Epson 3880 and Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk problems

[Kat D.]

<p>What could be wrong with the files? </p>

[Kat D.]

<p>Good article about infrequent printer use, settling of pigments in ink:<br>

http://www.inkjetmall.com/wordpress/maintenance/infrequent-printer-use/</p>

[rmyers]

<p>But the cartridges worked fine on the test pattern and the other image. File could be corrupt? Hasn't ever happened to me, and I'm not a computer guru. I am inclined to think it's a setting problem. This is one of many reasons that I like printing from Light Room. You can make presets and not have to worry about hitting all the settings every time. In my opinion the printing module alone in LR is worth the entire price of the software.<br /> <br />You could try printing either the image you printed successfully or the test image immediately followed up by the problem image. This might give you assurance that all the settings are the same. You could also try the Canson profile I suggested. Remember that in trouble shooting, it is important to only change one thing at a time.</p>

[mac_hordam]

<p><em>"This is one of many reasons that I like printing from Light Room. You can make presets and not have to worry about hitting all the settings every</em> time"</p>

<p>I haven't printed from LR myself just from PSCS. With CS I save all my print setups with a Paper type and Paper size name so I can just choose it again when I'm doing the same reprint. I was just wondering if LR's print module makes this process different or is it just more automated when you use it?</p>

<p><em>"Any advice about the shaking? Just gently roll the horizontally-held cartridge from side to side as illustrated in the</em> <em>manual</em>?"<br /><br>

<br>

Yes, just as you would when first inserting a new cartridge. Make sure to aim the ink nozzle away from anything that wouldn't want a bit of ink getting on it if some came out. I've never had any come out myself but one person's gentle shaking may be another's vigorous. You could hold a piece of tissue paper over, but not in touch with, the nozzle opening just in case. You'll feel the ink swirl in the cartridge as you shake and just imagine all those settled pigments getting distributed around and stop when you're happy they're unstuck.<br>

<br>

At least having done this (and the subsequent nozzle check, don't forget) you'll know that whatever problems remain are most likely located elsewhere. You should always make sure your inks are flowing correctly before printing as a first measure, everything else is then down to settings....or color blindness.</p>

<p> </p>

[digitaldog]

 

 

<blockquote>

<p>What could be wrong with the files?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>They are too blue? I don't know. Drag and drop a crop of the girl's face you have above into the Printer Test file and make another print. How do both skin's look? <br>

You could give us the Lab values of the skin in your images (and those in the Printer Test File) after watching a video on correcting skin tones without having to resort to CMYK:<br>

Low Rez (YouTube) <br />

High Rez<br />http://digitaldog.net/files/SkinToneVideo.movp</p>

 

 

[Kat D.]

<p>Okay, worked on this most of the day yesterday.</p>

<p>First of all, there’s nothing wrong with my files. The problem was that what I saw on screen (calibrated Eizo) did not match what was printing (as shown by file vs scan of print posted above).</p>

<p>After reading article I posted above about settling ink and problems in lines, and knowing my printer has been sitting unused for almost a year, I thought ink / head / line problem most likely. Writer of article said you could possibly have intermittent problems, especially at beginning, which would explain my two prints that printed fine. So I shook all the cartridges, did nozzle clean. </p>

<p>Made a Photoshop file with the three images I had been working with as well as the test file from Andrew. </p>

<p>Printed, using same settings I had been using (Photoshop manages color, 16 bit, Relative Colorimetric, Black Point Compensation, Exhibition Fiber and then Gold Fibre Gold profile). Same results. Prints dark, posterized, colors whacky. The test image which had printed fine alone (but was now included on page with my images) now looked too blue, like my images.</p>

<p>Shook cartridges again. Did a power clean which used a lot of ink. Still no help.</p>

<p>Decided to import the images into InDesign to bypass all the Photoshop settings so I could see if problem there or physical problem in printer. Printed from InDesign. Used cheap HP photo paper. Prints looked pretty good. Color not perfect, but they were close, and no posterization at all.</p>

<p>So I knew nothing wrong with printer.</p>

<p>Went back into Photoshop. Tried a new paper and its profile: Harman Photo Gloss FB Al. Same bad results.</p>

<p>Did something I should’ve tried earlier — let printer manage color. Used these settings:</p>

<p>Printer settings: <br>

Luster <br>

Accuphoto HD2 <br>

Color Mode: EPSON standard (sRGB) <br>

2880 dpi<br>

high speed<br>

16 bit <br>

Advanced Color Settings at defaults (all zero) <br>

paper thickness 4 <br>

Color Matching: EPSON color controls <br>

In Color Management area: 16 bit and Relative Colorimetric checked. </p>

<p>Print turned out fine.</p>

<p>Okay, that was great. Just have printer manage color, forget using the paper profiles.</p>

<p>But why did two of the prints I made at the beginning — one of my images and Andrew’s test file — using the paper profiles (Exhibition Fiber or Galerie Gold Fibre Silk) turn out okay?</p>

<p>Since I had made smaller versions of those images to place in a new Photoshop file so I could print all four images on one sheet for my new tests, the printer settings were still intact when I opened the original files. Very convenient! I saw what I had done differently when I printed those two images: I had NOT checked 16 bit in either the Printer Settings or Color Management. </p>

<p>So I tested this. Printed my image with 16 bit checked. Colors dark, whacky, posterized. Printed with 16 bit unchecked, colors good. </p>

<p>So, with the paper profiles, I cannot send as 16 bit to printer. </p>

<p>However, when I let printer manage color, 16 bit works fine.</p>

<p>The image files are 16 bit.</p>

<p>Isn’t this weird?</p>

<p>Howard M suggested I uncheck 16 bit early on, but I think I just accidentally didn’t check 16 bit for those two images, because I figured if the images were 16 bit, it should be checked. You were right, Howard.</p>

<p>On another subject: When I was thinking I would have to let printer manage color, I was wondering if the fact that Epson color control uses sRGB means I would be losing color information from my Adobe RGB 1998 files (since sRGB lower gamut). Is more info sent via the paper profiles? </p>

<p>Thanks all for your input.</p>

 

[Kat D.]

<p>P.S. I also reprinted the image of the girl with the red hair (shown above), using Exhibition Fiber profile, with 16 bit unchecked. Colors perfect.</p>

[digitaldog]

<blockquote>

<p>Did something I should’ve tried earlier — let printer manage color.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Not if you want to print using color management fully.</p>

[rmyers]

<p>If Mac, then maybe you have a driver problem? I think 16 bit option may have started with Snow Leopard.<br>

I don't believe 16 bit works on Windows. I actually don't remember if the option is even there in the driver on Windows.</p>

[Kat D.]

<p>Good thought, Russell. I'm on a Mac, OS 10.6.8. I just checked Apple software update, and there are no printer-related updates for the system needed. Also just downloaded and installed the most recent printer driver from Epson site. I don't know if it is more recent than what I had because I couldn't find the Epson driver on my computer. But I will retest printing 16 bit with Photoshop managing color and see if there is improvement. As I mentioned, the colors turned out okay in 16 bit when printer managed colors. Don't know what that means. Haven't found posts by anyone on net, so far, who have had same problem. Thanks.</p>