Epson 1400 Photo RPM Setting

[Boatman]

Last night I was making some prints and I selected the 'Photo RPM' option - I normally do not do this. I got a print that was off color quite a bit; all the blues were purplish.

The Epson manual says to turn on Photo RPM and turn High Speed off for best results. I was using an ICC, not the printer default driver. Would this make a difference? What do others experience with Photo RPM setting?

[Colin Southern]

Last night I was making some prints and I selected the 'Photo RPM' option - I normally do not do this. I got a print that was off color quite a bit; all the blues were purplish.

The Epson manual says to turn on Photo RPM and turn High Speed off for best results. I was using an ICC, not the printer default driver. Would this make a difference? What do others experience with Photo RPM setting?

I think they're limited to 19,000 RPM - no wait - that's a Formula 1 engine (different kind of driver!).

Never heard of RPM setting to be honest. What I do is create my own printer profiles - tell Photoshop to use them - and tell the printer driver not to change a thing. Theoretically, there's really no way a printer can come up with a better result than a custom profile (other than a "lucky guess"). I was called in to profile another photographers Epson 9880 printer a couple of months ago - he had some prints he'd done where the printer controlled the colour - and I had to admit that it did a pretty good job, but when we did side by side comparisons with prints using the custom profile, the custom profile had better colour accuracy & tone control overall.

For what it's worth, "purply blues" are a common problem in the industry. One either has to tweak the driver (preferred) or tweak the image to adjust them. The light they're viewed under makes a BIG difference too.

Hope this helps.

[Geoff F]

I've tried that 'super quality' setting a few times with different printers but never found any noticeable difference above Best Photo when used on 'normal paper'.

I think that setting prints at 2880 dots per inch against 1440 for Best Photo and 760 dpi for the standard setting.

Possibly, really fine quality paper, maybe in monochrome, might show a difference.

[Momo]

What is the color space of the image you're trying to print? Are you using an ICC specific to your paper? What is the Rendering Intent in the printer's dialog box? (perceptual? relative colorimetric?)

I seem to have pretty good success with my 1400. I use MOAB paper, for the most part, with their custom ICC profiles. My rendering intent is set to relative colorimetric. I also use the Photo RPM setting. Last, I found that adding a brightness adjustment layer in Photoshop set to 30-35% makes my photos come out close to perfect.

[Manfred M]

Does your printer print correctly when you are not running in RPM mode? Sometimes running out of ink or a clogged nozzle can be the issue.

What light are you evaluating under? If you are not in a good balanced light situation, you could be results that look strange to you as well.

I have run on the wrong icc profile, but usually the differences there were fairly subtle.

[charzes44]

Homer,
Look at this link:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=12997706

It may throw some light on the subject!

[Boatman]

Thank you for your comments. Mia culpa - I must have had the settings goofed up because when you select color-control OFF and pick an ICC in the Epson printer set-up, the Photo RPM option box goes away. I may have THOUGHT I was printing with an ICC, but I clearly was not.

On a slightly different note, does anyone else think the printer set-up structure of Lr4 is totally screwed up? I normally print out of CS4 but the difference in the rendering engines is causing some grief so I'm trying to print right out of Lr4. I'm finding it very difficult to change the paper size and while I'm probing around trying to get the setting right, Lr4 is flipping images around, starting unwanted print jobs and god knows what else. I'm sure it's all operator error, but if the controls aren't clear, the operator WILL err.

[Momo]

I must have had the settings goofed up because when you select color-control OFF and pick an ICC in the Epson printer set-up, the Photo RPM option box goes away. I may have THOUGHT I was printing with an ICC, but I clearly was not.

I completely forgot to ask if you were doubling up your color management or not. I made this mistake very early on. I always set Photoshop to manage colors in the Photoshop print dialog box. Then, choose your ICC profile in Photoshop. Your printer dialog box should then look something like this...



Regarding LR4, yes, I have found it to be a PIA since earlier versions. So much, in fact, that I have not even bothered lately to print from LR4. I found that there was a color shift between PS and LR. Even if I had all the obvious settings matching perfectly between LR and PS there was still a pronounced color shift. Regarding paper size, they don't make that intuitive either. Perfect. Whish I could be of help but, like I said, I avoid printing from LR.