Educate me on Printing

[arith]

The cheap paper isn't as sharp as Canon but you would be hard pushed to tell the difference, and I never sharpen more than usual. If it looks ok on the screen it will look ok in print everything being equal.

[Shadowman]

I've got a pixma 9000 pro II; it has got a plugin for CS2-CS5 and PSE6-9, doesn't work on PSE10. You can set the paper in the plugin, I now use cheap paper http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/A3-Plus-Ph...item45fadea89f

Steve,

Which ink cartridge came with the printer? You stated you are using a cheaper version, can you tell the difference between brands?

and cheap ink because it all costs money.
http://www.cartcon.co.uk/Ink_Cartrid...n/Pro_9000.htm

The profile works fine but you can test print from the plugin which prints an array of differing setting to fine tune.

[Shadowman]

Hi John,

I'd bet you a dollar you couldn't tell the difference if you didn't up-sample. At the end of the day, the print driver always upsamples anyway, so you're doing a double-conversion by partially up-sampling first.

Colin,

I rarely change the resolution of my images only the dimensions and yes my driver does up-sample.

Thanks

[Steve S]

Great info here, thanks guys. My Paper and USB cable come tomorrow, so tomorrow is the big day.

Colin, so what are you saying. There is no need to upsample an image?

[arith]

HI John

I cannot tell any difference between the inks, apart from price. You won't get red/green except in original but mine lasted a year; about a hundred A3 prints. Cheers.

[wilsoncs3980]

You can buy a canon pixma pro9000 mkii on ebay brand new in the box for 225.00. I bought one last week and I love it at that price. I've been experimenting with different papers, plan on getting some from red river paper. I've heard good things about them.

[Shadowman]

HI John

I cannot tell any difference between the inks, apart from price. You won't get red/green except in original but mine lasted a year; about a hundred A3 prints. Cheers.

Steve,

Are 13x19 size prints the most sought after size in your area and if you a potential customer requested a larger size would you be in the market for another printer or would you just send to an outside printer?

[arith]

Steve,

Are 13x19 size prints the most sought after size in your area and if you a potential customer requested a larger size would you be in the market for another printer or would you just send to an outside printer?

Hi John; I don't sell any but have given a few away to a museum for instance. If you have a guillotine you can go up to 26" x 14" but I think you would be better off with a bigger printer. I like the 19 x 13 because it is close to 3:2 ratio of the camera and that is big enough to see small detail. But the bigger the better, except with my mums dog where she stipulated 6" x 4" for which I went down to a shop to do.

[Steve S]

First i would like to say thanks for all the helpful tips.

Second, i would like to say.....WOW!!!



This printer is awesome!!! I tried a couple of 6x4's to get a feel for things, and then i did 2 13x19's. The only changes i had to make to my workflow is lower my screen brightness 3 clicks and then adjust the brightness of my photos to match. (they were printing a tad dark, but the colors were spot on) I printed one of my bambi pics and i can see the wings of the fly on its back This thing does a beautiful job---easy to put together and set up---and easy to use.

I'm going to be real busy the next couple of weeks. Lots of printing, and building of my own frames.(i'm a better carpenter than photograper. I have some walnut/mahogany/cherry to make them out of.)

Thanks again everyone!!

[russellsnr]

Hi, No this is an older thread but no point starting another IMO.
Anyway a question for the expert print people, If you have both Photoshop and Lightroom what app would you use to print from and why?
Thanks
Russ

[Steve S]

Hi, No this is an older thread but no point starting another IMO.
Anyway a question for the expert print people, If you have both Photoshop and Lightroom what app would you use to print from and why?
Thanks
Russ

Hi russ, i use photoshop. I have more control of my image there. Often you have to make fine adjustments to get the results you're after.

[Macmahon]

Hi, No this is an older thread but no point starting another IMO.
Anyway a question for the expert print people, If you have both Photoshop and Lightroom what app would you use to print from and why?
Thanks
Russ

Me? LR w/o question: power, elegance and simplicity. But this is like the Mac vs PC debate: all passion and no point. Either will do the job.

Tim

[rambler4466]

Do not forget to review tutorials here under Color Management and Printing!

[Colin Southern]

I've never printed from LR - but at the end of the day, so long as the correct paper size - image placement - and profile can all be specified, I can't see it making any difference. If you're doing something other than print a single image then LR probably has better "picture package" options.

[OldFrank]

Something that is easy to miss is the color change with viewing angle on many monitors. This one can bite you even with a good monitor calibrator. The calibrator reads the screen straight on. Most monitors go off calibration when viewed from very slightly above so viewing from a close distance can event change the color balance at the bottom of the screen. I finally bit the bullet and bought an NEC241W. Expensive, but sure is nice. The better Apple monitors use the same technology as the NEC and are less expensive. Only problem is they won't support them when used on a PC.

frank

[arith]

The Canon plugin now works with PSE10 and moreover it has 16 bit extended aRGB colour when used in Vista or 7 64 bit. Plus you can get an IPS panel for just over £100 now. I've got an LG that is miles better than my Samsung TN; any angle seated gives same gamma, if you stand you have to go over 175 degrees or so to notice a slight difference.

[russellsnr]

Many thanks for the replies.
Steve can I ask what plugin you mention above as I thought you could only print 16 bit with a MAC?
Thanks
Russ

[DanK]

What puzzle me also is that I will have to buy some kind of equipment - color monkey, Spider, whatever - to calibrate the monitor so, more money to spend

Calibrating your monitor is no less (and no more) important if you print yourself than if you send your files off to be printed in a lab. It's a step you take to make what you see on the screen more similar to what will print.

Re papers: I strongly recommend against using cheap papers. Good papers (especially matte papers) can be quite inexpensive, and they make a big difference. One relatively inexpensive source is Red River papers, which offers sampler packs so you can try a bunch cheaply. they have ICC profiles and media settings for your printer (which I also have) on their website. Moab also makes some really superb papers and also sells a sampler pack. I have had my 9000 only a short time, but I have used perhaps 8 papers from those two vendors, with great results. You'll be amazed by how different an image can look when printed on a different type of paper--say, luster vs. matte.