CONTENTS
.........................
Bob
Niland's Tips
Linux
Printing
Edge-to
Edge Printing
Remove
tracks
What
tracks?
Test
Files
Network
Printing
|
s |
 Bob
Niland's Tips.
Printing to file/Acrobat tips
| My thanks to Rick Trelles
who
dropped me a note on Bob Niland's tips
and FAQ's on the HP Photosmart Scanner, Adobe Acrobat,
printing to file from Windows and preventing hard disk trashing on Win95
(this is already linked at the PCTIPS section). Worth checking out
especially the very informative FAQ for the HP Photosmart! |
 Adobe
Acrobat Display/Print tips
Windows:
Printing to File |
...........................................................
Printing
from Red Hat Linux.A
Guide
................................................................
 Printing
to the Edge (Full Bleed).A
Guide
6
February 1999. Here's
a how-to on printing full bleed to the bottom of those expensive gloss
photo by Tom Morris of Interactive Imagery,
Tucson Arizona which was first posted by Tom at the Leben list. Thanks
Tom for your contribution.
 Check
it out
|
................................................................
Printing
CD Labels. A
Guide
Check out Jason's very interesting
article about printing and making photo-realistic CD labels with the Epson
photo printers. He has uncovered another interesting photo paper options,
Graplot,
which
are available at Fancy Papers. See his full article which I have
dedicated one page to!
|
Jason's
article
|
....................................................
Basics
of Photo-Realistic Printing.A
Guide
By Tham
Kok Leong Aug 1998
Here are the bare essentials
of photo-realistic printing on the Epson Photo EX:-
1Geta
good image.A
good image, ie good enough for photo-realistic printouts, is one which:-(a)
Has a resolution of not less than 240 dpi Scans from negatives,
slides or prints which give images with resolutions of not less than 200
dpi are essential. Anything less may introduce the dreaded pixelation,
ie photos that give a 'blockish' look (b) Is saved
in the right format. Scanned images
saved in the TIFF format (with or without LZW compression) are ideal. JPEG
is fine however as it uses compression techniques to save space, remember
to save it with the least amount of compression available (this depends
on the program you are using). The LZW compression option in TIFFS is 'lossless'
ie no data is lost. Not so for JPEG which uses compression which losses
data. (c) Has accurate colours. Scanned
images should be 'tweaked' for colour balance and accuracy. In short,
make sure the scanned image is more-or-less like the real thing (eg colour
lab print). This is by far the most difficult part of getting a good image.
Professional scanning services have very elaborate calibration tools which
allow the pros to get very true-to-life colours. Don't fret though, most
image manipulation software have an 'auto-calibrate' colour feature which
should work for the most part. (d) Doesn't have
artifacts or scratches. Make
sure
the scanned image is not full of dust marks, scratches or other artifacts.
Once a good image is obtained,
the next step is to choose the right paper...
3Use
the right Driver settings.Using
the most current version of the Photo EX driver, make sure you have the
following settings set correctly:-(a) paper setting
should
be accurate. Make sure to use the right paper setting , ie "photo paper".
For some third-party paper, like the Mitsubishi, "GLOSSY FILM" is
the correct setting. (b) Use Automatic colour
adjustment unless you know what you are doing. Once you have
chosen "Advanced Setting" after clicking on "Properties", you can access
"More settings". Whilst you are at "More Settings", always choose "Auto
colour adjustments" which should work fine 95% of the time.
(c)
Use1440 dpi. Use the highest dpi setting, ie 1440x720 with "Supermicroweave"
on. From my limited testing of the "Super" setting on, it appears that
there is greater detail when using this setting. Just try this simple test,
printout a 300dpi image of people (eg a group of 4-5 people) at 4"x6" first
using "super" and then without "super". You can see quite clearly that
the faces of the people in the picture have greater detail in the printout
with "super" on. If you can't see the difference in quality than you may
just as well save yourself some ink and go with the non-super setting.
But if you see the difference (in short, if you are somewhat discerning),
go with "super" on. There are no absolute rules and this is merely a guide
but for me, I noticed that the detail on the faces (for instance, look
at the eyes) is lacking in the non-"super" setting. Eyes look like 'cut-outs',
lacking refinement and detail (eg in the eyebrows, eye lashes etc). There
is a trade-off with the "super" setting though, it prints much slower.
The printer (EX) makes no less than 4 passes per line of horizontal print.
Hope the above helps. Email me if
you have suggestions or corrections
to point out. |
Have a look at
Pics
of the Driver settings
|
Get
Rid of the Pizza Wheels.Do
It Yourself
Starwheels
|
Royce Bair of Stock
Solution has done a fantastic job showing how the dreaded metal starwheels
that cause the 'pizza wheel' effect on paper can be removed from a Stylus
3000 complete with pictures and all!
|
...............................................................
The
Pizza Wheels.Can
u see the tracks?
The Pizza Wheel problem
is caused by the metal star wheel rollers on the exit path of the paper.
You can clearly see how the star wheels are poking the paper as it exits.
What this results in is lines of 'dots' which can only be seen when viewing
the printout closely (eg 2-4 inches away from the printout) or when looking
at the printout at an angle. As far as I can tell, it is prevalent in all
stylus models and is only observable on glossy medium which is used for
hi-res printouts (eg 1440 dpi). For normal text printing, the paper exits
to fast for the star wheel rollers to prick the paper. The problem is even
present in Epson's top-end 5000 colour proofer (noticed it on printouts
produced by the 5000 as well)! Anyway, the work-around to this problem
is as follows:-
-
1Paper
- use of different paper gives different results. Try Kodak which resists
the pricking very well. Mitsubishi paper is also very resistant. I also
heard the Konica QP and Repeat-o-type's picture perfect paper is track-resistant.
Matte paper is best as it does not prick at all;
-
2Remove
the star wheels?? - this is only recommended for the truly technical
as you will probably void your warranty. There have been reports of users
successfully removing the star wheel rollers without any adverse effect
to other aspects of the printout. Note: using the "+" position on the printer
won't help. Check out Terry Morris'page
which shows how the removal can be done on an Epson 1520 (not the EX!).
Remember...removing
the star wheel will definitely void your warranty!!! So try it only
at your own risk.
Hope the above helps. Finally, do
a search in www.dejanews.com
for "Epson", "tracks", "pizza" and search for postings around the months
of April, May and June and you will see lots of postings there or use FindMail
(see
the search box at the left menu bar). Nowadays, I use mostly
matte paper which does not show up the tracks at all. I was truly obsessed
with this problem until i decided that i could live with it seeing as the
printouts were SO incredibly gorgeous especially at A3. Anyway,
the tracks don't show up when the image is placed in a frame. So no real
problems. However, use of paper in which the ink does not soak up well
or dry quickly will result in the star wheels picking up some colour and
then, you will even see a track of coloured dots! This only happened to
me once when i used watercolour paper.
Here's an post from Axel (back
in April) which was in reply to my email to him on the tracks. At first
Axel said he couldn't see them, but he later observed the tracks and had
this to say:-
Subject:
Re: Stylus Photo 700 - First Test 21
Apr 1998
X-Sender:
axel_f@aldix.mpi-stuttgart.mpg.de
After
another close inspection (visually and with a microscope this time) I found
the pizza weel marks that you've described. So the Photo 700 shows the
same problem. The marks can in my opinion only be seen if you know exactly
what your looking for. Even then it's not easy. But they are there.Under
the microscope the Espon glossy paper reveals an interesting texture. (Especially
interesting since I'm a material scientist.) The marks seem to come from
the rollers, all right. If a roller leaves marks (not all of them do),
the paper is not indented but the gel surface is missing in an area of
about 80 to 150 microns arcross. The marks are evenly spaced at about
1040
microns from one to the next. My best guess is it comes from
small
teeth on the transport
rollers. The gel on the paper surface
is apparenty rather brittle and flakes off. If one wanted to resolve this
you would have to take the rollers out, inspect them and remove the teeth
with fine grinding paper. Of cause this could lead to problems with
the paper feeding mechanism. I think Espon designed it with a reason: The
paper feed does not work on friction alone and is therefore less sensible
to dirt on the rollers. I am not bothered by the presence of the marks
and will leave everthing as it is. If one comes across a replacement set
of smooth rubber rollers for my Photo 700, I'll reconsider.
Axel
|
|
Dot Size Matters.Some
Thoughts.
 The
just announced Stylus 900 with amazing 3 picolitre droplet size
does raise one question...approximately how much smaller is the dot
size (diameter on paper?) of the droplet from the Stylus 900 as compared
to the 6 picolitre droplet from the 740/750? A picolitre being a
unit for measuring liquid volume (as pointed
out by Susan Page at the leben list), would mean that a 3 picolitre droplet
size does not necessarily translate to a dot size that is half the size
of the 6 picolitre droplet size.
The following factors
also need to be considered:-
-
how a droplet (spherical?) is converted
into a flat surface
|
-
micropiezo technology of the epson
printhead;
|
-
evaporation between the print head
and paper
|
|
Anyone willing to venture a guess?
I can barely multiply these days so I won't be able to do the math involved!If
the 3picolitre droplet is actually much smaller in size (on the paper)
than the dot size of the 750, there may be little need to go the way of
6 inks. For instance, the colour pictures in your average magazine are
produced by 4-colour print process (CYMK and not the CCYYMK of the Epson
photo printers). Drop me a note if you have worked out the math on the
above query.
.............................................
A pro's B&W Digital Darkroom.A
Short Story
...........................................................
PEI Magazine's Forums.A
Good Source of Tips
 For
those who can't get enough of techniques and tips for printing, cameras
and other related topics, check out Pei Magazine's Forum
section which has many very informative posts. The Printers section of
their forum is especially relevant to Epsonitis! Check
it out!
|
..........................................................
Fonts
to Jazz up your prints.An
Archive
If you're ever in need
of fonts, especially the more iconic ones, drop in at Acid
Fonts which has a large collection of freeware
and shareware fonts (some may have specific restrictions on use) for your
personal use. All fonts are in True Type format. There are also
instructions on how to convert them for use with Macs. Great for sprucing
up your printouts or designs.
Visit>
|
..........................................................
Photo
Stylus vs the Photo EX/700.A
Comparison
Check out A. C. Levesque's comparison
of the old Photo Stylus and the Photo EX/700 complete with scan samples.
|
Check out
AC
Levesque's comparison page
|
..........................................................
.............................................
Network
Printing. An extract
Check out PrintMan's extract of
an article on network printing (original source of extract not known).
Has some good pointers for network printing.
|
Network
Printing
|
|
.................
Also have a look at Imagexpert's test
adobe pdf file which is more suited for testing resolution and ability
of a printer to render fine text. Download it for your testing purposes.
It is a fairly small file (263kb).
22
February 1999 - Thanks
to 
