On Dec 22, 2010, at 8:59 AM, bill_hansen20012001 wrote:
> I've successfully made printer profiles using the Spyder systems for quite a while now, but this week I've been frustrated while trying to do a profile for a matte paper, using the Epson 2880 printer. The initial white point comes out 95, which seems okay, but the black point comes out at 19 - way too high - and (of course) the resulting measurement file just can't be used to create a good profile. The soft proofed images look like I'm viewing them through fogged or frosted glass.
>
> Can someone point out to me what is going wrong here, and how to correct it?
>
There's nothing going wrong (this has been posted and written about many times).
When you print on matte papers, the black you get isn't as dark (and doesn't measure
as dark) as when you print on non-matte (glossy or luster or semigloss) papers.
Typical measured values for black on matte papers are from the upper teens into the
low 20's for the L value. I don't think I've ever seen a matte paper that gets a
measured black lower than 17, and if you get a value of, say, greater than 23 or
so, then something else is wrong (most likely, you'd be printing on the wrong side
of the paper, or you'd be using the wrong kind of black ink - photo black ink on
matte papers produces a weak black that measures in the upper 20's or even larger).
You're getting 19 - that's fine. It's not "way too high", it's fine.
When you softproof in Spyder3Print (this has also been written about many times):
your softproof looks the way that it does because we don't have a feature that
lets you turn off "black ink simulation", as Photoshop does. You see the actual
measured black in the softproof, and with matte papers, that's how things look.
In Photoshop (which is where you should be doing your "real" softproofing),
turn off black ink simulation and paper white simulation and your contrast
will come back. Every printer profile on your system that's been done on
matte paper will behave the same way (all matte papers measure with lighter
blacks) - if you softproof in Photoshop with any of them, with black ink
simulation turned on, you'll see the same washing-out effect happening.
> The Epson 2880 allows me to vary the ink density of the print, so I've tried printing the targets with not ink adjustment, and with a heavier ink application. The results are
>
No, you're mostly wasting time and ink doing that. You won't be able to print
a much darker black - maybe by playing with ink density controls you'll get
it a bit darker, but lots of trial and error, very little if any benefit - I
wouldn't spend any time on this.
What you're trying to do is the physically impossible - you can't make
matte papers print with the same kind of measurable black that you get
on non-matte papers. That's just the laws of physics - it's how things are.
David Miller
Senior Software Developer, Digital Color Solutions
Datacolor