Epson Printer Profiles

I'm not using hardware calibration. I've been using the Apple
calibration program in expert mode. I have my gamma set to 2.2. My
inks are Epson. My soft proofs look good (just slight toning down of
saturated highlights). I tried the australia site and the installers
installed nothing new for profiles. Maybe this brightness thing is an
issue with the newer LCDs. They are pretty bright. I'll look into it.
 >> Stay informed about: Epson Printer Profiles 

<mailbox RemoveThis @cutterfilms.com> wrote in message
news:1146502887.285338.18670@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com...
> I've spent days trying to get my Epson R300 to print a somewhat
> accurate gamma level. Every photo I print is coming out really dark.
> I've carefully calibrated my 23" Apple LCD. I used recommended
> settings in Photoshop 7 (Source Source: Adobe RGB (1998), Print Space:
> SPR300 Premium Glossy Relative Colormetric with Black point
> compensation, and no correction in the print box settings). When time
> and time again I wasn't able to get the results I wanted, I tried other
> experiments (other printer profiles, using a colorsync workflow, etc).
> Nothing helping. I looked for updated profiles at the Epson site, but
> there weren't amy newer ones (which are from like 2003). The only
> thing that got me anywhere is to add an adjustment layer to my
> photoshop file to make major boost to the gamma and shadow areas. But
> then it's not looking all that great. Any suggestions? I've read of
> these problems in the past but no one had any definitive solutions.
> Anyone have major help from having custom profiles made? I noticed
> inkjetart.com does profiles for $25. Not bad. Any suggestions or
> solutions?
>
>
> sean

Hi there.

It is a long while since I had anything to do with Macs, so I am not very
certain.

There are a couple of points which concern me.

How did you Calibrate the screen, did you use a hardware device or Adobe
Gamma? Adobe Gamma is not supposed to work at all well with Flat Panels.

What have you set Gamma to? In the old days Macs used always to be 1.8 but
I have heard that modern Macs should be set to 2.2, ( just like real
computers).

Sorry, could not resist that one.


Have you set the Printer Driver to "No Colour Management" All the colour
sliders should then be greyed out.

Have you set up "Soft Proof" in Ps, and checked to see if the Proof View of
the image looks much different from the Workspace view. The Finished Print
will be more like the Proof View than the Working View.

Are you allowing time for the Inks to dry, some colours and tones get
lighter, others darker.

If you are suspicious of the Profiles, you can probably download new
versions from www.epson.com.au (Australia). There are some variables
in Printers, and perhaps yours is at one extreme of the acceptable, so the
Epson Profiles ( which must be for the average) might not be too accurate.

For workflows have a look at www.computer-darkroom.com

All this assumes you are using Epson Inks, otherwise none of it will work.

There is no doubt that getting your Screen and your Printer Profiled by an
expert with the correct hardware, will produce much better results than the
"Canned" profiles can give.

Roy G
 >> Stay informed about: Epson Printer Profiles 

mailbox.RemoveThis@cutterfilms.com wrote:
> I'm not using hardware calibration. I've been using the Apple
> calibration program in expert mode. I have my gamma set to 2.2. My
> inks are Epson. My soft proofs look good (just slight toning down of
> saturated highlights). I tried the australia site and the installers
> installed nothing new for profiles. Maybe this brightness thing is an
> issue with the newer LCDs. They are pretty bright. I'll look into it.
>
Yes, that's why I use a CRT rather than my LCD for critical photo work,
and it's hardware-calibrated.

But here's something to try. Go to Ilford's site. Download their profile
for Classic Pearl paper, and of course you also have to buy a box of it.
Download their excellent PDF on settings for OS X. Choose a photo you
know is "right", either one of your own, or a downloaded sample. Then
print; adjust monitor to the printer output. Now you should get pretty
even results when you adjust a photo on the monitor that really is too
dark- or light etc.

--
John McWilliams
 >> Stay informed about: Epson Printer Profiles 

mailbox DeleteThis @cutterfilms.com wrote:
>> I've spent days trying to get my Epson R300 to print a somewhat
>> accurate gamma level. Every photo I print is coming out really dark.
>> I've carefully calibrated my 23" Apple LCD. I used recommended
...................................

Traditionally, Apple monitors are considerably brighter than PC monitors.
Don't ask me why.
Also the system you use to print these dark pictures is flawed or they
wouldn't be dark. You will have to obtain a tinted shade for your monitor
at some point. You simply can't make it dull enough to match a print.

I used some automotive window tint film on one last year with some success.
Or you could use a quick and dirty workaround by getting a cheap pair of
sunglasses with a smoke colour but this may impact the colour balance.

In Photoshop... Get a picture right and then "print with preview". Make sure
the "more options" box is ticked and where the option of "Print space
profile" is offered, choose the printer profile already on your computer
from when you installed the printer, which matches the printer you are
using. In your case it would be "Epson Stylus R300 - R210 series" and then
make a test print. Be sure to choose the correct paper option in the printer
first.

Next alternative is to work only in sRGB colour space and use that
colourspace to send the picture with "print profile - same as source". More
advanced is to download Epson's own ICC (Epson paper) profiles for that
printer and fine tune your system to use them.

As a last resort... Turn off colour management in Photoshop altogether. This
way you may get output closer to what you get from other programs. You can
then re-enable it and fiddle when your are less stressed.

-- .
 >> Stay informed about: Epson Printer Profiles 

You do not say if your setup previously worked and went out of kilter or
this is a printer that is new to you.
If you have not done so calibrate your monitor using an external device. I
personally recommend the Monaco Optix XR system as this allows you to
generate your own cutom paper/printer profiles at reasonable cost if you
have a flat bed scanner. However those profiles are not necessarily better
than Epson canned profiles; they are light years better than Canon canned
profiles.
With LCD monitors, despite calibration, you may indeed have to tune the
printer and monitor to one another. A previous writer referenced a
Shutterbug article that describes how to do this.
If you have previously had good color matching then obviously something has
changed. I have an Epson 1280 and an r1800 (I believe this is the large
carriage version of your printer).
At times the 1280 is printing as you describe but the r1800 is not
affected: therefore I suspect the problem you and I experience may be
related to the printer itself.
Multiple cleaning cycles may help
 >> Stay informed about: Epson Printer Profiles 

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