TrickProductions wrote:
Hello

I recently bought a used Epson Stylus Pro 7600. All the prints heads are fine and I am using genuine epson ink and paper.

The problem however, I can't seem to get a usable photo print from it. I have downloaded the appropriate color profiles but I don't know if maybe I am using the wrong settings, etc...

In doing different test, sometimes the images are overly tinted with magenta, or washed out.

I am printing from Photoshop CS5 from my 2010 27" iMac. I have Epson Premium Luster Photo Paper 260.

Can someone please run me through the correct procedure to get a good print?

Thank you for your time and I can give more info if you need it.

http://www.peachpit.com/store/real-worl … 0321267221

I highly recommend this book.  If you're going to print professionally, you need to be able to diagnose your own workflow issues. 

You'll get lots of great advise as well as lots of mediocre advise in a venue such as this.  You just won't know which is which.

sdgillis wrote:
printing an RGB file on CMYK printer?

Of course.

sdgillis wrote:
printing an RGB file on CMYK printer?

Unless he's using a RIP, that's the way it's most often done.

Zave Smith Photography wrote:
I will also place a couple of bucks on a clogged print head.

Or double color management, or the wrong profile for the paper being used, or a problem with his monitor profile, or a bad monitor, or incorrect viewing illumination, or something that doesn't immediately come to mind...

still-photography wrote:

Unless he's using a RIP, that's the way it's most often done.

It's done that way with a RIP as well.

sdgillis wrote:
printing an RGB file on CMYK printer?

still-photography wrote:
Unless he's using a RIP, that's the way it's most often done.

MMDesign wrote:
It's done that way with a RIP as well.

True, but not the point I was making.  As I'm sure you realize, I was heading off the possible suggestion that one doesn't send an RGB file to a CMYK printer.

While we're on the subject...

MMDesign wrote:
What would be best though is getting RIP software.

I have to disagree.  Our OP doesn't seem to be able to successfully use the canned Epson driver/software package.  Sending him off to buy/use a RIP could be disastrous.  Would you like to explain to him things like linearization, ink-limiting, input-output-simulation profiles, black generation or anything on those lines?

still-photography wrote:

sdgillis wrote:
printing an RGB file on CMYK printer?

still-photography wrote:
Unless he's using a RIP, that's the way it's most often done.

MMDesign wrote:
It's done that way with a RIP as well.

True, but not the point I was making.  As I'm sure you realize, I was heading off the possible suggestion that one doesn't send an RGB file to a CMYK printer.

While we're on the subject...


I have to disagree.  Our OP doesn't seem to be able to successfully use the canned Epson driver/software package.  Sending him off to buy/use a RIP could be disastrous.  Would you like to explain to him things like linearization, ink-limiting, input-output-simulation profiles, black generation or anything on those lines?

It's no where near as daunting as you make it sound. Once you get it set up, and if you buy it from the right place, they'll install and set it up for you, it's pretty simple.

TrickProductions wrote:
Thank you to everyone who has responded. Let me give a little more info on the situation. I will try and be as thorough as possible.

- I have a 2010 27" iMac. It has been calibrated, but not with any optical device such as X-Rite, etc...

I don't believe this is the problem, if it were a monitor calibration issue I would be getting sleight color differences. I am getting extreme color shifts and images that are completely unusable.

- The printer is an Epson Stylus Pro 7600 with Ultrachrome Inks

I have checked all the heads and nozzles, there are no clogs. The nozzle checks, and test prints are all fine.

- I have downloaded the Epson icc color profiles created by Bill Atkinson (I have the profiles for all paper types

- I am currently using a 24" roll of Epson Premium Luster Photo Paper (260)

When I print from Photoshop I use the following settings




Let me know if I missed anything. I will continue to try and troubleshoot and update as I go. Thank you again for taking the time to give your input.

you have  to uncheck  match print color, then  go to printer setting and in color settings you have to check (off no color adjustment,)  if perceptual is not  working  try  relative colorimetric  this is how I get super close to my printing using  epson and  premiun luster paper.

365 Digitals Exposed wrote:

you have  to uncheck  match print color, then  go to printer setting and in color settings you have to check (off no color adjustment,)  if perceptual is not  working  try  relative colorimetric  this is how I get super close to my printing using  epson and  premiun luster paper.

Thanks! I'll try that and see if it works. I appreciate the help.

TrickProductions wrote:

Thanks! I'll try that and see if it works. I appreciate the help.

forgot  to mention I always buy the 4x5 luster paper to print in small first and than I do the big print . good luck check this out.
http://www.gballard.net/photoshop/epson/cs5/

365 Digitals Exposed wrote:

forgot  to mention I always buy the 4x5 luster paper to print in small first and than I do the big print . good luck check this out.
http://www.gballard.net/photoshop/epson/cs5/

That link is a great reference. And I like the idea of printing a smaller test first. I will test everything out first thing tomorrow.

365 Digitals Exposed wrote:

forgot  to mention I always buy the 4x5 luster paper to print in small first and than I do the big print . good luck check this out.
http://www.gballard.net/photoshop/epson/cs5/

Yes this, I buy 100 sheet boxes of 4*5 for test prints.
Although that might not work as well if you have roll paper set up?
I use the epson 3880

TrickProductions wrote:
I do have one more question for my Epson users out there. Right now it takes almost 2 hours to print a 24"x36" print. But there is a checkbox for "high speed". How much time difference does that make and does the quality of the print suffer at all?

Thanks for anyone who has and will contribute to the conversation.

I print with an epson 7800 and rarely go over 300 dpi. Depending on the subject, I have printed as low as 270dpi for a 16X20 that was in a museum show...the resolution was fine. Usually the larger an image is, people tend to stand back away from it. You are using a lot of ink the way you are going.

Giacomo Cirrincioni wrote:
I'm in the market for a new printer.  I currently have an Epson R2400 that I use for knock around stuff and the rest of the time I have Duggal make prints for me.  I was going to get the 3880 as a replacement, but every time I go down this road, I think about getting a BIG printer.  Honestly though, I don't know if I can justify the cost. 

How much of a headache are they to maintain?

I know several people who own them.
They can be a bitch to keep up.
If anything goes wrong they send people in to fix them.

Most professional printers I know...
Have more than one.

Giacomo Cirrincioni wrote:
I'm in the market for a new printer.  I currently have an Epson R2400 that I use for knock around stuff and the rest of the time I have Duggal make prints for me.  I was going to get the 3880 as a replacement, but every time I go down this road, I think about getting a BIG printer.  Honestly though, I don't know if I can justify the cost. 

How much of a headache are they to maintain?

I have a 3880 and it is a very nice printer.  Minimal maintenance is change out the maintenance tank (or pad) once it gets full.  Never has clogged - yet.

I generally print 17x25 inch or 17x25.5 inch prints out of it.  I order 17x25 inch paper out of Red River or Inkpress "special cuts" that they provide.  Or just load 17" wide paper in a 100' rolls and cut it to length.  I'm not fond of the normal 17x22 inch size as it is cropped and not the ideal 2:3 ratio FX sensor size. The 17x22 inch looks more like an older 8x10 inch format which is a bit "squarish."  The 17x25.5 inch is really a nice rectangular look like what your viewfinder sees.  The 3880 prints about a 5mm white border on the big sizes though and you'll have to watch how you feed it so it won't track crooked and the border will follow.

Framed, with non-reflective Tru-View museum glass, they are maybe 28x36 inches so they are quite large.  I put one of those brass picture frame lights on the tops of them with a couple of daylight T-6 lamps in them so the color is accurate.  I added a dimmer control too so they can serve as night lights or if I want or mood lights.  Costs me about $600 to have them framed too.

Next step would be maybe a 24" wide printer, but I could outsource those as a 24" printer is very heavy and takes the room of a washing machine (or two) and weighs about as much.  Framed 24" wide prints would be huge and more costly to frame in that size too.  You need to print quite a bit to keep the ink flowing in them too.  Even local shop has theirs dry out a few nozzles over a weekend since they shut off the A/C and it gets hot in the shop so Monday they run a nozzle clean cycle which eats pricey ink too.  I keep a plastic cover over mine to keep the ink from drying out, but so far it hasn't given me a bad nozzle check.

Fwiw, I also use a ColorMunki Photo to set up the monitor, and printer/paper ICM profiles.  Fun little unit to use too.  I also use Jon Cone's inks and refillable carts in it to cut down the insane Epson ink price.

Cone also makes a Piezo-inkset for the 3880 if you want a full tonal range B&W as it is all B&W inks and no color carts at all.  I'd like to go with 'dye ink' on a 3880 as metallic prints look much better with dye as that 'transparent' ink allows the reflective surface of the paper to shine through rather than cover it with pigment.  Another day for that.

Have fun!