Datacolor User to User Support Group.

>
>
>What is the best and recommended setup for the paper to print the
>target?

225 patch target. And (a general observation): If you're using Windows,
set the paper margins (in Page Setup) for your printer so that you have
less white space than the default settings, for the printer driver, around
the outside. This will give you larger patches in your target print and
it will make reading faster and easier (you won't have to spend as much time
worrying about whether you're too close to the edge of the patch or not).

In general: use Page Setup and the printer margins to get as LARGE a print
of the target on a sheet of paper as possible.

>Epson are known to print dark when color correction is off.

That's the case for all printers; and that's what the profile is going to
adjust for. How dark this ends up being will depend on the paper selection
in the printer driver (which leads to your next question).

>Also, does the paper selection in the printer driver making a big
>difference for the workflow.

It will potentially let you build a better profile, depending on your choices
here. The Help file for the Media Setting Check screen contains a great deal
of useful information about why some media settings in the driver may be better
for you than others.

>I use to select Premium glossy for glossy paper and premium luster
>for luster paper.

Those are most straightforward choices, since those are the Epson-recommended
settings for EPSON Premium Glossy Photo Paper, and EPSON Premium Luster;
they may not be the best settings for the non-Epson papers that you're
profiling.

My suggestion would be: for a given paper, use the Media Setting Check
feature in PrintFIX PRO to print the Media Setting Check image on up to
4 quarter quadrants (corners) of the same sheet of paper. Print each with a
different driver media setting and type the setting description into the UI
screen so that it prints out automatically underneath for later reference.
Then let the print dry and evaluate according to the suggestions in the Help
screen. Make your choices based on that.

(You could print this on 4 different sheets of paper; I just like to conserve
paper)

>Yesterday I've try the "paper Photo" selection and I think the
>result are better. Could be just an illusion.

This is the main reason why we included the Media Setting Check feature;
so that there would be a reasonably straightforward way to see how much
ink the media settings in the driver put down with color management turned off,
and how this affects the total distribution of printable colors in RGB space.

>To be honest, when I close my eyes, I see small colored square.....
>
>Could you detail you workflow to process the target print?

Pick a paper you want to profile; say, Ilford Smooth Pearl.

Go to Media Setting check and print onto 4 corners of it (putting the paper
back through; just make sure it's dry and won't smear between prints);
picking Epson media settings in the driver such as: Premium Glossy; Premium
Luster; there should be a "Film" setting in there, I forget the exact name;
and maybe one other.

Look at these prints on the sheet, after it's finished and dried, and evaluate:
how dark is black; how much does it block up in the shadows; how saturated
are the pure colors; how do the gradients look?

(My experience profiling the 1280: I discovered through the Media Setting Check
feature that the "film" setting in the driver produced the best results (and
the deepest black); and a custom profile I made for Premium Luster through that
setting produced the richest and most vivid prints on the 1280 that I've
ever seen.)

Once you've decided on the media setting you're going to use, print the
225 patch target through it. Let it dry and then measure it; then build a
profile. After you've done some printing through it; if you want; you could
repeat the process with a different media setting and then compare profiled
prints made through each profile/media setting combination.

After you've decided what you like the best (at 225 patches), you could
print the 729 patch target through those settings, measure and build a profile;
and then see if your results are improved.

Best regards,

-- 
David Miller
Senior Software Developer, Digital Color Solutions
ColorVision