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Calxoddity
28-08-2009, 10:37am
Hi,
I recently took delivery of an Epson R1900 A3+ printer for use with Aperture on my iMac, and just thought I'd report the experience. In summary, it's all good - I have lovely prints on everything from Epson glossy to exotic 315gsm matte textured papers.

Whether you're setting up the printer in Aperture or PSE6 or whatever, I've discovered a few things that make the job easier:

1. Make sure your inks are reasonably full and the printheads are clean before you start configuring.

2. Use only one sort of paper initially, until you end up with a working configuration. If you can get 10cm x 15cm paper, that's ideal as it cuts down on ink consumption and paper costs whilst you're trying to get it right.

3. Keep a detailed record of the application and print driver settings in a spreadsheet as you go along, and only change one variable at a time as you try to arrive at the right outcome.

4. Make sure that your monitor is calibrated, so that there is a reasonable chance that the printed output will at some stage look like the on-screen output.

5. If you aren't using 10x15 paper, make the best of the A4 paper by placing 4 different types of images on it to test the profiles and suitability of the paper for particular types of images. I used one image each of a test image (colour bars, gradations etc), a B&W image, a landscape image with trees, sky, etc, and a impressionist painting image all on the one page.

6. Make sure you select the right paper profiles when printing. Sometimes it doesn't matter so much, and I've successfully used profiles for another paper altogether, but it again reduces variation.

7. In Aperture, colour management should be OFF in the printer driver, otherwise the prints will be double profiled and all too dark or too light. The correct .icc profile should be selected in the Aperture print dialogue, and the matching paper type chosen in the printer driver settings.

8. Once you have a baseline correct printing setup, grap a sample pack of papers to see what you like. I got both the Ilford and Hahnemeule sample packs to play with, and discovered new looks for familiar photos.

9. It's probably a good idea not to try to print borderless initially - saves ink and mess and allows you to appreciate the paper being used a little more.

That's it for now. If anybody wants specific settings or help with Aperture printing, let me know. I'm really impressed with the printer and the quality of the output, especially on matt paper, has exceeded my expectations.

Regards,
Calx (from sunny NZ this week)

MarkW
29-08-2009, 8:32am
Hi Calx
I have the same printer and to date have just been firing up CS3 through aperture to do my printing as I didn't like the aperture results. I have CS3 configured to get a good result but this can be a real PITA

Could you give me a bit more detail on what setting you changed (and where they reside) so that I can get your results.

PS Where did you get the sample packs of paper from - I've only ever used the Epson Ultra Glossy, maybe its about time I experimented with something else

Calxoddity
29-08-2009, 3:47pm
Mark,
I thought it would be difficult initially, but once I figured out that you need to switch colour Management OFF in the printer driver, it was all plain sailing. The prints have been quite spectacular and the colour accuracy has really really good. I've tested printed successfully for the following papers so far in Aperture:

EPSON - Premium Glossy Photo

INNOVA - Cold Press Rough Textured Natural White 315gsm

ILFORD
Premium Plus Glossy Paper
Galerie Smooth Gloss Photo Paper
Galerie Smooth Pearl Photo Paper

HAHNEMUHLE
Bamboo 290gsm
FineArt Pearl 285gsm
Torchon 285gsm
German Etching 310gsm
Museum Etching 350gsm
FineArt Baryta 325gsm

The paper sample packs were obtained from Foto Riesel in Kent St Sydney - they have a great range of papers in stock.

Below are two screen grabs - both for printing on any of the Hahnemuhle matte papers (all you need to do is change to the specific paper profile (ie where it says "blah blah Bamboo") and all the other settings remain the same for all the matte papers. I printed the Innova paper using a Hahnemuhle profile as I didn't have an Innova one for the r1900 and it worked great as well!

The Ilford papers were set up in the same way, but with the printer driver paper selections being Premium Glossy or Semi-gloss for the Ilford glossy and pearl.

You can also see the A4 test set of 4 images I was using. The colour swatches on the formal test image were spot-on between screen and print, so I was doing the happy dance a lot...
:efelant:

Anyhow, enjoy!

MarkW
29-08-2009, 5:05pm
Hi Calx
I tried your setting but they didn't work for me - image too dark. I think this comes back to the type of monitor that I use - the Cinema screen - as opposed to your screen. Whilst mine is calibrated using a Spyder 3, I have always had the feeling that the monitor is too bright. This is a known fault with these units but thats OK, I get around this issue by using the photo control on the printer driver and winding the brightness up to +5.

Calxoddity
29-08-2009, 5:13pm
Mark,
I used Shades to reduce the brightness of the iMac - previously had the "too bright" problem despite calibrating. With the reduced brightness it's now all good irrespective of whether printing from HP printer, or the r1900, from Aperture or Preview.

Regards,
Calx