Printer Driver & Qimage Upgrades - Epson Settings

Qimage and the Epson drivers needed upgrading.

So I decided to finish all the WinXP patches while I'm installing the auto-Qimage update.  Bad idea, since WinXP wanted to install SP3 while Qimage was installing.  So, naturally, I had to cancel the Qimage install (how was I going to do the update, now that I cancelled the auto-update?), and let XP reboot the VM several times.  Joy.  :|

But, as usual, that finished without much of a problem (since I'm so careful about updates).  After the final reboot, I restart the Qimage auto-update.  No problem.  It works beautifully, just overwriting the existing update file--but I *DID* have to find my old "new" password...

Good thing I bought the Studio Edition of Qimage.  Lifetime free upgrades.  But, earlier this year, they changed the way they handled our accounts.  So, they sent us a new password for grabbing the updates.  So, I had to track down the emails (from DDI Tech Support--ddisoftware.com) with my new password.  That confused for a few minutes.  :(

But, it upgrades without a fuss.  Then, I install the new Epson drivers (before starting up Qimage).  No issues, and I can see it installing the tools.  Bravo, Epson, for bundling the tools with the driver--DUH!  :)

Then, start up Qimage.  It notices that the driver is different (!) and wants to reset printer settings.  Ok.  Starts up in crappy skin.  :|  But, on to the settings first.  And, what starts as the relearning of all the Epson driver idiosyncrasies.

The most important is that getting the driver to allow true 720-dpi printing is a fairly obscure setting.  It's the "Finest Details" setting in the "Quality Options" dialog--which is now super-weird.  :(  You have to RE-select the "Quality Options" in the "Print Quality" to get the dialog to appear (the weird part).  In that dialog, the key is checking the "Finest Detail" box.  This 1 setting allows the printer to print at 720-dpi.  :((

Having done that, it's back to the other options.  Some other things to keep in mind:

• No Color Adjustment
• Borderless Printing
• And, in the "Expansion..." dialog, choose "Retain Size"

The curse of consumer electronics, which is odd, since the Epson Stylus Pro 4800 is not a consumer device, really, IMO.  But, since I'm sure the driver guys are just a couple of outsourced Asian subcontractors, they are trying to design an interface for a faceless user.  Typical.

The "No Color Adjustment" is duh, Since Qimage is doing that.  The "Borderless" printing is more of a mystery, but has to be done, so that Qimage can use its own database of printer hardware margins to accurately position images on the paper.  Finally, "Retain Size" is a must versus "Auto Expand", which will undo all the work that Qimage is doing.  :((

Obscurity FTL^2!

I try toprint the test set.  Which is it's own trauma.  For starters, why won't the test image print beyond 300-ppi?  :(((

I chose "Original Size" in Qimage "Print Properties".  This should allow the image to choose its own resolution (if tagged in the TIFF data).  Right??  Wrong.  Turns out that "Original Size" means something totally different...So, I decide to adjust the setting to customize the "behavior" of "Original Size", because that's my primary suspect in this printing madness.

This customization uses yet another strange UI paradigm.  If you select "Custom" in the "Print Properties" combo box, a dialog appears.  Strage.  But, instead of creating a new size (which "Custom" might imply), it simply gives a list of options on "Sizing Method".  Turns out that this list corresponds to the DEFAULT list of sizing methods, which is the same as the DEFAULT list of "Print Properties" values in the combo box.  Yeah.  CRAZY.  :((((

Ok.  I chose "Use ORIGINAL/embedded size", thinking that's the obvious choice.  Turns out it is, except that in the "Original Size" subsetting area, there is a box checked called "Override embedded size", with a value of "300" in "If no embedded size, use ___ PPI".  ZOMG--So, "Original Size" actually meant:

Assume that the image is 300-ppi.  Nevermind the TIFF data.  Then, print it, unscaled, at 300-ppi.

And, "Original Size" should have just read: "Preserve size using fixed 300-ppi".  Like rational people, who aren't insane and get angry at computers, I move on and uncheck the box.  Change the override value to "720 ppi" in that value (target resolution in printer driver).  Turn auto-cropping off.  And lock print orientation.  Finally, choose "Permanently" as the application method.  [OK].  :(((((

FINALLY!

The image wants to print, in the center (gotta do that manually, in Qimage, too, but it stays that way until you "Clear Margins"), at 720 ppi, which is the dpi setting in the TIFF data.  Finally.

Make some test prints.  Turns out, 2880-fast causes horizontal misalignment.  2880-slow doesn't.  So, the real question is...Is the the "Microweave" improvement in 2880, or is it just the "High Speed" option?  So, print 1440-slow, 2880-fast, and 1440-fast.

Results: 

1. 2880-slow = FTW.  No banding (well, maybe some super-faint horizontal banding, but might just be me).
2. 1440-slow.  No vertical banding.  Light horizontal banding.
3. 2880-slow.  Vertical banding.  Light horizontal banding.
4. 1440-fast = FTL.  Heavy vertical banding.  Horizontal banding.

Nothing surprising.  Basically, for small test-prints, use 1440-fast.  For a big, super-high-res finished print, 2880-slow.

But, practically, why do the images look fine at 1440-fast?  Well, because I'm shooting 12MP images.  Without any cropping, at 21x14, that's about 4200x2900 pixels.  Which is about 200-dpi in the final print.  So, there are *NO* features, esp with up-sizing (even with fancy Qimage algorithms) that is adding features greater than 200-dpi.  It just smooths out features that already exist.  So, until I get a camera with at least 3x or 4x more pixels, this problem won't really show up, since the banding is only apparent in super-high-frequency and high-contrast regions (e.g., black lines on white paper).

BTW, Qimage settings:

• 720: ppi
  
• Hybrid SE: interpolation
  
• 5: sharp
  
• IGSPP9: Ilford profile for GSP
  

And, finally, print time for a full 14x21 image at 2880-slow:

• Phase 1: 7:16 (~7 minutes)
  
• Phase 2: 22:20 (~22 minutes)
  
• Total: ~30 minutes

Phase 1 consists of getting the data from Qimage to the printer and hearing the familiar ker-chunk, ker-chunk.  Phase 2 is just the miracle of the swish-zoom, swish-zoom, until the page is fully ejected and the printer stops ker-chunking.

Everything is straightened out now.  For now.  ;)