Epson Enhanced Matte curve

I just bought some Epson Enhanced Matte paper which is known as Archival Matte Paper in Australia. The only Epson curve for the 3880 is K7-2880-EpUltraPresMatte. Is this the same paper? The EEM curves for other printers look different to this one. I know that Epson have changed the name of this paper over the years so I’m hoping that it’s the right curve.

Yes, Epson Enhanced Matte is the same as Ultra Premium Presentation Matte Paper

FYI: Enhanced Matte is NOT the same as Archival Matte. Archival Matte is now called Premium Presentation Matte (no “Ultra”)

Thanks Dana. It would be too easy if Epson was consistent in naming of papers around the world.

I confess it was I who told Jeff that Epson Enhanced Matte and Epson Archival Matte are the same. And I still believe that. There are several challenges in understanding Epson papers: (i) they keep changing the names; and (ii) the names that they’re sold under in the US are sometimes different to the names that they sold under elsewhere, i.e. outside the US.

This post on Lula by an Epson marketing manager


states what I believe - that EEM and EAM are the same paper, but in the US the name was changed from EAM to EEM many years ago, no doubt for legal reasons as it’s not an archival paper. It’s had its name changed yet again to Ultra Premium Presentation Matte Paper, but it’s still sold as EAM elsewhere. Certainly here, and also in Europe when I was living there, but that was some time go. I suspect that in metric countries it’s sold as EAM and in countries in inches it is or was EEM, but now it’s EUPPMP. Actually, it’s even more confusing than that, because in Australia it’s sold as as EAM for A4, A3, A3+ and as EEM for A2 and large rolls. See also:

According to this Epson link:


Matte Paper Heavyweight is now (non-ultra) Premium Presentation Paper Matte and, for the sake of completeness, Photo Quality Ink Jet Paper is now (non-ultra non-premium) Presentation Paper Matte.

To add to the confusion, as mentioned in that Lula thread, Epson Exhibition Fibre Paper is sold here as Epson Traditional Photo Paper. Not sure about Europe.

Getting back to Jeff’s question, what is the difference between K7-2880-EpUltraPresMatte for the 3880 and the EEM profile that ships with QTR for the 2880 and 4880 printers? Given the above, you’d think that they were the same? [Edit: comparing them in curve view, they’re clearly not the same]

Hers’s what I get when I do the linearisation check. The UPPM is the winner but not by a lot.

I think this confirms what was said by that Epson Marketing Manager on Lula - that these are the same papers. The K7-2880-EpEnhancedMatte.quad curve, listed for the R2880, is dated 27 Apr 2006 and the K7-2880-EpUltraPresMatte.quad, listed for the 3880, is dated 25 June 2008. It seems to me that the difference in the linearisation plots reflects that these curves were made at different times and perhaps on different printers. This doesn’t demonstrate that they’re both the same as ABW, but that was made pretty clear on the Lula thread as well.

Epson marketing has a lot to answer for, in terms of the confusion it generates.

We originally named curves EnhMatte, then have names some newer ones UPPM or UltraPremPresMatte after the paper name change. It’s VERY confusing that Epson changed the paper names, and names papers differently around the world… (and it’s possible the papers aren’t exactly the same around the world either, as we’re investigating with Exhibition Fiber).

The difference between the 3880 and R2880 curves for Enhanced Matte/UPPM is the curve structure for the printers, which was originally designed differently, then we discovered K3 printer models can use the same curves.
We are working on making new Piezography curve libraries, as media, drivers, etc… have changed since we last made curves several years ago. It’s certainly possible the paper used to make curves in 2006 or 2008 is not exactly the same as it is now. A custom curve for your specific printer/ink/paper combination will perfect your linearization and optimize your output.

Best regards~ Dana