Need help printing on 8"x6"

BalSanghera

BalSanghera

Messages
1,241
Name
Bal Sanghera
Edit My Images
Yes
Bought 100 sheets of 260gsm Resin Coated Gloss photo paper and some 8x6 photo strut mounts... However I have noticed photos are taken in 3:2 and when selecting glossy paper there is no option to do 8x6 but can do 8x10...

Is 8x6 a weird size? Because im using mounts im not to worried about doing borderless but ideally I want to be able to print without cropping...

Am I making sense? Its been a long day :nuts:
 
mstphoto said:
You would have thought that at the birth of digital photography print sizes could have been changed from imperial sizes to metric.

A6 for 6x4
A5 for 7x5 or 8x6
A4 for 10x8
Click to expand...

Will give selecting A5 Borderless a try im assuming I still need to crop...
 
8 x 6 is a bit of a hangover from earlier times. Essentially it was a nearest fit to the even older "Whole Plate" size which was 8 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches. With the advent of automatic printers ( mainly for colour) the nearest roll paper size was 8", thus the 8 x 6 was born.

As most photographers were shooting 120 film at the time, and the majority using 6 x6 cm film caeras, the 8 x 6 gave a nice crop. Although the 8 x 8 was probably more popular.

Album and mount manufacturers naturally made mounts to fit this size, and I suppose so did ink jet paper manufacturers . A more natural size is 6 x 9inches in today's digital I found one source, of these

http://www.kenro.co.uk/product/BROWNSTRUTS_Group/3/61/Kenro+Brown+Strut+Mounts.html

Speed Graphic stock them

http://www.speedgraphic.co.uk/search_results.asp?usrID=4BC3FA87-7B06-4BA1-B9E2-11326458EE49

Hope this helps
 
One probelm I have is the paper I bought gets streaks on it after slide them through the monuts even after 48hours of drying :bang:
 
BTW
A5 is 148 x 210mm
or
8¼ x 5¾ inches approx

So, yes, you will have to crop on the shortest side.
When I need 8x6 prints I do my adjustments, sharpen then crop to 8x6 in photoshop then save the files and take them to Jessops or Tesco to get printed
 
I have notice the lines on prints sometimes but it's usually when the printer defaults to using a gloss ink on gloss paper. For some reason that results in those lines. Turn off the gloss ink and lines disappear
 
Chaz Photos said:
Resin Coated Gloss photo paper you say? sure its not Photographic paper?
Click to expand...

Thats what it says on the packaging... "Professional Photo Paper Resin Coated Gloss 260GSM" made by mirrorproducts.com

AndyB said:
I have notice the lines on prints sometimes but it's usually when the printer defaults to using a gloss ink on gloss paper. For some reason that results in those lines. Turn off the gloss ink and lines disappear
Click to expand...

I will try turning of gloss and selecting normal photo quality paper. (y)
 
Sounds like the ink isn't drying and is staying on the surface. This can happen if you are using pigmented inks with paper optimised for dye inks.

What printer are you using ?

I'd see what paper the printer manufacturer recomends ( usually their own ) and see if this makes any difference
 
Using a epson r220, went on manufactures website and it looks like they dont stock that size paper anymore... Most likely discontinued and probz why play was selling it cheap!

I dont think the ink is drying properly... I am going to do a test print and leave it until after the weekend and see if the same smear/scratches appear when putting them through the Spicer Hallfield mounts I have got... Bought 100 which I am now regretting as the more common size seems to be 8x10 rather than 6x8 :bonk:
 
BalSanghera said:
Thats what it says on the packaging... "Professional Photo Paper Resin Coated Gloss 260GSM" made by mirrorproducts.com



I will try turning of gloss and selecting normal photo quality paper. (y)
Click to expand...

Turn off the gloss but still use the correct paper description as gloss paper. The type of paper selected wil result in different amounts of ink being applied so it's important to get that right.

I know it might be an obvious question but you did run the paper through the right way round didn't you?
 
I'd get a cheap pack of well known paper to try out. Use Epson if you can else Ilford Kodak, or even HP.

PC World do small sizes of both HP and Kodak for between £4-5
 
I came to this site via Google after buying Mirror Products 8x6 resin based paper which I chose as it seemed that this size was not available elsewhere. I was printing on an Epson P50 (with CIS) a late Edwardian family portrait belonging to a friend of mine that I scanned and repaired (B&W natch). The original pic is is as said above an old whole plate format and in remarkably good condition seeing it can be reliably dated to 1915.

I had no problems at all with streaking - apart from one occasion when I did put the paper in upside down in a rush before a deadline - oops! Much more difficult was printing without a profile which left it very hit and miss. Fortunately the pack contains 50 sheets so I did repeated trials initially on a 2x2 segment of the pic and re-using the paper to compare outputs. In fact I did use the gloss settings in the Epson menu and as early results were so dark I chose Ultra glossy. Even then it was dark so I took the plunge and switched from PS colour management to printer management and experimented with the printer settings. It still left the pic a bit dark and more worryingly with a slight green colour cast - although other settings might have eliminated this. I then fiddled with the Levels and and added sepia duotoning and to be fair the scan had not reproduced the sepia adequately (Epson 3700). After a couple of hours some very acceptable results. I would be a bit wary of printing in colour without having the printer/paper combo profiled.

I ended up really appreciating how the original photographer produced such a outstanding pic/print a hundred years ago.

Tony
 
Reading this thread reminds me why I don't own a printer and have all my prints done commercially.
DS Colour Labs have a great choice of paper surfaces and sizes, both metric and imperial (including 8"x6") and are competitively priced.
For the amount of money I'm saving by not having a printer, I can have hundreds of prints made, and probably far better than I would have printed them myself.

I have no connection with DS Colour Labs other than as a very satisfied customer.
 
Fair point Brian - obviously works for you. This was completely exceptional for me to use a very different paper. Otherwise I use Epson paper with the canned profile in the printer and a calibrated screen. I use a continuous ink system and save a small fortune*. It's good enough not to have the printer profiled even with the CIS ink, though I have toyed with the idea. For me the advantage is immediate results and I can tweak the pic if needed and re-do in a couple of minutes.

*Try InkExpress - again no connection other than a satisfied customer.

Tony
 
Last edited:
Brian G said:
Reading this thread reminds me why I don't own a printer and have all my prints done commercially.
DS Colour Labs have a great choice of paper surfaces and sizes, both metric and imperial (including 8"x6") and are competitively priced.
For the amount of money I'm saving by not having a printer, I can have hundreds of prints made, and probably far better than I would have printed them myself.

I have no connection with DS Colour Labs other than as a very satisfied customer.
Click to expand...

As Brian has said try using a commercial printing outlet. You could also try contacting someone who uses a Dye Sub printer as these produce touch dry images straight out of the printer. Ideal if putting in mounts and they print in a range of sizes including 8x6.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top