Printing Problems
 

Aaaaarrrrgh!
My printer (Epsom 2100) is not behaving. It has been fine - it recently produced lovely copies of the Scottish images I posted here last month, but suddenly has developed a problem. It has lost the ability to resolve detail and colour in a specific colour range - grass/trees, new birch growth seem to be most affected. Skies are fine, all the detail and tonality I would normally expect, horizons are sharp, blues are ok, but the red-brown-green bit just isnt right . Attached is a scan of a recent print, and a jpeg for comparison.
I've done the obvious things - nozzle check is fine, the test pattern is spot on. In the process of cleaning and printing tests, I have had to change several cartridges - no difference. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers, check the colour management is as usual and printed out an image I know it has printed fine before - no difference. The fault is present regardless of paper type (though more evident on matte papers) and paper manufacturer (tried epsom, fuji and hahnemuhle). I upgraded lightroom to version 1.4.1 before processing my most recent images, but the faultis there on images that predate this.
I cant make sense of this.
Sorry - running out of time - will post the scan and jpeg later

Right, sorry about that - my turn for the nursery run!
Here are the scan and the jpeg.

I recently got fed up with old Epson 1290 and have changed to canon ix4000 (but don't especially recommend apart from being cheap) so can't help with specifics. Also I now only use Ilford galerie pearl paper, not one of the ones you mention, but an Epson paper will have settings in the driver that come up in the 'colour management' section of the 'preferences' of the software from which you are printing.

Different papers seem to have wildly different colour bias. If like Canon, Epson only have dedicated 'printer profiles' for their own papers, when using another paper you may be able to get some guidance from the paper manufacturer on some settings but use a 'generic' profile (in my case Canon IJ 2005) rather than a profile aimed at an Epson paper even if what you are using appears similar, eg gloss. The Canon 'quality' paper settings print way over towards red on Ilford, ie their coating must be biassed so as to need loads of red.

Hi Gordon

So lets just clarify

1. you're using the same inks
2. you've tried the same papers
3. a nozzle check is ok
4. a previously OK image now doesn't print ok

so

1. do you have individual profiles for each different paper or do you rely on the printer profiles
2. putting it another way, when you print is colour managemnt managed by printer or by Lightroom?
3. for best results I have a separate profile for each papaer I use and then rather than "managed byprinter" I select "other" and chose the profile for that particular paper. As Chris says the strock profiles that ship with the printer only work well with the manufactures own papers, and even then better results can be achived with bespoke profiles.
4. I'm assuming that you are printing from Lightroom? - this appears to be the onlything in your workflow thats changed
5. has the upgarde to 1.4.1 changed any of your printer settings eg rendering intent?

It looks to me like a colour management problem somewhere in the workflow. Have you tried printing from photoshop (or equivalent that has colour management) rather than lightroom? Or reverting to the previous version of lightroom?

Same inks, same colour profiles (the epsom ones, but these have produced acceptable results on the fuji and hahnemuhle previous to this problem, although I agree about custom paper profiles), same papers. Same software - I usually print via PS7, and have done so with this test as well. Images processed with Lightroom 1.3 and 1.4.1 show the same problem (those from the older version have printed without a problem previously, and to test the problem I used the original converted TIFF, not reconverted from RAW). Nozzle check pattern is fine.
My first thought was a colour management problem too, but I have reproduced things as exactly as I can to the previously problem free set up (same ink, paper, profile, rendering intent, same file, same software) and the problem persists. I'll double check the colour management - I just cant see what/how things have changed to cause this.

Gordon, the scan looks slightly "pink" to me. Just a thought but could it be a cartridge problem? Out of date or defective batch of cartridge(s) - you say you changed them?

I believe this is the key to get good prints from various papers.

Ok, an update.
I have run a few more test prints on old files that have printed OK. The problem seems to have disappeared on those, so either there was some dirt on the print head that has gone, or my first old file has become corrupted somehow.
But, the problem persists with files I have converted in lightroom 1.4.1. However, this appears to be at least in part, related to the paper chioce. On epsom matte the problem is least pronounced although still present to a degreee, on hahnemuhle photo rag, worst (Rather annoying as this is one of my favourite papers).
So - it would seem that either there was a problem at capture of the new images (unlikely I'd have thought as all the images display fine both in lightroom, PS7 and windows picture viewer regardless of file format), or a problem at conversion in lightroom 1.4.1 that makes the paper profile more critical.
Colour management settings are all as previously.
To test this, I will shoot some images on a new card and process/print as normal. I will also process the current batch of images in Capture 1 as see if the problem persists.
Thanks for the input so far everyone.

looking at your posted images, it does not just seem to be a bias to mauve on the RH one, but as you say, a lack of definition in a range of tones, those belts of trees in mid pic. It looks like the sort of thing one gets if one's elbow gets jogged when trying to do a very fine adjustment on a curve - but this should not apply to an image once converted to tif or jpg.

I don't know what print preview ('soft proof' in NX) quality you get on the progs you are printing from, but may save a bit of ink and paper if there is a 'true reading' one and if you can toggle between proof on/off it may help find a set of settings where there is no visible difference or at least eliminate a few where there obviously is.

Lastly if your epson 2100 driver is of similar vintage to my old 1290 one, in the dialogues immediately before printing, it was essential to turn colour management to 'no change', every time, ie leaving the host software to do it and disable those C,M,Y, contrast & brightness sliders.

Yes Chris - the driver is only one generation on from your old epsom one. I have always had it set to ICM in custom settings which, until today, has always produced excellent results. I think it may be an interaction between how the new version of lightroom wants to handle colour and the print driver, having experimented a bit more.
PS7 doesnt have an option to overide the printer's colour management, but I think the next step is to print straight from Lightroom using 'other' profiles to avoid a double profiling problem. And, as has been suggested, I think I need to get a custom profile for my favourite papers - I have been meaning to do this for a while, but my results have been ok up to now...
Thanks for all the help so far everyone. I'll keep you posted.

Right, I think I have reached a solution to getting reasonable prints again. What seems to work best is to print from lightroom 1.4.1, but using printer colour management and ICM in the printer driver. The quality still isnt quite what I'd expect though, but pending custom profiles, which seems the way I'll have to go, it'll have to do.
Mind you, I think this printer is beginning to show its age - this is the second time this year I have had problems with it, and the cut sheet feeder is no longer working smoothly.
I'm still at a loss as to what went wrong - it quite happily printed 20 images on hahnemuhle bamboo paper, 3 on hahnemuhle photorag, then suddenly went haywire.
Thanks everyone for your help. I might be shopping for a new printer later this year!

I had a look at these fancy papers you are using Gordon & can see why you wouldn't want to be wasting any

Also it came up with this The Roger Maile Colour Calibration CD - The DPA Print Tuner (MAC & PC Compatible) at £13.50
http://www.on-linepaper.co.uk/acatal...NE_Papers.html
which sounds as if it might be the sort of thing that could help
tho if the performance is erratic, maybe you are right and you are pushing the machine too hard for its age

Thanks for the link Chris - that looks useful

An update: I have talked to Epson technical support - excellent service by the way, and not too long waiting in telephone queues. They helped me through the process of checking the printer functions. The upshot was that the hardware was fine, and the problem was most probably down to a problem of the various generations of software not being quite in tune with each other. So - the recommendation was to update the drivers, update to CS3, and disable colour management in the printer. I have done all that, and also bought a profile maker and made a custom profile - so far only for the hahnemuhle bamboo paper, but the others will get done too.
The good news is it all works fine now, and at about £200 less than a new printer would have cost me.

Looks like you've done all the tests to find the bug but it is still faulty. So it is time to change your printer I think.