The entire photo is lifeless, the colors flatten out to boring levels. I spent 30 minutes on the phone with Epson tech support and the only thing I learned was that the guy helping my is Canadian. Which is great and all, but it doesn't make my prints not suck. I'm running Photoshop CS on Mac 10.3.5. I profile my monitor with a GretagMcBeth Eye-One. I use Adobe RGB (1998) for my image profiling. The soft proof of the matte paper look just like the harp print. Again, the damage is mostly in the shadows, which boggles my mind. Please help me before I crush this machine with a heavy object. Thanks for listening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanford Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 When I print on Eenhanced Mat on my R800 I have to boost the color saturation and contrast until it looks way too high on the monitor to make it look right on the print. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanford Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 I hate to suggest this, but I've done it myself - is there any chance you are printing on the wrong side of the paper? This will give very muted prints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank_dzambic Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 Are you sure you're not expecting too much from matte paper? I don't think it can capture the brilliance, sharpness and depth of shadows glossy papers can. Then again I haven't really printed much at all on matte paper because I prefer the look of glossy. This is a quote from drycreekphoto.com Matte: These papers are where the Epson UltraChrome printers, with the exception of the R800, really come into their own. The Matte black inks are necessary to produce deep blacks. Use them, and a 2200 or its wide format siblings make stunning prints. The Epson R800, however, does not perform particularly well on matte papers. TheR800's internal ink mixing algorithms do not appear to be optimized for matte surfaces. Compared to the other Epson UltraChrome printers, the R800 exhibits poor color definition in darker greens and blues on matte papers as well as reduced color range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markrinella Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 Which profile are you using? From memory (because I just had a hard drive failure in my G5) the simple R800 matte paper profile installed be default worked much better for me than the EnhancedMatte.icc profile which I pulled off the CD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veniero Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 I have used the R800 for four months and my experience has been very different. I was impressed with the brilliance and vividness of color images on Enhanced Matte paper. Almost all are from a Nikon D70, processed with PictureWindow Pro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ofey_kalakar Posted December 4, 2004 Share Posted December 4, 2004 Shawn, www.Ilford.com has icc profiles for the R800 for various paper types. Ilford's RC smooth pearl papers are very nice for printing on the R800. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now