Converting Epson 9800 for 7 Color Matte printing and Adding 1 GO Channel

InkjetMall Customer Support ConeColor Inks & Printing
1

I would like your opinion on eliminating LLK ink printing on my 9800 color Matte printer and substitute that channel with Gloss Optimizer to coat prints made with my 9880 Glossy/Luster/Baryta Photo color printer. My guess is eliminating the LLK channel for color Matte prints would have less impact on fine detail than with Glossy Photo prints. I use Ergo StudioPrint V12 RIP so manipulating/eliminating printing channels should not be an issue and I would, of course, need to re-linearize and build new color printer/paper profiles for the 9800. Please advise if you see problems with this idea and if deemed feasible can you provide a consultative solution?

2

It should not be a problem but I advice that you add 25% LLK to your LK cartridge to get better coverage of the LK ink into the highlights.

best,
Walker

3

I actually have just begun this process. I have removed llk from a matte setup on a 9800, but to insatall hdmk with hdpk to have both matte and gloss prints. I have another 9800 where the go resides. I am using studioprint v14. I have not yet installed the 25% llk to the lk. I have profiled Hahn photo rag and Epson exhibition canvas and am pleased with results. Actually like my old 9600. I have yet to install the pk; just at the preliminary stage. Let’s keep in touch

4

Very good info. Nice to know. Thanks for your input and will keep the forum updated.

5

Walker,

Do you have a printer LLK substitute value or profile or suggestion that would provide a complete GO finish for Epson 98xx printers using StudioPrint RIP? For example, if it were a magenta (255, 0, 255 (RGB)) or yellow ( 250, 250, 55 (RGB)) channel being substituted then using those RGB values I assume would be in the ballpark applying GO, though I suspect it is not all that simple. Any suggestions you could provide would be appreciated. From what I have seen looking at QTR profiles I am unsure a GO application using this RIP for this printer under these special conditions is readily available as a “canned” profile. FYI… I am running StudioPrint V13 not V12 as earlier stated.

6

I vaguely remember when I did this with v12 back in 2012 I simply created a black 7k environment with a single channel and printed a black image (or gray if you want less GO). Setting the ink mount in the dither controls will work to limit the ink as well.

Here’s my 9800 overgloss print environment. I don’t know if it will work as it’s been about 6 yrs since I’ve used it.

9800-SP-Overgloss.PrEnv.zip (2.8 KB)

best,
Walker

7

Here’s the k7 gloss (pre GO) environment FYI.

Archive.zip (18.8 KB)

8

Thanks Walker.

Duh, of course with StudioPrint I can set/turn all channels to off/none except for the one I want to use and then print a color image rather than full white as with my QTR 3880 K7 setup. Will try your environment or make a new one.

9

Walker,

Imported your environment and except using slot 3 will move to slot 1 for my machine where LLK cart resides.

10

Thanks for your help Walker. I assume that giving up LLK in a 8 color matte printing environment would be the least impactful on overall print quality.

Will keep the forum updated on how all this goes.

11

This is correct. :slight_smile:

And studioprint has some incredibly fine dither control if you are using Smooth Diffusion dither (for matte papers) so in reality, it only needs the two blacks if most of what you are doing is color.

Also, BTW, you can do same-time gloss optimization with studioprint using alpha channels.

best,
Walker

12

Very good. Will take your advise re dither control and alpha channels.

13

Walker,

Before I build any new StudioPrint environments I would like your opinion re my standard StudioPrint settings for the 17 environments in my library that I have linearized and profiled over the years.

Color printers using Cone Color Pro inks include 3880, 9800 and 9880 for Matte and Glossy/Luster/Baryta papers.

All printer/paper combinations:

Resolution: 1440x720
Dithering: Smooth Diffusion
Apply Total Ink Limit: 300%
Preserve Grey: Checked
Apply Ink Limit on Top of Printer Profile: Checked
Sharpen: not Checked
Dot Volume: default
Dot Size: Variable Default (3880 printer Matte/Luster environments are is set to Micro)

I assume the quality settings are most likely fine for all paper types, the primary variable being resolution. I am unsure that it is necessary to have super high resolution settings (2800x2800 or even 2800x1440) particularly for textured Matte papers.

Selecting a StudioPrint dot size has always been problematic for me and would like your thoughts selecting dot size for different paper types using Cone Color inks.

14

To tell you the truth, for color I gave up on the basic CMYK studioprint (ink limiting, dot sizes) and switched to Epson HTM dithers and even Epson RGB (inside of studioprint) for more recent work. The only time the basic CMYK/SmoothDiffusion worked was for matte printing (Piezo monochrome is a whole other thing that works great with StudioPrint). I got very good results with this for matte printing but got essentially the same results (or better) with the HTM dithers and gloss printing was WAY better with Epson RGB driver being utilized inside of StudioPrint 14.

That being said, using HTM or RGB does not allow for custom channel option (like you are doing). Keep it with the settings you have. If they have worked for you in the past they will continue to.

-Walker

15

Thanks once again Walker for your great insight and sage advise.

16

Copy. Thanks Walker.