Trouble Printing on Epson Matte

[RedwoodGuy]

Epson R2400 and Lightroom 4.2

Paper: Epson "Ultra Premium Presentation Paper - formerly Enhanced Matte - S041339"
Problem: muddy darks and freakish blues

I have tried the various Epson profiles for matte, but none of them see specifically for this paper. I have also tried using the regular printer driver. The results are always about the same, which is pretty ugly.

I downloaded the latest Epson software and profiles. So, I was surprised not to see a profile for this paper. I also noticed that in the paper selection pulldown, this is not listed. There are only about 3 papers listed - gloss, lustre and semi-gloss.

Suggestions appreciated.

[Randy Carone]

Not to offend but have you chosen Matte Black, which should change the Media Type choices? Also, make certain you are printing on the correct side by doing the wet finger test.

[RedwoodGuy]

No offense taken. I am not sure what a wet finger test is, but I will take a look at your suggs and let you know. Thanks.

[Randy Carone]

Moisten the tips of your index finger and thumb and grab the corner of the paper. The finger that sticks to the paper is the coated side. Or, touch the corner of the paper on your tongue. The 'salty' side is the coated side.

[Paul2660]

What rendering intent are you using?  I would recommend Perceptual for a matte black, not relative.
Relative seems to make the blacks muddy and many times way to dark, less shadow detail.

Not to offend, but I don't know the R2400, I am assuming you are selecting Matte black, as photo black can sometimes
create the effects you mention when printed on a matte paper.

Epson Enhanced matte is one of their standards, if you can't find a profile I would try calling Epson and see what they
say.  Depending on the inkset of the 2400, you might be able to use a different profile i.e. one for a larger Epson that
has the same ink set. 

Paul

[stormyboy]

Moisten the tips of your index finger and thumb and grab the corner of the paper. The finger that sticks to the paper is the coated side. Or, touch the corner of the paper on your tongue. The 'salty' side is the coated side.

I hadn't heard of the wet finger paper test either, but your second test reminded me of my Earth Science class from eons ago.  During a rock and mineral identification lab test, one fellow student, knowing halite had a salty taste, proceeded to lick all fifty specimens.  I'm sure he got at least one right!

Tom

[hugowolf]

I hadn't heard of the wet finger paper test either, but your second test reminded me of my Earth Science class from eons ago.  During a rock and mineral identification lab test, one fellow student, knowing halite had a salty taste, proceeded to lick all fifty specimens.  I'm sure he got at least one right!

The damp finger test works for most, but not all coated papers. Canson Baryta Photographique, for example, has an anti curl coating on the back which is almost as sticky as the top coating.

Brian A

[hugowolf]

Epson R2400 and Lightroom 4.2

I downloaded the latest Epson software and profiles. So, I was surprised not to see a profile for this paper. I also noticed that in the paper selection pulldown, this is not listed. There are only about 3 papers listed - gloss, lustre and semi-gloss.

Ultra Premium Presentation Paper Matte should be available as a selection when allowing the printer to manage color, even if you have photo black ink selected, unless this has changed in recent drivers. It is on p69 of the manual. Perhaps this is no longer available when photo black is selected?

When turning off color management in the driver and using LR to manage color, if the profile doesn’t appear in the drop down list of profiles in the Print module, try ‘Other…’, at the bottom of the profile list.

If the profile isn’t available in Lightroom, then check the list of installed profiles on your system. In Windows > Control Panel > Color Management > All Profiles. On a Mac, the profiles should be stored in /Library/ColorSync/Profiles. If the profiles is installed on your system but not appearing in LR, try closing and restarting LR. If that doesn’t work, try rebooting.

Brian A

[RedwoodGuy]

I'll be doing the printing today. Indeed, stupid as it sounds, I had neglected to change from Photo Black to Matte Black ink. So, there's one biggie out of the way.

On ICC profiles, what is annoying is that the abbreviations used in the profile name don't always match the title Epson gives the paper. There are a lot of subtle variations of names.

I understand the wet finger now. Thanks.

I'll try all these things this afternoon and see how it goes. Thanks to all for the help.

[RedwoodGuy]

I did finally get the right ink, right paper and locate the settings. The Epson software is a bit inconsistent. To see the settings after changing to matte ink, I have to shut the printer off and restart it. Even then, the main dialog box shows all the old settings and you have to shift to the advanced dialog to finally see "matter paper" as a setting. 

The prints are at least reasonable now, and I will have to practice with LR settings to get the print fine tuned. Thanks to all for the advice.