Please help with Epson R285 prints

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586
Name
Steve
Edit My Images
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Hi guys, can someone explain something as if to a child please?

I have a monitor calibrated with a Spyder2, and an Epson R285 printer.

How do I get my prints to look anything like they do on screen?

I've seen suggestions to just create a virtual copy in LR, raise the brightness and then print. This just blows out the highlights on the print and leaves the darks and shadows way too dark. :shake:

I've tried setting the profile in Color Management to various things, including all the ones for the printer and even the display profile for the Spyder2. All with disappointing results.

I've seen people talk about getting the ICC profiles from the paper manufacturers. I'm using Xerox Premium Photo Paper but I can't find anywhere where Xerox give these profiles out.

:bang: Please help, in simple terms?
 
make sure your brightness is around 95-100cm2

unlikely Xeros has profiles for the paper.

do you print using LR to control colour management or do you let printer manage colours?

take us through you workflow for printing.
 
Thanks for responding.
I'm an impatient bugger and have tried so many variants that I don't have a printing workflow as such.

However, I've discovered today that if I

  • export the image to PS
  • increase the image brightness by 50 clicks
  • in print menu
    • make PS manage colours
    • select my printer's profile
    • choose perceptual rendering intent
  • in print settings/advanced
    • choose icm and check the 'off' box
I get quite an accurate tonal range, and the print is only slightly darker than the screen image.

I'll try some more tweaks when I get more paper! :LOL:
 
Thanks for responding.
I'm an impatient bugger and have tried so many variants that I don't have a printing workflow as such.

However, I've discovered today that if I

  • export the image to PS
  • increase the image brightness by 50 clicks
  • in print menu
    • make PS manage colours
    • select my printer's profile
    • choose perceptual rendering intent
  • in print settings/advanced
    • choose icm and check the 'off' box
I get quite an accurate tonal range, and the print is only slightly darker than the screen image.

I'll try some more tweaks when I get more paper! :LOL:


what profile? can you take a screen grab
 
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I know in PS you can slect various options for printer profiles so assume you can do the same in LR, try assigning your print profile to it and see if that improves prints for you
 
Here you go POAH.
BTW, I accidentally installed R290 firmware a while ago, no different from 285 though...

5056958937_c50ef4eb05.jpg
 
Oh wow, I'd discounted one of those as being out of my budget.
Yes, I'd very much like to try it please. :D
 
Whatever paper you are using if you don't have profiles for it you will run into problems using other profiles that are not intended for that printer/paper combination.

Unfortunate I can't find anyone that supplies caned profiles for your machine , probably they don't classify it as one that would be used with profiles. You may get away with profiles for a similar machine . Try the R300, which is also a 6 colour machine. Ilford supply profiles for Galerie paper for this machine. try a small amount of this paper and see if that improves results.
 
Ummm, I've apologised to Steve for being a div, but I thought I'd better let everyone else interested know...

I put proper cartridges in my printer today after ripping out the CISS, and the problem has gone away! :confused:

Lesson learned, and no further need for chastising, thanks! :coat:

Thanks to all who contributed, it was much appreciated.

What an excellent printer the Epson R285 is! :D:whistle:
 
I just do not get this. I have currently 2 printers Epson RX 520 and RX620. The 520 has 4 cartridges and the 620 6 cartridges. I cannot see any improvement with the 6 header. Just a sales gimmick from Epson I suppose.When I have done the first print with all the settings at zero I study the print, noting what needs changing. With the good print I then store those settings and away I go. Never have to change the setting.
 
6 colours means bigger colour gamaute and more accurate colour representation
BO****KS. And a 8 cartridge printer is better still. If printer manufacturers stood still they would be out of business.
 
so you are telling me that 6 carts is not better than 4?
So with the addition of light cyan the sky looks slightly less blue. Do you remember the colour of the sky when you took the shot.
 
So with the addition of light cyan the sky looks slightly less blue. Do you remember the colour of the sky when you took the shot.

gray, I live in Glasgow.

with the addition of a light cyan cart you'll have a wider blue gamut meaning more accurate display of saturation
 
BO****KS. And a 8 cartridge printer is better still. If printer manufacturers stood still they would be out of business.

I guess you're testing your opinion with a fully colour rendered RAW image (12 or 14 bit) against a jpg image (8 bit colour depth) on gallery archive photo paper? :shrug:

Try displaying the Gamut warning on PS against the printer/paper profile you're viewing!
 
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An interesting image:

img-gamut.jpg

From http://www.talkphotography.co.uk

which kinda shows why more ink cartridges would help the gamut. I never realised the CYMK gamut was so small compared to RGB!

So you can see the limitations in what colours the standard CMYK gamut can produce, so you add in a colour from outside that gamut and you will be effectively extending the gamut range towards the RGB - so the more colours you add outside of the original range the closer you'll get to the RGB gamut. I think haha :)
 
gray, I live in Glasgow.

with the addition of a light cyan cart you'll have a wider blue gamut meaning more accurate display of saturation

I agree and I think to be precise it is to add a light cyan cart which colour is outside of the standard CMYK gamut otherwise it wouldn't make sense (see my post above) :)
 
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