Digital BW, The Print

Thanks for the suggestion, Jay.

Yes, I tried that, and it seemed to increase the density of the tones 
between black and paper white, but didn't seem to boost the Dmax at 
all.  The tech guy at Epson said that bumping the color density will 
not increase the total ink limit, just the intermediate densities.  
That was my experience, but I only tried one test.  It is probably 
worth revisiting to be absolutely sure.

Unless some new evidence comes to light, I have to conclude it is a 
driver limitation tied to premature ink limits programmed into their 
matte paper settings.  So, the solution is an updated driver or a RIP.

No such problem with QTR, BTW.  It lays down all the ink I need on my 
4000.  But for color on matte papers, it looks like a RIP is my only 
current solution.  The Epson 4000 driver does fine with glossy papers 
on my printer.

Lou

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Jay Massena" 
<jay@a...> wrote:
> I believe I heard it mentioned on another thread that boosting 
color density in the print driver (Advanced->Paper Config) translates 
into a boost to the ink limits. Have you given that a try?
> 
> -J-
> 
> 
> Aris Editions
> w: ariseditions.com
> e: jay@a...
> p: 206.340.6047
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com 
[mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of 
photoian@c...
> Sent: Monday, April 25, 2005 11:36 AM
> To: Group
> Subject: [Digital BW] Re:DMaxEpson 4000 vs Epson 7600 (9600)
> 
> 
> Lou, you imply that there is a refillable cart for the 4000? How do 
one obtain such a thing?
> 
> Ian
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Message: 9         
>    Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2005 20:39:40 -0000
>    From: "Louis Dina" <lbdina@c...>
> Subject: Re: DMax Epson 4000 vs Epson 7600 (9600)
> 
> 
> Shilesh....
> 
> What's Up?  IMO, Epson has their head planted firmly up their 
kazoo.  I have tried to get help, but they are worse than useless.  
Epson builds their ink limits into the driver's paper settings, and 
for whatever reason, they set the ink limits too low on the matte 
paper settings in their driver.  From what I can tell, all the matte 
choices are all on the low side.  The glossy settings work fine and 
give great Dmax on my printer.
> 
> The printer can spit out enough ink, as proven when printing an ink 
limit chart from QTR, but the settings Epson programmed into driver 
are the limitation.  So, if I want better Dmax and gamut on matte 
papers using color inks, that means I have to spend more money for a 
RIP that can control ink limits (ie, NOT ImagePrint, since it hard 
codes ink limits into the inkset.  Perhaps the full verson of 
ColorBurst - not the Epson version, or StudioPrint).  
> 
> Paul Roark suggested another possible workaround, but I haven't 
tried it.  Put Eboni black ink into a refilliable PK cartridge and 
put it into the PK slot of the printer.  Then, tell the printer you 
are printing on glossy stock and use a glossy paper setting.  Not 
sure if this will work or not.  The 4000 has more sensors than Carter 
has pills, and it may be able to sense the paper type.  Not sure 
about that either.  
> 
> My 2200 gets better Dmax on matte paper with the Epson driver than 
my 4000 does.  But, the 4000 does better on glossy papers than the 
2200.
> 
> How about sending an email to Epson asking for an update to the 
driver that allows more ink to the matte papers?  I'll do the same.