Epson matte black, 2880 dpi printer settings?

Not to rehash an old debate about whether 1440 vs. 2880 dpi on Epson printers is better, I'm wondering of the people who have either the Epson 3800 or the Epson 4800 and are using matte black ink rather than photo black, do the drivers for either of these printers allow a 2880 dpi setting? I have only the Epson 2200, which does, and the Epson 7600, which doesn't (only 1440 allowed with matte black). This question is for standard drivers, not RIP.

Thanks.

Mike

Mike Bailey said:

Not to rehash an old debate about whether 1440 vs. 2880 dpi on Epson printers is better, I'm wondering of the people who have either the Epson 3800 or the Epson 4800 and are using matte black ink rather than photo black, do the drivers for either of these printers allow a 2880 dpi setting? I have only the Epson 2200, which does, and the Epson 7600, which doesn't (only 1440 allowed with matte black). This question is for standard drivers, not RIP.

Thanks.

Mike

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For Archival (Enhanced) Matte with MK, as well as for the thicker "Art" papers (with the rear feed), you have the option of printing 2880 dpi on the 3800. I´m on a Mac, but I guess the Windows driver will allow it, too.

Per Ofverbeck said:

For Archival (Enhanced) Matte with MK, as well as for the thicker "Art" papers (with the rear feed), you have the option of printing 2880 dpi on the 3800. I´m on a Mac, but I guess the Windows driver will allow it, too.

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You can go to 2800 dpi with the matte black ink. Why would you need to?

Per,

Thanks for the information. It doesn't seem to be something that gets listed in the specifications. I am on Windows, which I forgot to mention, but your guess about it being available in both Mac and Windows is probably right.

To answer Greg's question, with reduced ink coverage, sometimes going with 2880 dpi produces better results than 1440 will, at least comparing results between the Epson 2200 and the 7600. And of course, there's always the RIP route, but that's an expense I can't justify for my purposes.

Mike

Mike Bailey said:

Per,

Thanks for the information. It doesn't seem to be something that gets listed in the specifications. I am on Windows, which I forgot to mention, but your guess about it being available in both Mac and Windows is probably right.

To answer Greg's question, with reduced ink coverage, sometimes going with 2880 dpi produces better results than 1440 will, at least comparing results between the Epson 2200 and the 7600. And of course, there's always the RIP route, but that's an expense I can't justify for my purposes.

Mike

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That's a new one on me Mike, I'll have to give it a try. With amount of bleed that matte type papers have anyway, I'm skeptical. My 9600 won't give me 2880 with matte black to begin with but the 3800 will. I couldn't see any difference between the 2880 and 1440 with the matte and only slight difference going down to 720.

Greg,

I did a lot of comparisons between the 7600 and the 2200 at whatever settings were available and with some images it seems to me that the higher dpi (reduced ink of course, otherwise it just overloads the paper and gets into another realm of problems) can produce prints that look better. My opinion was that the 7600 dither pattern was slightly inferior to that of the 2200, and that was compounded by not being able to print at 2880 on the 7600 in matte black compared to the 2200.

Probably like a lot of people, I wasted way too much time, ink and paper trying to come up with the most ideal combinations. This year I finally had profiles done by Andrew Rodney for both printers, so am pretty sure there are no problems in the color profiles. Otherwise there'd always be a chance my perceptions were being skewed because of other reasons.

Anyhow I appreciate the responses that the 3800 will let one print away at 2880 dpi with matte black to their heart's content (as long as it's not automatically flipping over to photo black).

Mike

It's definitely not doing that. Photo Black ink and Matte paper are very pretty. ;>(

FWIW, I compared profiles for the 3800 at 1440 and 2880 and found essentially no difference; I got the same D-max and color gamut with either setting. While using 2880 definitely gave better D-max in earlier genration Epson printers, I think it is safe to say 2880 won't buy you anything with Mk or Pk ink on the 3800 other than slower print speed.

PS: As an added piece of data, bi-directional or high-speed printing on the previous generation Epson's was not as sharp as normal speed or single-pass. On the 3800 I cannot detect a difference other than print speed. However, old habits die hard, and I intuitively believe there has to still be a difference, so I continue to print at normal speed with the 3800 -- unless I'm in a hurry

Cheers,

Jack,

Interesting the changes. Since I was comparing earlier Epsons (which I use) rather than the current crop, it sounds true enough. Recently I found an extended article on the 3800 by Giorgio Trucco on outbackprint.com that more than seconds what you say, too, so it sure sounds like it's a moot point now. All I need to do is throw more money at it, or hope that I have some serious printer malfunctions that would justify another printer! Too many Epsons sitting in storage already.

Mike

Mike Bailey said:

Jack,
Recently I found an extended article on the 3800 by Giorgio Trucco on outbackprint.com that more than seconds what you say, too,

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Do you happen to have the link? I didn't find it.

Mike Bailey said:

All I need to do is throw more money at it, or hope that I have some serious printer malfunctions that would justify another printer! Too many Epsons sitting in storage already.

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Donate to a charitiy and get a tax deduction or sell to someone near you! You just post Epson 2880 in London UK or New York, NY. or whatever. That way there's no packing and shipping bother.

Asher

Asher Kelman said:

Do you happen to have the link? I didn't find it.


Asher

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Not to butt in but here is the link, http://www.outbackprint.com/printinginsights/pi045/essay.html

The Trucco article is excellent. Here is another comprehensive web site dedicated to the 3800:

http://people.csail.mit.edu/ericchan/dp/Epson3800/index.html

Asher, charity is a good idea, but when it's time to move on to a new device, the old one I have usually doesn't justify either resale or charity because the value is down far enough to not really make it worth while. Good idea though. Sorry about not posting the link to the article I mentioned earlier.

Thanks to Greg for digging it up (bike riders are persistently tenacious, particularly those 25 mph ones). and thanks to Per for the link to the comprehensive site on the 3800. Good reading.

I'm probably sticking with my 7600 and 2200 printers for now, though one 2200 is on the verge of having outlived its usefulness due to consistent head clogs whenever I turn it on, even after sitting only a day or so, while my other 2200 and the 7600 don't have that problem at all. And this is in a controlled temperature/humidity environment year-around. All-in-all it sounds as if the 3800 is a very good-priced compromise in a 17 inch printer.

Mike

Mike Bailey said:

Thanks to Greg for digging it up (bike riders are persistently tenacious, particularly those 25 mph ones). and thanks to Per for the link to the comprehensive site on the 3800. Good reading.

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LOL LOL LOL We riders are the type who don't leave stragglers alive or keep prisoners either. Per's link is a good one too.

You should consider the 3800 in the near future. I have also the 9600 and 4800. There is a difference just with the 3800-4800 in sharpness alone. I am waiting anxiously for the 44" version with the 3800 head and ink delivery system.