ET-4850 Borderless

[Intel]

Hello!
I just got this printer ET-4850 a couple of days ago and I have ran many tests. Particularly towards borderless printing.

The only way I can print without it dulling out is this setup here:
Print with borders on a Epson Prem. Glossy 4x6 using print option Prem. Presentation Matte on High quality. The picture comes out bright and crisp. This is by using the app only.

Any other option dulls out the colors like it's casting a blue hue. I watched the photo on borderless start to show my fingerprints as a blue tint and it all of a sudden just expanded and covered the entire photo, dulling it out. It wasn't a bright photo at all before it started to do that. So strange.

I tried printing border and borderless using Prem. Glossy and the print out was still the same dull look. Not bright at all.

Why must I print out using Prem. Presentation Matte on Prem. Glossy?

Here are some photos to show.

4x6 photo paper is Prem. Glossy

This photo is printed using Prem. Matte with border and borderless on Prem. Glossy photo paper. See how the border one looks so much darker and brighter?

This one is printed using Prem. Glossy on the left and Prem Matte on the right both with borders!

One more comparison using Prem. Glossy on the left and Prem. Matte on the right with borders.

How is is possible to print with Prem. Glossy using Epson Prem. Glossy photo paper and make it look bright and not dull? No matter what option I choose even on the computer does the same thing! I always have to print using Prem. Matte with borders to get the desired look.

I tried every option all the way up to Ultra Prem Glossy. Or course the plain bright photo option does work but it's over powering on color.

Does anyone have a fix for this?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Your printer is using the Epson 102 bottled ink which is a combination of CMY dye inks and a pigment black. The pigment black prints sharper edges on normal paper, the pigments spread less than a dye black. And the printer generates some overspray along the edges with the borderless option on - some ink reaches over the edges and lands on a piece of foam in the bottom part of the print path, the foam slowly absorbs the overspray ink and slowly moves it to a larger absorbing pad. Pigments don't move, and you would get a pigment build up after a longer time if you do lots of borderless printing, so Epson is trying to prevent that pigment build up causing black spots on the back side of the paper, and the firmware is switching from the pigment black if activated via the paper selection in the driver and let a black be mixed from the CMY day inks. That solves one problem but does not look very good - it's not a good black but rather a tinted dark gray. I'm not aware of a work around. You just can do one thing - use a dye black ink instead - the 106 photo black at best - or the 104 black which is a dye black with lesser fading resistance. And you print with the matte paper setting - no borderless option - onto glossy paper. There is no way that the printer uses the dye black at the same time the borderless option is on.

 

[Intel]

Thanks for the help. I do recall reading about other colors mixing to produce black, but I didn't think it would do that. Especially if I print from the computer and do not have that selected to mix colors to produce black. If I were to switch to the black dye instead of pigment, wouldn't that cause issues with the nozzle or leaking since the density would be different? I'm in the US, and the ink is 502. I wonder if the 512 photoblack will work but not sure if the "key" on it will fit, might have to put it in a different way. I find it ridiculous that borderless can't be "picture perfect".

I also noticed on the epsonconnect if you select to allow photo paper printing on 4x6, it sends any photos to the printer but does a missmatch because epsonconnect does prem. glossy borderless. I find that odd as I couldn't find a way to change that on the site.