Re: Linearizing The Epson Printer
Re: Linearizing The Epson Printer
- Subject: Re: Linearizing The Epson Printer
- From: email@hidden (Anthony Sanna)
- Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 21:54:28 -0500
>
NCA is certainly a way to go and is what Epson recommends. It just does not
>
work very well as the printer is so horribly non linear in the NCA state.
>
<snip>, but if you can get that monitor or scanner to behave in a more
>
linear fashion through some combination of hardware and software
>
adjustments - the resultant profiled work will be far superior.
OK, Nick. Now I'm perplexed. The 1270 and its twin, the 1280, have been
around for a couple of years, and I have been following the threads
concerning them on this esteemed list for as long. To me, there have
been three general problem/recommendations that have come up on the list
over this time, which are the following (not including fading/orange
prints or the whole pigment/metamerism matter of the 2000):
The first issue that cropped up (soon after the 1270 did) was how to
profile it with all the permutations of Epson's confusing print dialog.
You stated that NCA is Epson's recommendation for profiling, but way back
when, no one was getting much direction from Epson on anything, and, at
least for me, the NCA routine came from Andrew, CD, Bruce, and others on
this list.
A good deal of time past, and then a few more fish were thrown into the
Epson kettle. This addition, beyond the simple NCA suggestion, was that
the profile created from the printed target was specific to the
resolution and print settings in the NCA dialog. So, as an example, if
you were profiling Epson's MPHW and printed the target at 360dpi, it
would NOT be valid for making prints at 1440dpi.
Jack Clark and I (or actually Jack and his Spectrolino) tested this out
recently by profiling four Epson papers at six different NCA print
settings - 360dpi (high speed), 720dpi (high speed/finest detail), 720dpi
(finest detail), 1440dpi (high speed), 1440dpi, and 2880dpi. As it
turned out, while using the correct profile/paper combination, mix 'n
matching the print resolution/settings made a difference - sometimes a
big difference!
Now, a couple of years into these printers, comes news from the list that
NCA is an OK, but imperfect way to get these printers to perform, and
what you really need to do is burn up a few hundred sheets of paper
playing with the endless combinations of Epson's color controls. My head
started to spin. I felt faint. I had a flashback of a guy, screwdriver
stuck in the back of his monitor, trying to wiggle the pots around to get
his display to match the print.
It also led to the following comment from my previous e-post:
>
>
> To me, this sounds like the scenario that ColorSync was intended to
>
> prevent.
>
>
Actually colorsync was never intended to be used for calibration, but just
>
to characterize devices already in a known and steady state. The more one
>
can get a piece of hardware to be linear and consistent the better the
>
profile will be. A colorsync profile really shouldn't be relied on for
>
calibration.
...and I agree with you on that, Nick, but I guess I was assuming that
these inkjet devices were a whole lot more linear than is now being
suggested. Do the pre-profiling linearization steps that some profiling
packages have make up for this? They couldn't, if what you're saying is
true, because none of them actually alter the characteristics of the
printer or its RIP/driver.
So here's the question for all you color pro's on the list - I'm
serious here... Bruce, Andrew, turn the radio down; CD, Neil, Chris,
listen up; Nick, you too - you've all been lecturing and consulting and
getting paid REAL money for setting up client's systems, so how have you
been making REALLY GOOD PROFILES for these potentially fabulous, cheap
little printers? Sometimes, despite all the profiles that I've made for
the 1270 and 1280, I think I got a better print the day I took it out of
the box and just clicked "PhotoEnhance".
TEN POUNDS OF CHOCOLATE for the one who makes it work! ...and it's good
chocolate. I know the guy who makes it.
Tony
Anthony R. Sanna
Vice-President
SACO Foods, Inc.
6120 University Avenue
Middleton, Wisconsin 53562 USA
email@hidden
www.sacofoods.com
1-800-373-7226
(608) 238-9101
(608) 238-8149 - fax
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