First prints from the Epson P800

It's arrived and after spending nearly an hour finding and removing
adhesive tape from it I set it up and ran the first print through it.
Fortunately I was using an A4 size Epson Premium Gloss, which is
fairly heavy, because a munching scrunching noise came from inside and
bedraggled print arrived with *yet another* strip of tape wrapped
around the leading edge.

What provoked me to write this article was the very strong advice
given by Epson that for:

"Adobe Photoshop CS3 or later
Adobe Lightroom 1 or later
Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 or later
- Printer Manages Colors."

This is contrary to everything I have understood but tests confirm
that from the same LR print with no difference in anything but the
selection of print management, management by printer produces a
noticeably better print.

My test image was
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...3/LR--6936.jpg

This was a shot I took some time ago using the D300 to see how well it
could capture the deep crimson of the flowers. Judging by the view in
my calibrated Dell U2410 the answer was 'not very well'. The camera or
the display particularly failed on the very deep crimson of the
petals. However the display did better than the 3800 printer when
printing. I am glad to say that the P800 is noticeably better then the
3800.

The straight 'managed by LR' print appears brighter then the 'managed
by printer'. But it's handling of contrast produces a print which
lacks textural and tonal detail when compared with the 'managed by
printer' image. This is particularly evident in the leaves and the
submerged sections of the stems. If things carry on like this I will
definitely be leaving color management to the printer.
--

Regards,

Eric Stevens

On 2015-10-11 21:01:26 +0000, Eric Stevens said:

It's arrived and after spending nearly an hour finding and removing
adhesive tape from it I set it up and ran the first print through it.
Fortunately I was using an A4 size Epson Premium Gloss, which is
fairly heavy, because a munching scrunching noise came from inside and
bedraggled print arrived with *yet another* strip of tape wrapped
around the leading edge.

What provoked me to write this article was the very strong advice
given by Epson that for:

"Adobe Photoshop CS3 or later
Adobe Lightroom 1 or later
Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 or later
- Printer Manages Colors."

This is contrary to everything I have understood but tests confirm
that from the same LR print with no difference in anything but the
selection of print management, management by printer produces a
noticeably better print.



That sounds very odd.

How does that printer driver deal with paper specific icc profiles for
non-Epson and non-generic papers?
I am going to check with Red River to see if they have particular
instructions for color management for their papers.

My test image was
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...3/LR--6936.jpg

That is going to test the printer for saturation, color fidelity, and detail.

This was a shot I took some time ago using the D300 to see how well it
could capture the deep crimson of the flowers. Judging by the view in
my calibrated Dell U2410 the answer was 'not very well'. The camera or
the display particularly failed on the very deep crimson of the
petals. However the display did better than the 3800 printer when
printing.

That sounds as if your calibration went goofy.

I am glad to say that the P800 is noticeably better then the
3800.

From all I have read, it should be.

The straight 'managed by LR' print appears brighter then the 'managed
by printer'.

Did you check LR “Soft Proofing�?
You can make some tweaks in LR to fine tune thing for brightness and
contrast when LR is managing color.

But it's handling of contrast produces a print which
lacks textural and tonal detail when compared with the 'managed by
printer' image.

In the LR print module you can make some tweaks in LR to fine tune
things for brightness and contrast if LR is managing color.

There is also the issue of Print Sharpening - on or off - low,
standard, or high.

This is particularly evident in the leaves and the
submerged sections of the stems. If things carry on like this I will
definitely be leaving color management to the printer.

The important thing is, you are getting prints that you are satisfied with.

This is the first I have heard of things working this particular way,
and it is as you said counter to all that has been recommended before.
It might be time to check some forums and see what some of the alleged
experts have to say in their reviews.

Meanwhile my R2880 plods along.

--
Regards,

Savageduck

On 2015-10-11 21:53:57 +0000, Savageduck said:

On 2015-10-11 21:01:26 +0000, Eric Stevens said:

It's arrived and after spending nearly an hour finding and removing
adhesive tape from it I set it up and ran the first print through it.
Fortunately I was using an A4 size Epson Premium Gloss, which is
fairly heavy, because a munching scrunching noise came from inside and
bedraggled print arrived with *yet another* strip of tape wrapped
around the leading edge.

What provoked me to write this article was the very strong advice
given by Epson that for:

"Adobe Photoshop CS3 or later
Adobe Lightroom 1 or later
Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 or later
- Printer Manages Colors."

This is contrary to everything I have understood but tests confirm
that from the same LR print with no difference in anything but the
selection of print management, management by printer produces a
noticeably better print.

That sounds very odd.

How does that printer driver deal with paper specific icc profiles for
non-Epson and non-generic papers?
I am going to check with Red River to see if they have particular
instructions for color management for their papers.

I checked with Red River and found the following:

They have done a review:
http://www.redrivercatalog.com/infocenter/articles/epson-surecolor-p800-review-introduction.html

They

have printer/paper specific icc profiles
http://www.redrivercatalog.com/profiles/epson-surecolor-p800-color-icc-printer-profiles.html

…and

I can’t find any mention of the “very strong advice from Epson�.


--
Regards,

Savageduck

On Sun, 11 Oct 2015 15:16:24 -0700, Savageduck
wrote:

On 2015-10-11 21:53:57 +0000, Savageduck said:

On 2015-10-11 21:01:26 +0000, Eric Stevens said:

It's arrived and after spending nearly an hour finding and removing
adhesive tape from it I set it up and ran the first print through it.
Fortunately I was using an A4 size Epson Premium Gloss, which is
fairly heavy, because a munching scrunching noise came from inside and
bedraggled print arrived with *yet another* strip of tape wrapped
around the leading edge.

What provoked me to write this article was the very strong advice
given by Epson that for:

"Adobe Photoshop CS3 or later
Adobe Lightroom 1 or later
Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 or later
- Printer Manages Colors."

This is contrary to everything I have understood but tests confirm
that from the same LR print with no difference in anything but the
selection of print management, management by printer produces a
noticeably better print.

That sounds very odd.

How does that printer driver deal with paper specific icc profiles for
non-Epson and non-generic papers?
I am going to check with Red River to see if they have particular
instructions for color management for their papers.

I checked with Red River and found the following:

They have done a review:
http://www.redrivercatalog.com/infocenter/articles/epson-surecolor-p800-review-introduction.html

They

have printer/paper specific icc profiles
http://www.redrivercatalog.com/profiles/epson-surecolor-p800-color-icc-printer-profiles.html

…and

I can’t find any mention of the “very strong advice from Epson”.

There are several versions of the manual on the Internet.
http://support2.epson.net/manuals/en...cmp0031-01.pdf
appears to be the same as mine. Read carefully, the bottom of page 54,
page 55, page 56, the top-right of page 58, page 59 and a few more
less specific places.
--

Regards,

Eric Stevens