September 2016 - colorsync-users

profiling back-printed plexiglass?
by Randy Norian 12 Dec '16

12 Dec '16

Good afternoon! It’s quite likely that this has been covered before, however, I have to ask. We are attempting to print high quality images on the back face of clear plexiglass, with a white ink layer behind the image. The print engine in question is a Rastek H625 (by EFI) UV-cured inkjet. While I can color manage paper prints with this device, the backside-plexiglass printing has me stymied. The images are extremely bright and overly-contrasty, to the point of being unacceptable, especially as companion pieces to other latex work we’re doing. I thought I’d just characterize the output on the plexiglass, however my ES-2000 won’t read the swatches through the plexiglass, for whatever reason — it simply faults out. I’m using EFI color profiler suite 4.6. Have any of you faced the same issue? Any advice on how to go about color managing this sort of printing? I know I have to figure out how to read these swatches, but beyond that, are there any caveats for working with "back side of glass” printing? Many thanks- Randy Norian

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Photoshop History Logging broken
by Martin Orpen 08 Nov '16

08 Nov '16

If Photoshop’s History Log feature is important to you, don’t upgrade to 2015.5 as it’s broken. The first log entry made in 2015.5 is the last log entry you’ll get :( Creating a new log doesn’t fix the problem. Logging will only work for the duration of the current session and then break as soon as you quit PS. -- Martin Orpen Idea Digital Imaging Ltd

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44" low-volume photo inkjet printer?
by Ben Goren 13 Sep '16

13 Sep '16

So, my Canon iPF8100 is on its last legs. It's served me not-miserably for several years...when it's worked, it's printed wonderfully, but I've also had to replace the logic board and I've gone through way more print heads than is reasonable. I don't do a lot of volume, and it's not unheard of for me to not need to use it for a couple months or so. I've been religious about printing at least a 36" x 11" test page with lots color usage at least once a week...but that doesn't seem to have spared me all that much in the way of headaches. Maybe being in Arizona doesn't help? It's air conditioned and kept at no more than about 80°F / 27°C, but we basically have zero humidity. Can anybody recommend a replacement that might have a better chance for survival? The print quality of the iPF8100 is, again, just fine for my needs -- though, of course, I'd always welcome a wider gamut. Better paper handling (including straight-through) wouldn't suck, but, again, I can manage with no worse than the iPF8100. Operations cost is high on the list...something friendly (or at least not excessively hostile) to third-party ink would be nice, including printheads that don't die unreasonably soon. Any other features would be mostly irrelevant; the iPF8100 is fast enough, has enough job accounting, and so on. I pretty much just need 44", photo quality, and not likely to die or otherwise eat me alive in maintenance and repairs. It looks like Canon and Epson remain the only big players. I wouldn't rule out other manufacturers, but I'd need some compelling reason to consider an alternative. Thanks, b&

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Re: Epson SC-P20000 (Dan Bergstrom)
by Mike Strickler 04 Sep '16

04 Sep '16

Dan, I've not looked at your epl, but I would wonder whether you're not simply observing the inherent limitation of density and choma on this type of material with those inks. That likely dictated the prelimitation of those channels. A "pink" magenta sounds about right for a matte paper, as do a strong yellow (relatvely unaffected by the surface) and a pretty good black (below 20 L*) with matte black ink. A good indication is given by looking at the gamut plot of an RGB profile I saw for that printer on matte proofing paper--fits your description, and those limits were not imposed by your contone driver. If you give us the actual solid lab values you've obtained I'm sure any number of us could tell you if they are normal and expected for such materials with this ink set. Mike > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sun, 04 Sep 2016 06:33:56 +0000 > From: Dan Bergstrom <DanBergstrom(a)primarycolor.com> > To: "colorsync-users(a)lists.apple.com" > <colorsync-users(a)lists.apple.com> > Subject: Epson SC-P20000 > Message-ID: > <ADB706771A981640A52486D9BF1027389D9B8368(a)PR1-LATIRV-EX1.primarycolor.lan> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > EFI has no HT driver for this printer. Disappointing. > And cyan and magenta channels for all matte black media types have been severely limited. > So I'm left with a linearization of an astronomically high yellow b*, very low black L* and a baby blue cyan with pink magenta. > Anyone have any insight on this? > > > thanks > > -- > Dan Bergstrom | Color Technology and Quality | PRIMARY COLOR ORANGE COUNTY > http://www.primarycolor.com | T 949 660 7080 C 949 616 4986 > > > > ------------------------------

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Epson SC-P20000
by Dan Bergstrom 04 Sep '16

04 Sep '16

EFI has no HT driver for this printer. Disappointing. And cyan and magenta channels for all matte black media types have been severely limited. So I'm left with a linearization of an astronomically high yellow b*, very low black L* and a baby blue cyan with pink magenta. Anyone have any insight on this? thanks -- Dan Bergstrom | Color Technology and Quality | PRIMARY COLOR ORANGE COUNTY http://www.primarycolor.com | T 949 660 7080 C 949 616 4986

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