Digital BW, The Print

mike-theprint@... wrote:
>
> 
> Hi folks,
> 
> I'm getting very dark, oversaturated prints on a refurbished Epson
> Stylus Photo 1400 (purchased directly from Epson). I'm using color
> management (details below), and I'm trying to figure out what's going
> wrong. For example, I printed Paul Roark's 21-Step_GG22_L5.tif (from
> http://home1.gte.net/res09aij/Test-files.htm),

The test strip I use most often today is at 
http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/21-Step.jpg
Save it as a Tiff.

> with color management,
> and the 100% to 75% swatches are all completely black -
> indistinguishable from each other. 

> I'd expect some variation given that
> I'm not using a custom profile, but this seems excessive.
> 
> Normal documents printed on office paper look fine. 
> I wonder if there's a problem with the printer's photo modes 
>- I've tried making two prints in Photo RPM mode, and both have 
> left big blotches of wet ink on the paper.

That doesn't sound normal.

> So I have a couple of questions:
> 
> 1) Is it possible that there's a problem with Photo or 
> Photo RPM print modes, but not with Economy/Normal/Fine?

The Epson driver usually sets an ink limit that is low enough that you will not have blotches of wet ink.  Perhaps it could also be a driver problem.  You might want to download and re-install the latest one and see if that makes a difference.

> 2) Is it plausible that normal variation can account for the 
> radical difference between Paul's profile and my printer?

I doubt it.  

Note that my PDF at http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/UT14.pdf was written up based on using a Windows platform.  

> 3) There have been a number of rumors of double-profiling; 
> how can I figure out if that's what's happening?
> 
> Here are the details of my color management process:
> 
> For color, Epson Ultra Premium Photo Paper Glossy, Epson OEM ink
> (shipped with the printer), Epson's "SP1400 1410 UPGP" profile
> (installed with their driver).
> 
> For black and white, Epson Ultra Premium Photo Paper Glossy, 
> MIS UT-14 inks, and Paul Roark's 
> 1400-UT14-UltraPremGlossPP-N-1-rgb.icc profile.

Be sure the driver settings are as specified in the PDF, p. 7.

...
> I'm following the directions in Paul's UT-14 paper: 
> Photoshop manages color, with the UltraPremGlossPP 
> profile selected. Rendering intent is
> Perceptual. Black point compensation is checked. 
> In the Epson dialog,
> media type is "Ultra Premium Presentation Matte", 
> Color is, er, Color,

(Not sure what that is.)

> print quality is set to Photo. 

I use Photo RPM.


> Color management is set to off.

In my driver I check "ICM" first, then "Off (No Color Adjustment)"

> I'm on a Mac Pro running Mac OS X 10.5.7, Photoshop CS3, 
> and Lightroom 2.4.

There could be some variations from my Windows, Photoshop starting point.

> The Epson printer driver reports version 6.10. 

That's the same version I have.

You might try printing http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Purge6.jpg  (or just a 1" length of it) and see if the inks appear to be as described in the PDF.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com