Printing with Epson R2400 on fine art papers...

[Fulvio]

I don't know if this is the right place to post this...

I'd like to print with my R2400 on a matte fine art paper... That means more or less the same kinds of papers that you use for alternative printing... Fabriano, Arches, etc. I know that the printer can handle heavyweight paper, so that's not a problem. But how about color calibration? Which kind of ICC profile should I use for achieving best results with color printing?

Probably I'll run some tests to decide... In the meanwhile, any suggestions? Thanks

[donbga]

I don't know if this is the right place to post this...

I'd like to print with my R2400 on a matte fine art paper... That means more or less the same kinds of papers that you use for alternative printing... Fabriano, Arches, etc. I know that the printer can handle heavyweight paper, so that's not a problem. But how about color calibration? Which kind of ICC profile should I use for achieving best results with color printing?

Probably I'll run some tests to decide... In the meanwhile, any suggestions? Thanks

To get the best results you should consider getting a custom color profile made.

I would reccomend Cathy's Profiles

http://www.cathysprofiles.com/

Having a profile made will save you money especially with the 2400 since this printer loves to guzzle ink.

Cathy's has an excellent reputation for building very accurate profiles.

[jeades1]

If you intend to do a lot of color printing, it would be wise to get hardware and software that will let you create your own printer profiles with the useage of your current equipment and ink/paper. The one I use is Colorvision's PrintFixPro Suite that included the monitor calibrator and software.

Your friend in Photography,

Johnny Eades

[david b]

(in my kindest voice)

You might find a site that caters to digital printing. This forum pertains to digital negatives.

[donbga]

If you intend to do a lot of color printing, it would be wise to get hardware and software that will let you create your own printer profiles with the useage of your current equipment and ink/paper. The one I use is Colorvision's PrintFixPro Suite that included the monitor calibrator and software.

Your friend in Photography,

Johnny Eades

I would agree that calibrating and profiling one's monitor using a software/hardware package is a plus, but I'm not sure ICC profiles made with inexpensive packages like Colorvision or Monaco sells will be nearly as good as a professionally made profile.

My 2 cents,

[Helen B]

It all depends how far you want to go. PrintFixPro seems very good for the price (I'll sell you mine for $325) but I haven't found it to be as good as Cathy's Profiles or Dry Creek profiles, especially in terms of the neutrality of greys. My experience has been that it works very well with some papers, but not with others. Some of the profiles I made were worse than the canned Epson ones. The spectro that comes with it (the Datacolor 1005) is an 'abridged spectrometer' - ie it only measures a certain number of wavelength bands - rather than a true spectrophotometer like the Eye-One.

With printers like the 2200 and R2400 that aren't linearised in the factory you need to make profiles from targets with many patches - the more the better. This is a bit tedious with PFP, but quite possible at around a second per patch. There is a limit to the number of patches you can use with PFP (729), but that's the same for Cathy's Profiles, unless she will do profiles with more patches.

If you get the Eye-One you will be able to read targets with very high numbers of patches (as long as the software will accept them) much more easily and quickly. If you use IJC/OPM for B&W printing you will be able to linearise your profiles directly with the i-1. Whether it is worth getting an i-1 bundle for the R2400 is debateable, and it may be worth trying the PFP first because you have little to lose. Most people are very impressed and perfectly satisfied with PFP.

'This forum pertains to digital negatives.'

and, according to Sean's rules:

'scanning film then outputting that scan to a digital print.'

[steve]

One problem you will have with fine art paper is dot gain if you're using a paper that is not specifically made for inkjet printing. The fine art inkjet papers include an ink receiver that fixes the ink droplet while allowing minimal ink dispersion. If you try and print on regular fine art paper, you should coat it with an ink receiver coating unless you don't mind the dot gain.