Epson paper types (for ET-7750 in particular)

[Epatcola]

The windows driver for the ET-7750 offers these paper types:

Plain
Epson Ultra Glossy
Epson Premium Glossy
Epson Premium Semigloss
Photo Paper Glossy
Epson Matte
Epson Photo Quality Ink Jet
Epson Photo Stickers
Envelope

and installs a not quite matching set of ICC profiles.

I don't have anything to carefully inspect or compare profiles, but, at first glance all the gloss and semi gloss profiles seem to be the same as do Matte and Photo Quality Ink Jet (and a Velvet fine art profile which is installed but not an option in printer settings).

I can create my own profiles but I have to guess at the best paper type to set in the driver.

Does anyone have knowledge of difference between these paper types other than ICC profile used?

Does the driver/printer do something different between Epson Premium Glossy and Photo Paper Glossy other than select ICC profile for example?

Secondary question is does anyone know of a free ICC profile comparison tool?

TIA.

 

[Ubuki]

Does the driver/printer do something different between Epson Premium Glossy and Photo Paper Glossy other than select ICC profile for example?

I'm not using the official Epson driver, but in my case the glossy, ultra gloss, semigloss settings are totally interchangeable. The paper I buy comes as "PhotoGlossy" and "Professional High Gloss" and I can use the same profile. Looking into the file where the specific paper parameters are stored for different paper types (density, gamma, color balance, gray transition, etc) there are four groups sharing all the same settings:

1. Glossy film, transparency, backlight film, matte paper, matte paper heavyweight, premium presentation paper matte, photoquality inkjet paper, photo paper, Illford heavy paper, ColorLife paper.
2. Plain paper, bright white paper, envelopes.
3. Postcard.
4. Premium glossy photo paper, ultraglossy photo paper, premium semigloss photo paper, premium luster photo paper, ultrapremium photo paper luster.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

The Epson profiles, as they get installed together with the driver , can be used as well by other software - with one caveat. The different paper settings define a different ink limit, and the Epson (and Canon does about the same) profiles contain a proprietary section with parameters to modify the standard profiles e.g. black level, ink limit, and this part of the profile is only accessible via the Epson driver itself, you are correct that Epson has grouped papers together, you have much less profiles installed than paper choices are available and quality options per paper.
If you do your own profiles you would need to do a separate profile not just for every paper type but as well for all variations of driver settings. And only by doing this you find out the profile variations - gamut - black point - between different parameter settings - for the same paper type. And you get to see as well that drivers for some printers behave differently - some give you a flat response for different quality settings - some other give you a visibly different gamut.

'Secondary question is does anyone know of a free ICC profile comparison tool?'

I'm still using the age old MonacoGamutWorks profile display software, it was part of the Monaco Profiling software
from the Windows XP days. It was dongled software and is not available anymore since a long time; you may find some cracked version somewhere - be cautious if you would try to install such software.
There was some other software available - freeware at tlhis time - Gamutvision - which comes with some interesting options but is not that simple to understand and use.

 

[Epatcola]

Thanks for the information both. Not especially what I wanted to hear. You think even when color management is disabled the driver loads an ICC profile for the selected paper type to access this proprietary paper information? The only likely looking tag I can see in the ICC profiles is called mdea and seems to contain just 3-4 numeric values.

Profiling each paper for each driver (glossy) paper type then trying to compare generated profiles to see if the driver paper type setting made a difference is going to be tedious.

Does anyone know if the ET-7750 adjusts head height? Should I be selecting paper type based on thickness? Before printing I see the head travel far left and looks like it is raised/lowered by some cam mechanism on the paper feed shaft.

I am not unhappy with the results I have got so far. I am just trying to optimise with the least amount of effort.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

the printhead scans for the left edge, for the actual paper width
The envelope settting typically raises the printhead to increase the platen gap, I'm not aware of a separate setting in the driver for the platen gap, higher end printers carry that option in the driver.
Sure the driver loads some paper parameters - e.g. ink limit, even if you disable color mgmt to get a proper working of the color adjustments, but that is most likely a rather small table embedded directly into the driver software code, you can delete all Epson icc files without impact.
Yes, as soon as you start using 3rd party papers you should do some tests to find the best driver settings.

Thanks for the information both. Not especially what I wanted to hear.

So , what else are you looking for ?

 

[Epatcola]

the printhead scans for the left edge, for the actual paper width
The envelope settting typically raises the printhead to increase the platen gap, I'm not aware of a separate setting in the driver for the platen gap, higher end printers carry that option in the driver.

The head moves far left and you can see it raise and lower before any paper is fed.

The driver does have a setting called "Thick Paper and Envelopes" with vague help text saying it may slow down printing. If it can adjust platen gap does it adjust for the different weight photo papers the driver lists? I guess I/we don't know.

So , what else are you looking for ?

I mean I am not much wiser than I was. Given say a 3rd party 200gsm satin paper I don't know what paper to set in the driver. Having to create profiles for the 4 different glossy paper options is wasteful and tedious then can I tell which of the generated profiles is best or even if they are different? Do I have to print 4 sets of test images and visually choose which is best (I am little color blind which doesn't help with that).

I guess I will carry on guessing at a best paper type or go with recommendations from the 3rd party if they have any.

The 3rd party I got some 200 gsm satin from suggests using Epson Ultra Glossy or Epson Premium semigloss for all weights of their glossy/satin/pearl papers. Is that a vague worthless recommendation or an indication it doesn't much matter?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Having to create profiles for the 4 different glossy paper options is wasteful

That's the price you pay when you choose to use 3rd party papers - probably at a lower price than the Epson equivalents. But you would have to do the profiling only once . You may check for color/saturation variances by visual inspection if you think that's good enough for your intentions then just do it.

Is that a vague worthless recommendation or an indication it doesn't much matter?

Such recommendation only can be very general since it should apply to all printer models of Canon, Epson HP ... alike, you just cannot expect more.