Epson Proi3800 - What am I doing wrong?

[snip]

Hi there,

So I went all out and set up my digital lightroom for printing before my wet darkroom is ready, maybe not the smartest move but anyway.

I am rocking a Mac Pro with some big screens and a Spyder3elite to keep the colors right. Epson V750-Pro scanner with FMA and betterscaning.com ANR glass inserts, Also color calibrated and an Epson Pro 3800 printer.

It all works fine and I can scan in negatives and slides and they look great on the screen BUT.

Seeing as I am a bit of a stinge I bought some packs of cheap Jessops paper to look into what sort of paper I would like to use, I bought an A3 pack each of Matte, Gloss and Satin

When I print on Gloss the prints are lovely and look just like on screen, there are no published ICC profiles for this paper so I use the Epson supplied ones and it seems to work just fine, I've also used "Managed by printer" and even that looks great.

But every time I try the matte paper it looks like crap, white spots in the prints and a truly awful quality to it, what is going wrong?

I am printing from Adobe lightroom 2.3

Best regards

Jan

 

[aad]

Does the 3800 have a separate matte black cartridge like the 2400, that one must replace? Or, have you used the matte profile? It uses a different ink.

 

[snip]

Does the 3800 have a separate matte black cartridge like the 2400, that one must replace? Or, have you used the matte profile? It uses a different ink.

Yes I used the matte paper profile, the 3800 has all the inks installed at all times and does not need the carts switching, I have been wondering if there is a switch I need to set somewhere but can't figure it out.

//J

 

[40oz]

Does your printer driver allow you to adjust the amount of ink used? My HP has settings for volume of ink and dry time, you might see if there is a better setting than factory hidden somewhere in the properties.

 

[Pickett Wilson]

Are you using the Advanced B&W mode?

It sounds more like a profile problem, though.

You've got a lot of money tied up in this stuff to be using bargain paper with no matching profiles.

 

[snip]

Are you using the Advanced B&W mode?

It sounds more like a profile problem, though.

You've got a lot of money tied up in this stuff to be using bargain paper with no matching profiles.

Agreed, it was only for trials, it is very cheap, I guess I will have to accept that quality paper costs money and buy some better matte paper, I can't fault the Gloss paper from Jessop's though, it looks pretty good, it is however also more than three times as expensive as the heavyweight matte was.

//J

 

[benkelley]

You need to set the printer to use the matte ink cartridge. It has both glossy and matte installed, but can only use one at a time... I've never printed matte, so I've never done the switch, but it should be right in the menus.

Check the manual...

 

[snip]

You need to set the printer to use the matte ink cartridge. It has both glossy and matte installed, but can only use one at a time... I've never printed matte, so I've never done the switch, but it should be right in the menus.

Check the manual...

Yeah I've been perusing the manual, or help file more acurately, and so far all it has given me is a headache, I can't find any option anywhere in the printer control tool to set the ink, you can specify the paper type but it seems to be stuck on "photo black"

Anyone else using this printer with a Mac who can tell me how it is done?

//J

 

[snip]

Right, I downloaded QuadTone RIP and now suddenly I get it, my matte results even on this cheap paper looks very very nice.

I am once again a happy bunny 🙂

P.S is it apparent that I have never owned a printer before?


//J

 

[aad]

Hmm-did you specify the paper type in "Page Setup" before the new download?

 

[topoxforddoc]

Jan,

For matte BW printing, I use Calumet Brilliant Supreme Matte paper on matte paper setting and advanced BW mode (archival matte paper). It's pretty good and the paper's cheap (£14.99 for 25box of A3).

Charlie

 

[snip]

Hmm-did you specify the paper type in "Page Setup" before the new download?

Yes but it did not change the ink type in QuadTone I can specify the ink and the printer spends about a minute changing the channel.

//Jan

 

[snip]

Jan,

For matte BW printing, I use Calumet Brilliant Supreme Matte paper on matte paper setting and advanced BW mode (archival matte paper). It's pretty good and the paper's cheap (£14.99 for 25box of A3).

Charlie

That is cheap, I paid £5 for the box of fifty of this Matte paper, and it's not really that bad.

I have ordered some Gallarie and gold Ilford paper to play with.

I have put lots of Hahnemule paper on my wishlist as it is my birthday soon 🙂


//J