Epson 1270 - I'm not getting best results.

[Tom V]

I have an Epson 1270. It cost $500. It prints 13 x 19. It is much faster than my older Epson 800. I bought it hoping to make nice big colorful glossy prints. Nearly all my attempts at making such have resulted in big off-color messy blotchy wet prints. I have tried various brands of paper, none of which seemed to be any more predictable or satisfactory than the other. I tried to stick with "name brands" like Epson, Kodak, HP, etc., and all have blurred in my mind. I have much better results printing on Epson Matte Heavyweight stock, which is what I have been using for anything a customer is to see. The matte stock seems very forgiving, and makes seemingly good prints no matter what the print settings.

With the arrival of my S2, my creative energy wants to get all this straightened out.

Anybody out there using a similar printer have recommendations on what paper to use, and exactly what printer settings to use?

[Kirk]

I just had a 1270 give up the ghost. But, only after printing only about 10,000 prints+++
I loved the Epson Semi matte paper. To be honest, only on special occasions would I print at max resolution. Most prints were at 720. It is VERY important that you select the correct paper type in your printer software. Very Important. Double check yourself each and everytime you print.

[Tom V]

Kirk,

Thanks for letting me know that a 1270 can last that long. I certainly have a way to go.

I am careful in designating the paper I use. Normally, I would get a decent print from the Epson Heavyweight Matte, then switch to a Premium Glossy Photo Paper (and select the correct paper setting), and get a print that looked too saturated, both in color and in ink volume. I even tried using the Transparency Film setting to get less ink on the glossy paper. But, every once in a while, it works right and I get a good print.

I think my troubles are in the differences between the way Quark XPress (a page layout program) and Photoshop handle color profiles. Most of my pictures that go into XPress are CMYK, and many of the images that I print from Photoshop are RGB.

I am afraid that I am going to have to spend an entire day, with notepad and pencil, documenting every conceivable combination of color profile settings, color spaces, print options, paper stocks, etc., and using about 100 sheets of paper and a bunch of ink cartridges to eliminate all the bad combinations and hopefully find out where I err.

Sheesh, the thought of it makes me want to use old-fashioned film and one-hour processing.

[Kirk]

CMYK printing is going to be your problem. Printing CMYK as compared to RGB are two totally different animals. Have you tried converting your image to CMYK before importing to Quark? Just a thought.
Try going to http://www.inkjetmall.com and investigate their profiles for your printer.

[Mike Flood]

I have an Epson 1280 (successor to the 1270) and get gorgeous output from Photoshop other applications.
I have successfully used every type of paper that I've tried made by Epson or also by Ilford.
I have done 11 X 17's and 13 X 19's with images from both my S1 and now S2.

People see the prints and usually say something like "this is from a computer?"

My only regret in buying the 1280 was that I didn't do it a year sooner. It replaced a Canon BJC-5000 whose only accomplisments were wasting ink and making really, really, bad prints.

[Tom V]

Last week I had a job that required glossy prints. I did my work in Photoshop and Quark Xpress the way I always do. I have been using both programs daily for 12 years. The prints came out great. Maybe this printer is worth the $499 I paid.

Yesterday I had a job that required glossy prints. I did my work in Photoshop and Quark Xpress the way I always do. I used the same printer, same paper, same ink cartridges as last week. The prints came out horrible. Anything darker than 50% has an alligator skin texture. Maybe this printer is a total waste of time and money.

All the images were from Photoshop, embedded with the AdobeRGB color profile. My Mac (G4 533, 1.2 gig ram, LaCie 22" monitor with hardware color calibrator) is set up with ColorSync. Quark Xpress has color management. I tried every conceivable combination of print settings I could think of until I ran out of paper. All the prints look like crap.

[memobug]

Did you select Premium Glossy Photo Paper or something similar from the pulldown menu in the printer setup before printing?

Did you do a nozzle check or self clean operation?

Regards,

Matt

[Tom V]

Matt, thanks for your reply,

I had the paper settings set for the paper. That is easy.

I don't have the lines normally associated with a faulty nozzle*. The alligator skin texture shows up before or after a cleaning.

I attached a small image that compares my digital image from Photoshop with a scan of the print. I will admit that the printer is very sharp, but I can do without the added texture. The computer file is on the left, and the scan is on the right.

*I bought some more paper today. I cleaned the nozzles. Now I am getting lines. Scheesh! I have to do a bunch of cleaning so I can see if the alligator texture is still there.:mad:

I don't know where the photo went. I browsed to it, linked it, click. I don't see it. Where did it go. I followed the instructions and it made sense. Now what?:confused:

[memobug]

1) If you click "Preview" that attachment will disappear after you browse it. It's a browser problem common to most all the forums.

So, preview first, browse second.

2) On the subject of printing, I have to confess:

A couple years ago I put a coated sheet of paper in the inkjet printer upside down and it made a real mess.

3) As far as alligator skin is concerned, isn't that a connoisseur item? You should be charging a premium! I can't guess what the problem might be if everything else is exactly the same. Can you go back and try one of the files from a couple months ago?

Regards,

Matt

[Tom V]

I shall start fiddling with the printer's lever on the right. Apparently it adjusts the nozzles up and down, to compensate for different thickness paper.

I will try to insert the comparsion image now.

[Tom V]

I bought some new Epson Premium Gloss Paper. I moved the lever on the printer to 0. I went through every possible color control setting I could in the Mac OS, Quark XPress preferences, the document's preferences, and all through the printer dialog boxes. I didn't see anything out of line. And I bumped up from 720 dpi to 1440 dpi.

I was able to print 4 excellent prints without any alligator texture.:D

I ran out of color ink.:mad:

I have a feeling it was the paper thickness lever that was causing the trouble.

[shutterbugtae]

High Guys,
I've got an 875DC(870),and I have never messed with the paper thickness adjustments.I have gotten some pretty nice results and comments from Clients and photographers alike using Tetenal Heavy Weight Glossy and the Pearl surface papers .I'm kind of sold on Tetenal although I have used the Epson papers on a limited basis.If I am going to print for a client use(like a PR hand out) I will print on Tetenal Glossy.The only drawbacks on the Pearl surface paper is the dry time(over night to be safe) and this really stinky smell that it gives off untill the image is totally dryTAE:confused:

[Marvo]

Hi Tom,
This thread is a bit old so I reckon you're sorted now, Yes or no?
I too have the 1270 hooked to a G4 400 and consistantly get stunning results. What I do know for a fact is that the Epson printer driver is NOT capable of handling CMYK data, it has to be fed RGB data and allowed to do the conversion itself. A CMYK file when printed by the Epson driver will always be a mile out in terms of colour balance.
I've also tried different papers and have achieved your "crocodile skin" effect on more than one "compatible" paper! Now I ONLY use Epsons' own Premium Semi and Glossy photopaper.
90% of my jobs that require prints, I run at 720dpi - finest detail - NO colour sync settings and get spot on results.
Marvo.

[Tom V]

I thought I had things figured out. Then I took some portraits of my sister's daughter - the shots look great in Photoshop on my hardware color calibrated (LaCie Blue Eye) LaCie 22 monitor. All the histograms look good, and I have the image in AdobeRGB color space. I print on Epson Glossy Photo Photo paper.

The results are lousy. Too pink, too yellow, posterized hair, too light, too warm, etc. I have tried with/without ColorSync, different paper settings, fast/slow, manual adjustments (-10 magenta), converting to Fuji 1.8 color space, etc. All with various results, none of which look right.

I have new ink carts, that test clean and aligned. The paper is new. There is no specific paper choice called Epson Glossy Photo Paper. There is Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper, and Epson Photo Paper, and Epson Glossy Photo Film, etc.

I don't know what color space to use. What to set my ColorSync control panel on. I don't know what combination of settings to use in the Print Dialog boxes. There are so many combinations, and none of the choices are obvious. It seems like there are choices that I know are wrong, and then a few that could be right, but none that I am sure of. I get frustrated with Epson software, when it asks you in two places in the same window what paper you are using, and the choices it presents in both pull-down menus don't include the Epson paper I am using.

And I don't have time to figure it out now. I don't even have time to write this, or check that what I wrote is correct.

[Marvo]

Hi Tom,
I guess things are getting hectic across the pond there on a friday afternoon.
It's happy hour here in the UK so I'm chilled enough for a bit of posting...
E-mail me a lower res version of the file you're having trouble printing and I'll see what I get printing from my setup.
You're right about the confusion over paper choices. Epson don't show a Premium Semiglossy photopaper in the driver dialogue boxes but I contacted Epson who say to use the Premium Gloss photopaper setting for Premium Semigloss photopaper as the Paper works identically. Glossy photo paper is yet another type of paper with it's own setting. The difference is that the "Premium" papers react with the ink in the 1270 and later models to give the increased fade resistance that Epson quotes in its sales blurb. You should get at least, "acceptable" results with the "out of the box" settings.
Marvo.