March 2009 Digital Group Meeting - Printing

Meeting Notes March 2009 to 2018.
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spb
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Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 7:04 pm

March 2009 Digital Group Meeting - Printing

Post by spb » Fri Mar 06, 2009 2:26 pm

After covering the basics, we continued to focus on printing this evening - mostly Permajet materials and Epson printers.

PERMAJET PAPERS
Permajet are a well-respected photographic supplier over many years, stretching back to Nova darkroom products, and now mostly digital materials. Their range of papers is wide, but by far the most popular are the relatively inexpensive Gloss, Oyster and Matt Plus which are at least as good as their equivalent Epson papers. Currently fashionable are fibre-based papers which give the look and feel of traditional darkroom materials. Top of this range is Fibre Based Royal which is a gloss paper which shows good colour saturation.

Their other 20 or so papers are textured to some degree and are mostly off-white. Papyrus and Parchment are both heavily textured and very thick and represent the most extreme end of the range - most suited to more abstract, artistic subject matter. Nevertheless they hold colour and detail well considering their uneven surface. It's probably sufficient to hold just a few of these textured papers and personally I think that Omega, Artist, Parchment and Portfolio cover sufficient range for anything that I'm likely to produce, at a reasonable price.

You can experiment with a wide range of papers using test packs that Permajet sell. These are usually cheaper at exhibitions and from sponsored lecturers who may carry Lecturer Packs containing different mixes of papers.

COLOUR PROFILES
Permajet provide profiles on their website for all combinations of printer, paper and ink. Download and right-click to install. In my experience these are very good, with the possible exception of the current FB Royal profile. If needed, they also offer an excellent free custom profiling service for any of their own papers and will even profile non-Permajet papers for £20 (£30 for two). This is done by posting off a couple of printed test charts and only takes 48 hours.

The profiles have a complex naming structure which conveys important information; Here is a typical profile;

APJOEM2400PKOYSTERPGPP #1.ICC

A = No significance other than to put the profile at the top of an alphabetic list.
PJ = Permajet
OEM = Printer Manufacturer's Own Ink (eg Epson)
2400 = Printer Type (Epson R2400)
PK = Gloss Black (MK = Matte Black)
OYSTER = Permajet Paper Type
PGPP = Paper Setting in Driver (eg Epson's Premium Glossy Photo Paper)
#1 = Profile Version No.
.ICC = the file type for a colour profile

Instructions for using profiles when printing are in my paper on the APS website on the Digital page. Every setting must be absolutely correct when dealing with colour management but it's particularly important to set the printer driver to the stated Epson equivalent paper type (eg Premium Glossy Photo Paper above) because this tells the printer how much ink to put on the paper and how high the printer head needs to be above the paper surface.

PRINTER PROBLEMS
Permajet recommend loading all of their papers individually in the rear manual feed slot of my R2400 printer although I have found that all but the thickest work well in the normal top sheet feeder. Paper has to be pushed down into the rear manual feed slot until it is taken up by the rollers. Sometimes the printer refuses to recognise the paper insertion at all and I have found that switching the printer off and on again will cure this. I have also found that the very thickest papers such as Papyrus and Parchment cannot be pulled into the printer. This is caused by paper dust on the rollers. If you don't have a cleaning sheet, I have had success making my own by lightly coating the first couple of inches of medium weight paper with spray glue. After it has dried for a couple of minutes it can be fed into the rear feed slot and then ejected (press and hold the Roll Feed button) again to clean the rollers (use this tip at your own risk!).

Occasional pools of ink in the printer should be mopped up carefully and then the printer re-set by turning the power off at the wall for a few minutes. They don't necessarily indicate a fault.

The most important thing that we can do is to use inkjet printers regularly. They don't react well to being unused for weeks at a time because the ink can dry and cause serious blockages. For this reason I use my R2400 for all my printing jobs including copying and correspondence, even though a laser printer would be more appropriate. David Watford suggests connecting the printer (switched on!) to a timer so that it comes on every few days and keeps itself clean.

PRINT VIEWING
I have been looking for a colour-corrected print viewing light for some time and bought a GrafiLite from Colour Confidence at the Focus show. They stock several models but this was the best value at a show price of £50. Alternatively you could buy the compact fluorescent tube and mount it in your own lamp fitting. Much better than a blue grow-bulb. If you are still using an ordinary tungsten bulb or a regular fluorescent tube you only have yourself to blame!

CONTINUOUS INKING SYSTEMS
The cost of running a photo printer is high and many people are turning to Continuous Inking Systems which replace the tiny ink cartidges by large bottles of ink and some plumbing. Although several members have had unsuccessful experiences with past systems, the technology seems to have matured and Peter Spring purchased the Permajet Eco-Flo system at Focus. He negotiated a price of £240 for all inks, fittings and three packs of paper. This price is less than the normal price of the inks alone and doing the maths, the cost of ink should be cut by a factor of five. Another advantage is the ease with which gloss and matt black inks can be swapped over. We await feedback on his experience with interest.

PHOTO BOOKS
Peter Spring also brought along three sample photo books ordered from online suppliers. He felt that the book from American supplier My Publisher was best for quality, followed by PhotoBox and least good was Bonusprint although this is reflected in their relative prices and the quality of printing is variable. Another approach is to print your own images on single or double-sided paper and mount them yourself in purpose-designed book covers. Permajet sell such a kit.

NEXT MEETING
Thursday 2nd April 2009.

Cheers, Steve Brabner

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