So, as I wrote about, my testing several different brands of photo papers, and concluding on Canson’s Baryta Photographique for my client’s Portraiture Package Prints, I ordered me up a box of it in the 13″ x 19″ sheet size.
I broke open the box and went in and did my first print with it, choosing to first do a correct printing this time, with the above color photo I had used for the test prints, and that I had failed terribly with Canson’s lone sample piece of Baryta Photographique paper in their sample box.
In Lightroom, I placed the clown photo at the top of the paper, and placed this photo to the right at the bottom of the paper, and printed. After figuring how the hell to front load the paper, I finally figured it out, and about twenty minutes later, printed my first sheet. About a little ways into the printing, I heard this sound that I hadn’t heard in any other prints I had made while testing on the R3000, in my pleasant amazement in just how quiet the printer itself was… so, hearing this sound was quickly noticed. As it fed out a little more, I saw what it was – what you see in the left photo above, and 1st Print to the right – the printer heads hitting and scraping the top of the paper while printing.
Bloody hell! What the heck?! And a few other things muttered that I won’t transcribe over to here. So, went into print settings and changed the Platen Gap from ‘Standard’ to ‘Wide’, and pulled out another sheet, and tried the exact same print setup again.
That resulted in the top clown photo to the right above, being printed correctly, and the bottom one being better, but still with some scrapes, as can be seen in the 2nd Print to the right.
So, went back for a third printing, with getting a satisfactory print of the clown photo, I moved the photo that had been on the bottom for the first two prints, up into it’s spot, and placed some smaller sized individual photos in the bottom half. What I was wanting to do starting out, was make some sample prints of the different sizes that I will provide for my clients. so that when I meet with them, I can let them physically see, touch, hold, feel, the prints and see how they are like. This photo to the right, I was printing out at as an 8″ x 12″ sample print. With it moved to the top half of the 13″ x 19″ paper, I placed a 5″, a 4″, and a wallet sized print in the bottom half of the paper, and printed away.
Only a little ways in, to hear that damn bloody scraping sound again! What the – ?! Before putting the paper in, I was closely inspecting the paper to see if there was any warping to them, or anything, and they all were fine and flat. So, what the heck?! I watched it as it came out, and felt it might be that there is absolutely no support for the paper as it comes out the printer… it’s a good five or six inches before the leading edge of the paper would start to come into contact with the output tray, and thought maybe the weight of the paper hanging down a bit was bowing the paper behind it, causing it to be higher up and thus hit the printer heads as they pass. And so stood there and held the paper as it was fed out.
3rd Print result seen to the above right… the random sized photos I had in the bottom half of the paper though, printed perfectly fine, and had no scrapes.
So, went back into the print settings and increased the Paper Depth from ’3′ to ’4′, which to my research and calculations, should be perfectly adequate, as Canson’s Baryta Photographique is 310 g/m2 and found being approximately .37mm in height, so perhaps it only being at .3mm, and now being at .4 would hopefully solve it.
So, on to the 4th Print, and scraping still occurring… on the top image, the bottom images again fine. As I watch money being thrown away by these ruined prints, I contact Epson and explain the results I am getting, and they just say it must be the paper. Hey, gee thanks! Appreciate it!
So, go looking in forums to see if I can find some help, and get some on the awesome Luminous Landscape site, where I found someone who had posted of the exact same issue, with the exact same printer model and paper brand I was using! Albeit, it was a post from two years ago, and no one ever replied to him, but he kindly replied to himself and updated what he found out. And that was after getting in contact with Canson themselves, they advised that the best results they were able to get with their Baryta Photographique in the R3000, was to raise the Paper Depth to ’5′, as the paper tends to swell. But, he said he had done that, and in fact raised the Paper Depth to as high as it can go, and to no avail. Which had led him to dump Canson’s Paper and go with Hahnemühle’s Fine Art Baryta instead.
Hearing that was not something I at all wanted to hear, as I really like Canson’s paper… I mean even after I totally ruined my lone test sample print of it, it still looked good enough for me to still go with, and outside of the parts that were scraping, the photos on the paper looked awesome. I sampled a deal of other papers, and it was this one of Canson’s that I wanted to go with and use, and so DON’T want to have to use another paper – this is the one! So, feeling really disappointed at this point!
Someone responded to my reply to that gentleman’s post, he said he had the R3880, the next Epson printer up from mine, and he asked if I had the ability in the printer’s driver/firmware to increase the time the printer head passes, and to increase or lower the color density, and maybe increasing the time and/or decreasing the color density output. Which mine does also have that ability, and is what I am going to try next to hopefully remedy the problem.
First though, I have contacted Canson myself to see if they suggest and have a setting for either the printer head pass time, and/or density number, to go along with their recommended ’5′ setting on the Paper Depth, so as to go from there, and not just keep wasting paper on my end trying to find out for myself… if it does. Which again, I hope it does! I can’t say it enough, I want to use the Canson paper for my Portraiture client’s print orders, not any other paper! So, hopefully it doesn’t come down to the case where I have no choice but to use another paper, because I can’t get a satisfactory print with theirs.
That gentleman on the Lu-La forum who also had the same problem with Canson’s paper, and ended up dumping and going with Hahnemühle’s Fine Art Baryta paper, as I wrote in my test results, that very paper ended up coming in at a very close third behind Museo’s Silver Rag. But, since then I have had a change of thought on it. I had placed both Hahnemühle’s Fine Art Baryta, and Museo’s Silver Rag color, and black and white test sample print results up on my refrigerator, and ever since, going to my frig, I’ve stopped and looked at them, and have to say, that I am changing my mind on them both and reversing my decision and ranking of the two.
Museo’s Silver Rag, just somehow seems over the span of time hanging there, to have gone flat, which I felt originally Hahnemühle’s Fine Art Baryta was compared to Museo’s… but, is now the reverse… Hahnemühle’s now seems to have settled in and gained some crisp and pop to it … which it did have already, but just originally thought that Museo’s, in the end, had a little more to it. So, I don’t know, if either the Museo paper from being out hanging there, just became a little less punchy and little more flat, or what… but frankly, Hahnemühle’s Fine Art Baryta looks like the better photo prints in both the color and B&W samples.
So, that is what I am going to change and have be the paper I will use instead for my Fine Art Photo prints that I will make and try to sell later this year, instead of Museo’s Silver rag. With these problems I am having with Canson’s paper, I could, like that gentleman on the Lu-La forum, and go and use the Hahnemühle’s Fine Art Baryta for both ends, and have it be the paper for my client’s Portraiture prints… but as I decided against it originally, I don’t like the feel of Hahnemühle’s paper compared to Canson’s… Canson’s just has the better feel of paper to be handled more, whilst Hahnemühle’s is more to be matted and hung and hardly handled. If the Canson paper continues to disappoint, and sadly find myself having to also abandon it from very disappointingly not being able to get acceptable prints with it, then guess Hahnemühle’s Fine Art Baryta will be my sole paper. Just will definitely have to increase the prices though for my Portraiture clients then, as Hahnemühle’s paper is a good forty bucks more per box!
So, will see… just will now wait to hear back from Canson on their recommendations, and hopefully they do the trick, and can continue to use their paper like I would prefer and want.
A week from yesterday, I officially will open ‘the Photography of Jeffrey Paul Howard’ to the public, on the first of March. The day before, I have an ad being run in the local paper to introduce myself to the area. Also, have set up myself in Google Places, and as I tweeted, made myself a Google + page for tPo-JPH, and been researching Google AdWords, as I feel that is how people get found anymore… at least it is how I find people, and hardly go the phonebook anymore to look up and find businesses, etc., Doing this promo for the local high school’s Spring play production that also opens next friday… not what I fully wanted to do, but hope will still get some attention towards me. All hopefully so as to get some business my way, and hopefully sometime soon within the next month, because otherwise a month from now, I will be in some serious dire straits.
