EPSON Ecotank printer, INK, official Driver on windows behavior

[ClarenceL]

I have a pack of the CR672A - 20 sheets on order, I'll check if that's the same paper as the CR674A

https://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.en/index.php?title=Special:Search&search=oba&go=Go
Might be a reference to search new OBA low/free target paper.(But the data was around 2014 or older)

I would check the EPSON Premium Glossy photo paper here first, I might still have some EPSON Premium semi-gloss photo paper.
The HP Advanced photo paper Glossy is much easier to seem here, since it's selling as HP cartridge bundle in Costco.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I was not specifically looking for papers with a low OBA content, I was profiling the HP paper, and the spectral display of the white point in the i1Profiler software was just showing a much lower UV response than other papers.
There are a range of FineArt/specialty papers on the market which claim museum/archival properties , but they are just too expensive, that's niche products whereas I'm expecting that HP papers like the CR672A would be available worldwide.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I compared the CR674A and CR672A HP papers - they both have a very low (or zero) OBA contents, here are the spectral displays of the white paper

Here the CR674A paper

and the CR672A paper

They are as close as they can be, a brief explanation for the M0, M1, M2 measurement conditions can be found here

https://www.xrite.com/-/media/xrite...ctor_what_does_it_mean/l7-510_m_factor_en.pdf

M0 and M1 are with UV light and M2 without UV light illumination - the green line in the diagrams.

And here is the spectrum of the Canon PT101 paper

The differences are obvious - the red and magenta lines - M0 and M1 - jump far above the level of 1 - up to 1.25 which indicates a strong conversion of UV light to a blue visible light by the optical brighteners.

I have tested and profiled quite a lot of papers and can say that this Canon paper comes with the most OBA's and the HP papers CR674/672A have the smallest amount of them, all other papers are somewhere in between. (I'm not talking about some FineArt or other types of specialty papers - Baryta - Cotton Rag etc , some come as well with OBA's and other papers don't but that's expensive niche papers I'm not dealing with very much).

I compared as well the gamuts of these papers at L=50 and L=20 , the green line is for the CR672A paper, this one has a slightly smaller gamut across the luminance range , not much but measurable so these 2 papers to not have exactly the same coating but will overall deliver the same look of prints




Here is a comparison between the CR672A and the Canon PT101 with the blue line, the Canon paper overall exhibits a wider gamut, specifically at lower luminance levels, this overall gives better detail definition in darker image areas (if your image has such details in the first place)

 

[ClarenceL]

I compared the CR674A and CR672A HP papers - they both have a very low (or zero) OBA contents, here are the spectral displays of the white paper

Here the CR674A paper

View attachment 14394

and the CR672A paper

View attachment 14395

They are as close as they can be, a brief explanation for the M0, M1, M2 measurement conditions can be found here

https://www.xrite.com/-/media/xrite...ctor_what_does_it_mean/l7-510_m_factor_en.pdf

M0 and M1 are with UV light and M2 without UV light illumination - the green line in the diagrams.

And here is the spectrum of the Canon PT101 paper

View attachment 14396

The differences are obvious - the red and magenta lines - M0 and M1 - jump far above the level of 1 - up to 1.25 which indicates a strong conversion of UV light to a blue visible light by the optical brighteners.

I have tested and profiled quite a lot of papers and can say that this Canon paper comes with the most OBA's and the HP papers CR674/672A have the smallest amount of them, all other papers are somewhere in between. (I'm not talking about some FineArt or other types of specialty papers - Baryta - Cotton Rag etc , some come as well with OBA's and other papers don't but that's expensive niche papers I'm not dealing with very much).

I compared as well the gamuts of these papers at L=50 and L=20 , the green line is for the CR672A paper, this one has a slightly smaller gamut across the luminance range , not much but measurable so these 2 papers to not have exactly the same coating but will overall deliver the same look of prints

View attachment 14397 View attachment 14398


Here is a comparison between the CR672A and the Canon PT101 with the blue line, the Canon paper overall exhibits a wider gamut, specifically at lower luminance levels, this overall gives better detail definition in darker image areas (if your image has such details in the first place)


View attachment 14400View attachment 14399

I have i1pro M0, could I identify the low OBA also based on the M0 reflexion?
Canon PT-101

Canon LU-101

EPSON Inkjet paper 105gsm

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

You see in my diagrams the M2 curve - the reflection without OBA activation runs at about 95 to 97 % for most papers , a paper is not a mirror so you don't ever get 100% , and every reflection increase above 100% is caused by an OBA in the M0 curve, and your diagram of the PT101 paper matches exactly the level in my diagram , the M0 curve is typically slightly lower than the M1 curve but that doesn't matter for this OBA evaluation. You can test different papers, and you can measure the reflection curve before and after a fading test - and you'll see that OBA's fade as well.

 

[ClarenceL]

Print by XP2101 + T00V(T522) complete CMYK inks + EPSON Premium Semigloss 251gsm photo paper (4x6) SKU s041874
Compare between different drivers & media.
On matte paper media , the drivers designed for pigment black ink or DuraBrite Ultra always smaller gamut & lighter colors.
On EPSON Premium SemiGloss media (Besides L365 utilize K, others only CMY)
Worth to notice the ET-2800 improved K on Glossy but made browner greyscale.

I don't understand why even pigment K only driver also lighter on color inks when we select the matte paper.
So I always have some concern about using the driver designed for pigment ink on refill dye inks.

Also check on Epson Photo Quality Inkjet paper 105gsm (Presentation Matte)
Still lighter color on pigment based drivers.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Canon was and is delivering a pretty wide printer model range with 5 inks - with a dye black and a pigment black. Epson is shipping only a few printers configured with 2 black inks - like the ET7700 or ET8500 - and some cartridge type models, most printers come with 4 inks - CMY dye or pigment - and black dye or pigment. Most of these printers with 4 colors don't print with black if a glossy paper is selected even if the printer runs with a dye black - like some Ecotank models. Utilizing the black ink channel for printing via the matte paper selection is a work around to overcome this limitation, the real black ink - dye or pigment - delivers a better, more neutral black than the mix of CMY on glossy papers, and I just accept the gamut I get with this mode of operation since it is a work around. Other Epson photo oriented printers like the L805 or L1800 don't have this problem, and they just use a dye black ink.

I don't understand why even pigment K only driver also lighter on color inks when we select the matte paper.

This is an effect before profiling, and should be gone with a matching profile for a reprint of these patches.

Durabrite pigment inks are not targeted for photo print, even less on glossy papers, so you just have to use what you get, or you start refilling with Ultrachrome (compatible) inks via refill. And applying an overprint with a gloss optimizer increases the gamut - visibly and measureably - I tested all that but that is a different subject altogether.

 

[ClarenceL]

Canon was and is delivering a pretty wide printer model range with 5 inks - with a dye black and a pigment black. Epson is shipping only a few printers configured with 2 black inks - like the ET7700 or ET8500 - and some cartridge type models, most printers come with 4 inks - CMY dye or pigment - and black dye or pigment. Most of these printers with 4 colors don't print with black if a glossy paper is selected even if the printer runs with a dye black - like some Ecotank models. Utilizing the black ink channel for printing via the matte paper selection is a work around to overcome this limitation, the real black ink - dye or pigment - delivers a better, more neutral black than the mix of CMY on glossy papers, and I just accept the gamut I get with this mode of operation since it is a work around. Other Epson photo oriented printers like the L805 or L1800 don't have this problem, and they just use a dye black ink.



This is an effect before profiling, and should be gone with a matching profile for a reprint of these patches.

Durabrite pigment inks are not targeted for photo print, even less on glossy papers, so you just have to use what you get, or you start refilling with Ultrachrome (compatible) inks via refill. And applying an overprint with a gloss optimizer increases the gamut - visibly and measureably - I tested all that but that is a different subject altogether.

There's no lighter color(Easy to notice on C M ) on XP2101 & WF2010 when it's print media select as Glossy paper.(Check previous post#56)
But the lighter C M color by driver only on matte media, not glossy media. So, don't need to consider about GO.
It's like an ink limit for pigment color inks, but also apply to pigment K + CMY dye inks seems strange to me.
Maybe EPSON just don't want to provide another branch for pigment K + CMY dye on matte paper.

So the profiling would be seems a little strange especially on C M
T673 all dye

DuraBrite ET all pigment

 

[ClarenceL]

T5431+T06G(T502) seems like read error, update new chart read.
View attachment 14384
The T673 M seems very weak on Glossy paper, but K performs pretty well .
T00V(T522) seems like not so bad on CMY, but I need another test to check about the K. From EPSON Inkjet paper(matte) , it's as worst as T664 K.

After another 10 days.
EPSON Inkjet Paper(Matte)

200gsm Cast Coated Glossy Paper

180gsm Glossy paper

Based on above results, T673 seem ok to me.
For 4 color dye printer, I would use T673K + T502 CMY for mostly glossy paper usage.
But if main target is matte paper, maybe change to T673M since the M from T502 seems fade faster on matte paper.
In my region, no 106 ink available. T673(13USD) a little expensive than T502(10USD).
The HongSam EverNew K & M seems fade fast, especially the K. Seems similar change to blue/green as T522 & T664 on Glossy paper.
Might need to retest once I received the HP Premium photo paper Glossy(Seems flight arrived this morning, possible to receive it tomorrow)
@Ink stained Fingers Can I get your 96 patches chart?(txt or any chart input format i1profiler recognized should be fine)

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Here is the patch sheet with 96 patches , I'm normally using it to profile small 4"x6" papers, but it's just fine for the fading tests since the the i1profiler software supports the data analysis - deltaE - averaging etc - with the data analyze tool so I don't need to run extra spreadsheets etc.
My version of i1Profiler does not let me create patch sheets with less than 400 patches, I was using the X-Rite Colorport software for the patch sheet definition long time ago which is very flexible in this respect, and you can export the patch sheet data in various formats -X-Rite compatible and import it into i1Profiler, and it accepts 96 patches - or more - or even less this way, I have an even smaller one with 50 patches which I tested against the Color Munki profiler kit.

There is a pretty nice, already rather old Java program, ColorInspector3D, which displays the color of an image file in various color spaces, this can show the distribution and the weight of the individual colors.
You can see that all colors and all outer edges are occupied by colors of the patch sheet, and there is a pretty equal distribution long the surfaces and the inside of the RGB color space. You can play with other display options, and it displays in 3D. it does not allow you do overlays and does not support compressed .tiff files, but .png and other.