Epson R2400 print test on Epson Premium Glossy, part II

[marek_fogiel]

This time, I've checked various settings for colour printing on Epson Premium

Glossy paper.

 

I've tried the settings ranging from 360ppi (360,300,288,240,180), RPM photo,

high speed off, to 180 ppi, best photo, high speed on.

 

I've selected a very sharp velvia 6x6 chrome (Hassy+Macro Planar 120), scanned

with Nikon Coolscan 9000, subsequently sharpened with PKS and reduced to a

16"x16" @ 360 ppi to get a very clean image with medium amount of detail. I

made 11 A4 prints, marked them on the back, shuffled them, and put on a well

lit table.

 

Conclusions: unlike with the B&W images, all the prints looked perfect, there

were no strange differences in the surface appearance, the gloss looked fine

and all the prints had practically identical tonality, aspect and detail.

Although I tried quite hard looing from 5" to find subtle differences in

resolution or contrast, frankly I couldn't see anything significant, these

were all first rate prints. To give you an idea about the type of subject,

here's a small jpeg.<div></div>

[marek_fogiel]

So I went back to the image used in the previous B&W test, to see how a highly detailed landscape shot would fare in comparison. This time, for the sake of brevity, I've made only two prints: the 360ppi RPM photo- high speed off, and the 180 ppi Best Photo- high speed on.

 

The conclusions upon an inspection from 5" were basically the same: both prints looked very well, so I pulled out a very good 3x Rollei loupe which I normally use for viewing the slides, and started peeping at the prints.

 

Here is what I see: on the 360ppi RPM photo, you just BEGIN to see the ink droplets, while I couldn't absolutely see any pixelation - the diagonal lines were perfectly smooth, and the colour uniformly spread, on the 180ppi high speed ON print, there was just a bit of pixelation visible, and the high speed ON setting, caused like a slight banding across the image. The beginning of pixelation paradixically increased the microcontrast of the image, so viewed from a normal distance, the print looks equally good.

 

Considering that all these A4 (8,5"x11") prints were actually just parts of an 16"x16" image, and as such would normally not be looked at from 5", let alone through a 3x loupe, my conclusion is that in colour you can safely print at 180ppi high speed ON anything which is not going to be a fine art print, and turn the high speed OFF for optimum quality result. It is also likely, that you will save quite a bit on ink using the 180ppi/best photo/h.s.ON.

 

Remember, for B&W the optimum results with this paper are being obtained using the 180ppi/best photo/h.s.OFF setting, or for small prints the 360ppi/RPM photo/h.s.OFF.

 

I include a small jpeg of the image used to give you the idea about the type of microdetail involved.<div></div>

[frank_dzambic]

Wow, quite an exhaustive test! I still haven't gotten around to printing one out at 180 ppi after reading your last post. Shame on me. Thanks again for doing all that work and then posting your findings.

[chwn]

Isn't it true that if you were to print larger than A4, say 13 x 19 that you would see bigger

differences?

[marek_fogiel]

The original image is about 25"x25" at 360 ppi, and it is very clean, all these prints have been

done from downsized files, so it is not an issue - if it had been, then the 360 ppi images

would have been the obvious winners.