paper for epson 3880

[lukaswerth]

I will get soon an Epson Stylus 3880 printer. That will be my first high class photographic printer; in other words, I have no experience with Epson printers yet - even though, believe it or not, I have big plans.
My question is: how does fine art paper, cotton watercolor paper and such like, Arches, Frabriano 5 or Artistico, Waterford, Hahnemühle, also Japan papers in the 3880? Do you print on such papers, or only on papers sold as photographic papers? If you use such papers, what qualities should one look for? What about surfaces, sizing?

Lukas

[Polar01]

Lukas I print with the Epson 4900, do not try to print on a whole lot of different papers at once. Most start out on one or two brands, suggest you start with Epson papers as the printer will come loaded with those ICC paper. Get sample packs to start with suggest two or four of each brand they are usually 8.5x11 in size. Suggest Hahnemuhle and Epson as I use both of these, you will find that each and every stock will print differently and have a different feel or look to it. This is what you have to learn as an image printed on one stock will look great on another will not. Most customers will not care about the stock that their image is printed on only on how it looks.
When testing stock you need to test not only to see how a colour image looks but a B&W as well, so your test image in colour needs a good deep black, good wide range of colour, good light blues and reds along with deep rich blues and reds as these are two of the hardest colours to print, overall good contrast and fine details all in one image. In a B&W image you need one that has a large tonal spread along with high contrast that is deep blacks and bright whites.

Cheers: Allan

[nickjohnson]

Lukas, I print on a 3880 and before that a 3800. Very good advice from Allen. In addition I should add.

See here for a detailed “how to” for printing with the 3800 / 3880 http://people.csail.mit.edu/ericchan...800/index.html
Also in the same place are some special icc profiles for B&W printing.

See here for a print evaluation test file
http://www.jirvana.com/printer_tests...Image_V002.zip
Don't use your own work to do the first evaluation of a paper.

I Suggest you start with a lustre or semi-gloss type paper. I use Ilford Gold Fiber Silk. I also use Harman Gloss Baryta, Epson Fine Art Velvet, and Epson Hot Press Bright.

[Manfred M]

Lukas - Just to add to the chorus; I have a 3880 and have experimented with some third party papers (Moab. etc), but found that Epson's line was every bit as good and I have essentially stayed with their papers. The profiles are built into the printer firmware and I'm very happy with the results. I do most of my printing on Epson Lustre, but also use matte and glossy papers on occassion.

[lukaswerth]

Thank you very much for your advices. Nick, do you know the difference between 3800 and 3880 with regard to the "how to"-website? I ask because many answers in the FAQ are with regard to the 3800.

Lukas

[nickjohnson]

Thank you very much for your advices. Nick, do you know the difference between 3800 and 3880 with regard to the "how to"-website? I ask because many answers in the FAQ are with regard to the 3800.

Lukas

Lukas, there is no operational difference between the 3800 and 3880 - or at least none that I can remember or that caused me to do things differently. Just remember that the icc profiles are NOT interchangeable - be very suspicious of anyone who says or implies that they are the same or nearly so.

[Manfred M]

The 3880 is very similar to the 3800 (in fact it is the 3800's replacemetn), with many of the ink cartridges used by both printers use the Ultrachrome K3 inks. The 3880 uses the Vivid Magenta ink, while the 3800 does not. I suspect that there are some minor updates in the printer firmware as well.