I set up a new Epson Stylus Pro 3880 this week, so I had a chance to try Paul's EbVT curves for the 3880. I have a supply of Premier Art Smooth Fine Art 325, and one of the curve's Paul has provided is for this paper: EbVT-PremierArt-Smooth-HP-325-Neutral-smoothest
The ink I used is a fresh batch, starting with WJ1082 from STS. I mixed up the C6b base from scratch. Importantly, I weighed all the elements rather than mixing by volume. I think weighing is important for precision and reproducability -- plus Paul's curves are based on weighing.
The two images I routinely use to test curves are (1) Keith Cooper's black and white test print, and (2) Inkjetmall's Piezography test. I've used them so many times that I can tell right away if things are working properly. The one from Inkjetmall is particularly unforgiving in the blacks.
The
"out of the box" results are remarkable given that I didn't linearized them. 100% black
is easily distinguished by eye from 99% black. Most people could be happy with
these results and not have to linearize. I also tried the curve with my own linearization, and Paul's works better.
QTR has a very steep learning curve. I like that there's an option for people starting out that will allow them to get to good prints with minimal fuss. Of course there are only a few paper choices in the ZIP file Paul supplies, and he doesn't have a 3880 anymore to make more. But if you use those papers you can dive right into printing with this setup.