final formats for making a print

Hi folks,

Just wondering what preferences wetpixelians have for printing out a4 or a3 size copies of their images i,e,printer/paper type - and with what format eg. TIFF or JPEG- (after Raw workflow).

Any info or insights deeply appreciated.

Thanks in advance guys and gals

Damo

Fuji Chrystal Archive Pearl

If you promise not to do anything after the final conversion, highest quality JPEG appears to me to be no different than the TIFF version.

Fuji Chrystal Archive Pearl

 

If you promise not to do anything after the final conversion, highest quality JPEG appears to me to be no different than the TIFF version.

Ditto that.

Hey guys,

My tax refund is burning a hole in my pocket and my old printer is starting to choke. I'm looking at the Epson 1900. Is the Fuji pearl you recommend independent of the printer? Color or B&W? There are so many choices for paper I can see burning up a lot of money trying them out, not to mention the ink. Is there a good website you would recommend where I can go and do some research on papers? Thanks for any help, I'm a real newb at this.

Cheers,

Steve

Hey guys,

My tax refund is burning a hole in my pocket and my old printer is starting to choke. I'm looking at the Epson 1900. Is the Fuji pearl you recommend independent of the printer? Color or B&W? There are so many choices for paper I can see burning up a lot of money trying them out, not to mention the ink. Is there a good website you would recommend where I can go and do some research on papers? Thanks for any help, I'm a real newb at this.

 

Cheers,

Steve

Steve,

I think the paper you choose varies depending on the type of image; for example do you want a more creamy base, or a whiter base etc. What type of surface texture do you like?

For underwater I usually like the whitest possible paper. My favorite is Epson Exhibition Fiber. It is a little pricey but when I last checked it was the paper with the highest D-Max (darkest black) on a very white base so the crispness is awesome. It is a little pricey, but with that huge tax refund, maybe you can get a box or two.

There is a an article here to get started.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/...products_id=173

Hey guys,

My tax refund is burning a hole in my pocket and my old printer is starting to choke. I'm looking at the Epson 1900. Is the Fuji pearl you recommend independent of the printer? Color or B&W? There are so many choices for paper I can see burning up a lot of money trying them out, not to mention the ink. Is there a good website you would recommend where I can go and do some research on papers? Thanks for any help, I'm a real newb at this.

 

Cheers,

Steve

Get ready for another one of those fun learning curves ... I think the Fuji is real photopaper - ie light sensitive - and with a nice epson, you can print on almost anything, but with ink not light. Maybe there is an inket version ...

I think inkjets are better than lasers for reproducing underwater blues anyway. YMMV, but I softproofed a whole bunch of my U/W stuff using various output profiles - mainly comparing different printers and labs - looking for "issues". What I found was that the EPSON inkjets were WAY better at reproducing the blues from tropical water columns as compared to the Noritsu, Lightjet and other laser/light-based systems I compared. Lots of the blues were natively out of gamut for light-based devices and photo papers, but we natively in-gamut when proofed for Epson systems. Mind you, this was almost exlcusively Canon G9 footage.

People have raved about some of the new EPSON papers ... so I think that's probably not a bad place to start if you get an Epson printer. I've got an HP, and I find it is easiest to get good results using HP's nicest paper. I've used other stuff like Ilford and Epson papers in the past, but it was much harder to get right. I don't custom profile my printer - but I have a 'generic' profile for my printer + HP paper combo from someone else ... it is close enough. Like monitor profiling, print profiling is worthwhile if you want to keep the surprises to a minimum. A wide gamut monitor for soft-proofing also helps ... the new HP 2475w is a very affordable option there ... I currently use a calibrated wide-gamut LCD HDTV for softproofing, but I'm planning on getting one of the HPs this summer.

I haven't watched it yet, but I just bought the Luminous Landscape's "From Camera to Print" video tutorial ... might want to look at that too ...

Printing at home is expensive, but very satisfying. I spray mount lots of home prints of all sizes on foamcore and hang them all over the place with the sticky blue stuff.

Hey guys,

My tax refund is burning a hole in my pocket and my old printer is starting to choke. I'm looking at the Epson 1900. Is the Fuji pearl you recommend independent of the printer? Color or B&W? There are so many choices for paper I can see burning up a lot of money trying them out, not to mention the ink. Is there a good website you would recommend where I can go and do some research on papers? Thanks for any help, I'm a real newb at this.

 

Cheers,

Steve

I m using the R1900 (recently acquired) and am happy with the result on Epson Premium Glossy paper. The Premium Glossy paper is also not too pricey. I have tried Lyon Photo Gloss but wasn't too happy with the result. It is also pricer than the Epson PG paper.

I use an Epson 3800 and I find I get the most consistent results with Epson papers. I have dropped a lot of money testing various papers Ilford, Crane Museo, Innova and others and although a particular print may give a spectacular result on say, Museo Silver Rag, other prints may not work as well. Right now I'm a big fan of the Epson Exhibition Fiber - pricey but a great paper. Ilford would be my second choice for an all around paper. Their Galerie line is good for general use and their profiles work well with Epson ink.

The other puchase, besides the 3800, that I'm very happy with is QImage. This is very similar to a rip and I use it to make all my prints. All my resizing and sharpening is done in QImage during the printing process. This allows me to keep one base file for each image from which I can make any size print I want. A very handy program.

I don't find much difference printing from a JPEG or TIFF as long as the JPEG is 1st generation.

Thanks guys for all the great advice and intel. Really appreciate all your insights.

Cheers,

Steve