Printer Settings

[elmars]

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I have an inkjet printer Canon Pro-1000. For this printer Hahnemühle recommends for its paper Photo Rag Book and Album in the printer driver the input "Fine Art Paper, max ink density". If I understand Canon's information correctly, however, this setting is for the heaviest papers. Book and Album is the lightest of the Photo Rag papers (about 220 g). 

Can I set "Heavy Fine Art Paper" instead? What happens if I print with this setting? Does it have any disadvantages? I have done this as a test and can't see any difference in the result. Are there differences that I don't see? Are the settings different because of the ink application or what else?

I would like to use the "Heavy Fine Art Paper" setting because then I can use the automatic feeder, which is very helpful when printing books.
 

[jaapv]

Basically follow the recommendation of the paper manufacturer. However, if you get the result you want by another setting that you prefer, by all means use that. It is your print. The printer preset has to do with the amount of ink needed to saturate the paper without smearing. 

[zeitz]

I think the only difference in the printing settings you mention has to do with how the printer mechanically adjusts for the paper thickness.  I don't think there is a difference in the actual laying down of ink.

Canon's software is leaves a lot to be desired.  The profile you use must be set in the printer and in the printer driver, and maybe in a couple of places in the Photoshop print driver depending on Printer Manages Color or Photoshop Manages Color.  Also there are two Canon profiles for glossy paper.  Glossy Photo is loaded with the installation, but it is a dye ink profile.  Glossy Photo II is the right profile for pigment printers and needs to be loaded manually.  The two profiles give different results.  Canon's Print Studio Pro printing driver is a plug-in that should work in Photoshop.  However, I cannot get it to work with the newer releases of Photoshop, releases like in the last two years.  I can get it to work by using the Print and Layout program as a stand alone app.  There are a lot of discussions online when a search is made on this topic; I need to try again to get mine to work.

You are right that it is a much more enjoyable printing experience using the top feeder instead of the rear feeder.  

[elmars]

vor 5 Stunden schrieb zeitz:

 I don't think there is a difference in the actual laying down of ink.

Thank You for this.

vor 5 Stunden schrieb zeitz:

Canon's software is leaves a lot to be desired.

Absolutely. There are too many software tools. I never understood what is for what. So I don´t use anything and print directly out of Lightroom.

[zeitz]

3 hours ago, elmars said:

There are too many software tools.

One strategy for printing is to apply the printer profile directly to the file using "Edit/Convert to Profile" (I think, I'm going by memory) and print without applying a profile which can be done in Canon's Print Studio.  The Hahnemuhle master printer that I know prints using this method.

[Jeff S]

ImagePrint (Black) optimizes all settings without user angst, just by entering paper type, size and profile (and lighting conditions, if desired).  No messing with LR or printer settings.  

Jeff

[zeitz]

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On 5/24/2023 at 10:11 AM, Jeff S said:

No messing with LR or printer settings.

With Canon printers, you still have to set the paper type and size on the printer's control panel.

[Jeff S]

1 hour ago, zeitz said:

With Canon printers, you still have to set the paper type and size on the printer's control panel.

Strange… but good to know if my Epson dies.

Jeff

[zeitz]

1 hour ago, Jeff S said:

Strange

Strange indeed.  And if the printer detects that the print file contains information other than set on the printer's control panel, the printer will refuse to print.

But the biggest issue I have with Canon printers is the massive amount of ink that gets thrown away in the "Maintenance Cartridge".

 

[Jeff S]

2 hours ago, zeitz said:

Strange indeed.  And if the printer detects that the print file contains information other than set on the printer's control panel, the printer will refuse to print.

But the biggest issue I have with Canon printers is the massive amount of ink that gets thrown away in the "Maintenance Cartridge".

 

Canon clean cycles are automatic based on hours, regardless of print quantities in the interim, and can’t be stopped. So, their printers might as well be used a lot.  Epson cycles are user generated.  Pros and cons… I like the Epson cleaning approach  (now that clogs are far less frequent than in the past)…. but don’t like that the Epson print cartridges have shrunk from 80ml on my P800 to 50ml on the P900 (while the Canon Pro 1000 inks remain at 80ml). 

 

Jeff

[zeitz]

4 hours ago, Jeff S said:

now that clogs are far less frequent than in the past

I have been told by my valued-added Canon printer dealer that microencapsulation of pigment inks reduces clogging. 

Canon's website discusses microencapsulation for print quality, but not for anti-clogging.

https://global.canon/en/technology/support07.html

This website for an alternate Epson ink does talk about anti-clogging.

https://shop.inkjetmall.com/about-conecolor-pro-inks

In its cleaning / warm-up / printing cycling, occasionally the Canon printer go through an ink shaking cycle.

[Jeff S]

I’ve used Epson printers for 14 years, using OEM inks, and have experienced no significant clogging issues with these modern machines, even when left idle for several weeks or more. Much longer than that, an occasional test print keeps things flowing nicely, without need for forced cleaning cycles per the Canon method.
 

If I were into Piezography, I’d use Jon Cone’s fine third party inks, but have found the Epson inks work well for my infrequent color printing, and much more flexible than the Cone inks for B&W.
 

Jeff

[Smudgerer]

I have just recently bought an Epson SC-P6000 24" printer, I wanted to go larger than I have to date with my other two Epsons, an old but still very good 3800 Pro and a newer generation P800, both 17" printers.

In the two 17" printers I have for years now used Peizography Pro inks in the 3800 for B&W printing and for colour work I use Marrutt RCS inks and cartridges in the P800. Neither of these printers have had any "clogging" issues that one normal cleaning cycle wouldn't fix, though to guard against that happening when I know the printers will not be used for some weeks I put some "de-clogging" solution on the ink-pad where the head rests when closed down as a preventative, ( Magic Bullet ), and that works fine, sometimes for a month or so of non-use of the printer, then I print one nozzle check and most of the time it's good to go.

Both the Marrutt and Peizography inks have been very reliable to use and give excellent results. In the case of the Marrutt inks / refillable cartridges system the +70% savings on ink costs doesn't hurt either. I believe though that the P800 may have been the last Epson printer that could use a third party ink/cartridge system easily before Epson tightened up firmware-wise and made it much more difficult to use non-OEM cartridges and inks.........But there are still work-arounds for that.

85% of my printing is in B&W and with the new SC-P6000 I have been very pleased, even surprised, at the quality, of the monochrome images. A lot of my work is "dark" and I have found that the dMax on this printer now is really impressive. For monochrome printing with the 6000 so far I have just been using just the regular Epson driver in the Advanced B&W mode. The only real downside to the SC-P6000 is the numbing cost of the OEM Epson ink cartridges. I would like to change to a refillable cartridge system but for now, not wanting to void the Epson warranty I will wait that out, however I am sure that in a year or so I will switch to third party refillable ink system, maybe Peizography Pro, maybe Marrutt or even a new ink system I just discovered out of Germany by the name of CarbonPrint Graphite that looks to be another interesting Monochrome print option / solution.