Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

I've been very lazy for years and stayed with the same paper surface.

Yesterday I spent a bit of time experimenting with the unopened sample packs I've been collecting from trade shows over the years.

In the control panel I have ICM set on and Colo(u)r Adjustments off. Fred knows why I spell the word wrongly!!

As long as I have the right paper profile in Qimage does it actually matter which paper type I select in panel on the left hand side of the control box? Often the paper I am testing is not listed so I pick something that sounds similar - but if the colour adjustments are set to off does this actually matter?

Second question. When swapping matte to photo black the list of papers sometimes does not change. My way of forcing the change is to close Qimage and re-open it - with the consequent time wasted setting the print queue etc. Is there a better way of telling the controller that I've changed the ink?

Tony

 

Tony, hello again!
When using Qimage in the Let Printer Manage color mode (that means the Qimage is set to use /prgb.icm as the profile) the driver is set to ICM. Do NOT turn the Color Management to NO Color management as you would is you were using a printer profile in the Let Qimage manage colo(u)r mode.

The choice of paper selected from the drop down list is usually critical WRT how much ink is put down and in many cases a color bias of the paper's chemical reaction is balanced out too.
Not knowing from a package label, at least, leaves you to experiment.

The Matte to Photo black is a driver issue. What you are probably seeing is Qimage refresh teh driver screen. In my experience, the choice of paper tells te driver which black to use.
If your printer is the old style where you manually change the black and then tell teh driver, I cannot help; I don't know!

My best to the Queen.

Fred

Thanks Fred,

I need to look at my studio machine to remind myself about those tick boxes. I tried to remind myself via the web. Certainly the ICM is ticked and the one below it is ticked as well (whether that is on or off I need to go and look). Certainly with both ticked I was getting pretty consistant results yesterday.

And yes, the 2400 is one of those printers where you have to swop the black cartridge from matte to photo - and probably dump 25% of the ink in the process. I saw some profiles I downloaded yesterday offer a profile to use the photo ink on matte paper. I'll try that as an option as it will certainly save ink.

The Queen is on hols at the moment (Sandringham I think). As she has not sent me a postcard she is off my contact list at the moment.

Tony

I attached a snap of the 2400 driver settings for Let Printer manage colour mode.

I don't see any manual settings for selecting which Black in in use. Did I miss it?
I would guess that cartridge contacts might be signaling the printer as to which Black is plugged in.



Fred

Thanks,

I'll check in a few minutes. I have that Off box ticked. I'll remove the tick and see what happens.

What happens when you move from Photo to Matte Black is that the list of papers on the left hand side changes. For example when you are in Matte none of the gloss and pearl surfaces are listed. So if I take out a Matte and insert the Photo I usually have to exit Q and go back so I can select my Pearl which I use 99% of the time - Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl.

Bye for a couple of hours.

Tony

Fred,

Why do you want me to change from Qimage manage colour to Printer manage color with the off box unticked?

I am sure I have used the former since starting with Q.

Tony

Because, you lead me to believe that you have odd packets of paper with no specific printer profiles for the paper and printer. The way to handle that situation is to set LET PRINTER MANAGE COLOUR, and that calls for the /PRGB.icm  in  Qimage and the driver set to ICM.
If you did have profiles for the specific papers, you wouldn't have wondered what paper selection to choose. That information would have been provided with the profile.

Fred

Did the Queen buy a copy of Q-Ultimate yet?

Fred,

Ah, I see the confusion.

I have downloaded profiles but some of the paper names, particularly the Ilford ones such as Gallerie Smooth Pearl, are not in the drop down list on the Epson controller. In this instance I have picked a similarly sounding Lustre.

Nor, as far as I could see, is Epson Double Sided Matte that I was using to use the Fred A technique on some notelets of Mrs G's water
colo(u)r originals.

CORRECTION. Double sided matte is on the list as it is an Epson profile - but no, and not surprisingly, none of the Ilford ones are there.


Tony

The Queen and Ultimate? She said she'd wait for my opinion. In fact I also have procrastinated but the recent post about tone sharpening interested me so I might at least trial it. Off to North Yorkshire this Sunday so I'll wait until we return to base.

Tony
You may be able to download custom profiles from the Ilford (or whoever) website. The correct paper choice on the printer driver is essential. There is an unofficial standard for profile names, the correct paper type is added at the end of the name as an abbreviation - e.g. E3800_WXProLWMatt_EAM.icm needs  Epson Archival Matt selected.

Brian

Great idea Brian.
It reminded me that I have the PDF file from Ilford that explains all the paper selections for the various papers in the various printers.
I'll try to email it to Tony
Thanks,
Fred

Thanks Brian and Fred,

Got the emails. They will be quite a help.

Thank you.

Tony

Brian,

I have read those pdf's sent by Fred.

You say "the correct paper choice on the printer driver is essential." That is not my problem. For example I use, mostly, the Ilford Gallerie Smooth Pearl and it is IGSPP9.

My original question was as to what paper type in the Epson S2400 controller box on the left hand side to I pick. What it lists (not surprisingly) is a variety of Epson papers. They don't do a Smooth Pearl so I pick a Lustre. Does this matter?

If I am ticking ICM and no colour management is the driver even bothered which paper I pick as long as I enter the right Epson 2400 profile for IGSPP9 in Qimage.

Tony

Tony.
You are going the wrong way.
See three attachments.
They show you which code letter stands for what paper selection using which printer.
The Pearl is showing to use Ultra glossy, and NO COLOR ADJUSTMENT in the driver.
See all three attachments. They contain the codes you need.
The little "n" in the code means NO COLOR ADJUSTMENT setting.

Fred

Thanks Fred,

Got it now.

I did not understand what the full implication of the driver file name was.

For my Galerie Smooth Pearl on the 2400 it is IGSPP9_EPR2400_PSPPn

So I use Premium Semi Gloss Photo Paper and No Color Adjustment.

It is interesting (to nobody but me maybe) that I have two profiles for that paper of different dates. They both have different characters at the end and this suggests that Ilford found a better match for the Epson.

I know that you, a year or so ago, suggested that I went the Profile Prism route. However, my scanner is a cheapo Photosmart 2575 and when I asked if anyone on the PP forum knew about them I got....silence. Anyway I never been unhappy with my WYSIWYG on the IGSPP paper and the Double Sided Matte Epson I am now using for notelets seems accurate - so if it ain't broke...

Now to find how to force the swop from matte to photo black ink without turning off Q.

Tony

Ok glad you caught on.
For a moment I thought I would have place a call to MI-6 and have an ENIGMA CODE person stop by your house.
 :D 8) :-X
Fred

Tony

The PSPP at the end stands for Premier Semigloss Photo Paper - the profile will not be accurate unless you set this in the printer driver.

Brian

Thanks Brian,

Got there in the end!!

Tony