Thanks Terry

mmmm... I did read it indeed. The 4900 does not have a "finest detail" setting but I had previously selected as "maximum quality" which sets the driver to 2880x1440dpi. IF Qimage detects this - terrific - but from a look at the print preview at full magnification I suspect this may not be the case. (of course the print preview may not reveal dot level data). In any case the above dpi as displayed by the printer I believe are likely to be interpolated ink delivery resolutions for reasons I noted in the previous post. The best information I have is that the "input - native" resolution of the printer is 720dpi

All that being the case - what is the interpolation setting "Maximum - 360PPI" doing?


Thanks too for that suggestion. However, you might notice in my post that I have been using qimage for some years with the technique I outlined and the problem is not overcoming printer length limitation. (BTDT) It is controlling the vertical positioning on the print roll output when using these techniques that is my issue.

I do recognise that with the 4900 I can manually set roll cut length for each pano printed (and then directly control all margins) - but I am trying to find a method which will work well for panor's of arbitrary length. (which the method I outlined does - by and large for full roll-width panos)

I am appreciative of your reflections and any further insights will be much appreciated.

Thank you Fred for your kind and swift response. Sorry if my text was a little garbled; it was rather too late at night.

Topic 1: pano print margins ------------------------------
From your response on the pano printing we are using different approaches I think. You are setting the printer driver to be the pano length, I set a print length which is as short as possible, but borderless, then use Qimage to send as many "pages" as required to print the pano. This means all the pano can be controlled from Qimage with no additional mucking around in the print driver for every individual print. This has worked well for me in the past.

I attach a screenshot of this set up with the print preview showing what's going on and what my issue is. Since the post it occurred to me that the 4900 (unlike my older Epson) has a "Roll banner" print mode, which may reduce my top/bottom margin problem. Indeed, as you can see from the attached screenshot the top/bottom balance is not too bad - but it is still not vertically centered. In Qimage I use the print settings "set long edge" to be just longer than the actual print size and Qimage sends the requisite number of pages. You can see why the printer has to think it is borderless as it assembles the print as a banner. In the past this was a workaround for long prints where the official printer driver would not allow them - but also has the handy feature as I noted above for avoiding changing the print driver settings for different panos.

But the top/bottom imbalance is what I was trying to sort out. And the screen shot shows the margin adjustment screen - which does not seem to be having any impact on this print. That is the reason for that part of the post. Why can I not adjust the top/bottom print margins on the output?

Topic 2: resolution of data sent to the print driver------------------------------
Indeed. However, the settings for interpolation show the "Maximum" as 360PPI. The native resolution of the Epson 4900 is 720dpi (of course its ink dot size is much smaller, delivering a higher dot resolution than this -but this is essential for colour mixing/dithering). However, other 4900 users are suggesting that actually sending the printer 720dpi data optimises print quality. Of the images that I print that require upsampling (many, being Gpx images, actually require downsampling), the route I take depends on the quality I want. However, generally I will use a tool like genuine fractals to move the image to final print size at the driver-native resolution. (in the past 360dpi, now needs to be 720dpi).

However, now it appears that if I leave interpolation to Qimage, it will only move an image to 360PPI and then pass it on to the print driver for final interpolation to printer-native 720dpi. So... ...double resizing again. Something we both recognise is to be avoided.

So I have to assume, if I want printer-native 720dpi delivered to printer, I need to turn off interpolation (so it does not try to down-res to 360PPI). And if I am happy with Qimage upresing, it will be doing so to 360PPI max - not my native printer resolution...

I have long used Qimage to print pano's on my A3 printer - now deceased. new Epson 4900 coming next week. Setting up print drivers again in Qimage.  I set a user defined paper for a 17" roll of 432mmx127mm and borderless (no expansion) as I did in the past for smaller papers. Then drag pano into this paper setup and it asks for the OK for multipage print - and I'm all set for pano printing. HOWEVER - the print previews all show the print hard against the top of the page segments. I.e. no top print margin. I can't seem to force it down the page with the print preferences>paper margin>top margin adjustment.

I had this proble before but never bothered to resolve it. With larger papes / pano's I reallyl do want to get control of the vertical centering.

Can't find anything in the FAQ's or forum to help. But anyone doing pano printing must have this issue.

PLUS - how do I set the print resolution in the job properties to 720dpi? (i.e. epson 4900 native). Can't find clues to this anywhere? I res. my originals to be right for the printer - I don't want them downsampled... Or do I just turn it off to bypass all that?

THANK YOU FOR ANY RESPONSES!